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Twilight, Chapter Four: Father Doesn't Know Best (p. 79-81)
Content: Shockingly sensible decision, creepy father, sexist father, obtuse father, father who thinks his daughter is incompetent, sexism, intelligence linked to size of town, grrr
On page 79, Bella surprised me. I had to read the paragraph about four times to make sure I understood it correctly.
I could leave him alone. I would leave him alone.
Bella has decided to leave Edward alone. Not only that, but she stops brooding about him and moves on to other things.
I would get through my self-imposed sentence here in purgatory, and then hopefully some school in the Southwest, or possibly Hawaii, would offer me a scholarship.
Her snark about Forks is annoying, as is her lack of a concrete plan, but at least she has hopes for the future here that are not 100% centered around romance. I wish Bella would not pin everything on the hope that someone will come rescue her while she sits around passively, but at least she wants to be rescued by a college rather than a jackass. Plus, she thinks well enough of her academic ability that she believes she can get a scholarship. Maybe she does have a little bit of self-esteem after all.
I focused my thoughts on sunny beaches and palm trees as I finished the enchiladas and put them in the oven.
Yes! This is smart! Bella has thought about her problem (Edward), decided on a solution (leave him alone), and turned her thoughts toward something cheerful (college in a climate she likes).
Dinner with Charlie starts melodramatically; he's suspicious about the enchiladas because his ex-wife used to experiment in the kitchen. God I hate this man. His daughter's been cooking for him for weeks, but he still doubts her cooking ability. If you're so nervous, Charlie, cook your own damn dinner.
He seemed to like it. (80)
He doesn't tell her he likes it, of course. Is it any wonder his daughter ends up with an emotionally abusive stalker for a boyfriend?
Bella tells Charlie she's going to Seattle next week.
"Why?" He sounded surprised, as if he were unable to imagine something that Forks couldn't offer.
Charlie's wife divorced him because he would not leave Forks. I am quite sure she told him, repeatedly and strenuously, what Forks could not offer. I am equally sure that he did not listen. Seriously, I really, really hate this man.
Bella tells Charlie why she's going to Seattle: shopping. "I had more money than I was used to having, since, thanks to Charlie, I hadn't had to pay for a car." First, why is there a comma in front of the since? Second, what about insurance? Gas money for that monster isn't trivial, either. I wonder about the size of Bella's allowance. This would be a useful bit of information for the reader to have, unlike the precise day Jessica called to discuss something trivial, or the make of Tyler's car. Or the next stuff we get, about where Bella is going to stop to gas up her truck on the way to Seattle.
"Are you going all by yourself?" he asked, and I couldn't tell if he was suspicious I had a secret boyfriend or just worried about car trouble.
Those are the only two choices? Can't he be merely curious? Well... no, I don't think he can. Like Bella, Charlie is creepily incurious about other people. But I don't know if I'm supposed to take Bella at face value here, or think that Charlie might have other reasons for asking the question.
Meyer kind of answers with this exchange:
"Seattle is a big city -- you could get lost," he fretted.
"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle -- and I can read a map, don't worry about it."
The size of a city has nothing do with getting lost in it. I often got terribly lost driving in Lansing, though I did it for years. I never got lost in Manhattan, not once, though I only lived there a year. Lansing has multiple one-way streets, the streets curve, there is no naming system for the streets, etc. -- maps do not necessarily help a whole lot. Manhattan's streets are a grid. Go the wrong way and you know it very quickly. Plus, Bella grew up in Phoenix. She did not grow up in Seattle. Her superiority complex about town size makes her stupid about practical matters. Maybe she's good with directions, but if so, that should be her point, not that Phoenix is bigger than Seattle.
Oh, and Bella wants to buy some books in Seattle because the Forks library is "pretty limited." Bella's taste in books is strictly for classics -- Wuthering Heights, Jane Austen books, and books for class are the only ones I know of that she reads. There is no way that the Forks library does not stock that type of book. This is only here so that Meyer can try to convince us that Bella is a voracious reader with a wide range of tastes, which she's not, and to insult Forks some more. What did this town ever do to you, Stephenie?
Charlie asks if Bella wants him to come with her, and she feels "horror" at the thought. Yeah, I would too, because Charlie's a jerk. To get him to not want to go with her, she tells him she'll be trying on clothes all day. Now, brace yourselves for random sexism. I felt like I'd been slapped when I read the next two quotes.
The thought of sitting in women's clothing stores for any period of time immediately put him off. (81)
I'm sure he'd be thrilled sitting around waiting for another man to change in a men's clothing store though. It's just that a woman's store will give him cooties. I'm not sure whether Bella is being unfair to her father, or whether this is how he actually is, but I can't stand either of them so I'll just blame them both.
Charlie asks Bella if she'll be back for the dance, and here's what Bella thinks:
Grrr. Only in a town this small would a father know when the high school dances were.
Right, because fathers have absolutely nothing to do with raising their kids, and no interest whatsoever in their kids' social lives, unless the town is small and therefore there is so very, very little to think about or do that the cops sit around gossiping about high school dances. Whereas no matter the town size, mothers always know about high school dances, of course, because they are completely wrapped up in their kids' lives and girly stuff like dancing. I'm almost impressed with the amount of sexism and anti-small town prejudice in that one little sentence.
Furthermore: grrr. Just plopped there. Grrr.
Bella points out that she doesn't dance, thinking that "[h]e, of all people, should understand that" because she gets her clumsiness from him (81). I think he, of all people, should understand that because he is her father and he should be aware of how graceful or not his own daughter is, particularly when she is so not-graceful that she is a hazard to herself and others.
Also, if Charlie is as clumsy as Bella, how can he be a cop? That's a pretty physically demanding job. Though if his clumsiness is the same as Bella's, it exists only to get him stuff he wants and get him out of stuff he doesn't want. That would be completely in keeping with Charlie's character.
I do seriously hate this man.
I also hate this line of the book:
He did understand. "Oh, that's right," he realized.
1) He understood. 2) He said, "that's right." 3) He realized. Charlie comprehending why Bella isn't going to the dance is such a complex concept, re-wording it three times on one line was definitely necessary.
On page 79, Bella surprised me. I had to read the paragraph about four times to make sure I understood it correctly.
I could leave him alone. I would leave him alone.
Bella has decided to leave Edward alone. Not only that, but she stops brooding about him and moves on to other things.
I would get through my self-imposed sentence here in purgatory, and then hopefully some school in the Southwest, or possibly Hawaii, would offer me a scholarship.
Her snark about Forks is annoying, as is her lack of a concrete plan, but at least she has hopes for the future here that are not 100% centered around romance. I wish Bella would not pin everything on the hope that someone will come rescue her while she sits around passively, but at least she wants to be rescued by a college rather than a jackass. Plus, she thinks well enough of her academic ability that she believes she can get a scholarship. Maybe she does have a little bit of self-esteem after all.
I focused my thoughts on sunny beaches and palm trees as I finished the enchiladas and put them in the oven.
Yes! This is smart! Bella has thought about her problem (Edward), decided on a solution (leave him alone), and turned her thoughts toward something cheerful (college in a climate she likes).
Dinner with Charlie starts melodramatically; he's suspicious about the enchiladas because his ex-wife used to experiment in the kitchen. God I hate this man. His daughter's been cooking for him for weeks, but he still doubts her cooking ability. If you're so nervous, Charlie, cook your own damn dinner.
He seemed to like it. (80)
He doesn't tell her he likes it, of course. Is it any wonder his daughter ends up with an emotionally abusive stalker for a boyfriend?
Bella tells Charlie she's going to Seattle next week.
"Why?" He sounded surprised, as if he were unable to imagine something that Forks couldn't offer.
Charlie's wife divorced him because he would not leave Forks. I am quite sure she told him, repeatedly and strenuously, what Forks could not offer. I am equally sure that he did not listen. Seriously, I really, really hate this man.
Bella tells Charlie why she's going to Seattle: shopping. "I had more money than I was used to having, since, thanks to Charlie, I hadn't had to pay for a car." First, why is there a comma in front of the since? Second, what about insurance? Gas money for that monster isn't trivial, either. I wonder about the size of Bella's allowance. This would be a useful bit of information for the reader to have, unlike the precise day Jessica called to discuss something trivial, or the make of Tyler's car. Or the next stuff we get, about where Bella is going to stop to gas up her truck on the way to Seattle.
"Are you going all by yourself?" he asked, and I couldn't tell if he was suspicious I had a secret boyfriend or just worried about car trouble.
Those are the only two choices? Can't he be merely curious? Well... no, I don't think he can. Like Bella, Charlie is creepily incurious about other people. But I don't know if I'm supposed to take Bella at face value here, or think that Charlie might have other reasons for asking the question.
Meyer kind of answers with this exchange:
"Seattle is a big city -- you could get lost," he fretted.
"Dad, Phoenix is five times the size of Seattle -- and I can read a map, don't worry about it."
The size of a city has nothing do with getting lost in it. I often got terribly lost driving in Lansing, though I did it for years. I never got lost in Manhattan, not once, though I only lived there a year. Lansing has multiple one-way streets, the streets curve, there is no naming system for the streets, etc. -- maps do not necessarily help a whole lot. Manhattan's streets are a grid. Go the wrong way and you know it very quickly. Plus, Bella grew up in Phoenix. She did not grow up in Seattle. Her superiority complex about town size makes her stupid about practical matters. Maybe she's good with directions, but if so, that should be her point, not that Phoenix is bigger than Seattle.
Oh, and Bella wants to buy some books in Seattle because the Forks library is "pretty limited." Bella's taste in books is strictly for classics -- Wuthering Heights, Jane Austen books, and books for class are the only ones I know of that she reads. There is no way that the Forks library does not stock that type of book. This is only here so that Meyer can try to convince us that Bella is a voracious reader with a wide range of tastes, which she's not, and to insult Forks some more. What did this town ever do to you, Stephenie?
Charlie asks if Bella wants him to come with her, and she feels "horror" at the thought. Yeah, I would too, because Charlie's a jerk. To get him to not want to go with her, she tells him she'll be trying on clothes all day. Now, brace yourselves for random sexism. I felt like I'd been slapped when I read the next two quotes.
The thought of sitting in women's clothing stores for any period of time immediately put him off. (81)
I'm sure he'd be thrilled sitting around waiting for another man to change in a men's clothing store though. It's just that a woman's store will give him cooties. I'm not sure whether Bella is being unfair to her father, or whether this is how he actually is, but I can't stand either of them so I'll just blame them both.
Charlie asks Bella if she'll be back for the dance, and here's what Bella thinks:
Grrr. Only in a town this small would a father know when the high school dances were.
Right, because fathers have absolutely nothing to do with raising their kids, and no interest whatsoever in their kids' social lives, unless the town is small and therefore there is so very, very little to think about or do that the cops sit around gossiping about high school dances. Whereas no matter the town size, mothers always know about high school dances, of course, because they are completely wrapped up in their kids' lives and girly stuff like dancing. I'm almost impressed with the amount of sexism and anti-small town prejudice in that one little sentence.
Furthermore: grrr. Just plopped there. Grrr.
Bella points out that she doesn't dance, thinking that "[h]e, of all people, should understand that" because she gets her clumsiness from him (81). I think he, of all people, should understand that because he is her father and he should be aware of how graceful or not his own daughter is, particularly when she is so not-graceful that she is a hazard to herself and others.
Also, if Charlie is as clumsy as Bella, how can he be a cop? That's a pretty physically demanding job. Though if his clumsiness is the same as Bella's, it exists only to get him stuff he wants and get him out of stuff he doesn't want. That would be completely in keeping with Charlie's character.
I do seriously hate this man.
I also hate this line of the book:
He did understand. "Oh, that's right," he realized.
1) He understood. 2) He said, "that's right." 3) He realized. Charlie comprehending why Bella isn't going to the dance is such a complex concept, re-wording it three times on one line was definitely necessary.