So, I must admit, I read Twilight three years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. At that time, it still hadn't become the phenomenon that it is today, but it had started to gain popularity among my 13 year-old campers and my younger sister. But, as I reread the book for this class, I really did not enjoy it. I felt that it often drudged on and on. I never really liked Bella or Edward the first time I read the book, I just thought it was a different, good story-line. But, again, as I reread the book, I hated both of them. I found Bella to just be a pathetic female character who was bland and had almost nothing to her teenage self.
As I stated in class on Friday, I found it odd that Stephenie Meyer never once mentioned anything about Bella's friends back in Phoenix (if she even had any!) and she never really established Bella as a character in means of her likes and dislikes in activities and hobbies, besides her being terrible in sports, not athletic, and that she liked to read. Instead of making Bella a unique, distinguished character, she made her bland and easy to relate to as a young teenager. I think that Stephenie Meyer used the word "dazzled" way too often, and I got sick of hearing how much Edward seemed like an angel.
I found it really annoying that Bella was so passive and just did anything that Edward told her to without thinking it through. I often just thought of her as a puppy that would do anything her master (Edward) commanded of her. And she always just automatically apologized to Edward if she ever did anything to anger him or strain his "will power."
The part of the book that I truly despised was when Bella believed James on the phone and decided to obey his commands and not tell anyone. How would James actually know if she told Alice, Jasper, or Edward that he had captured her mom? There could have been many ways that Bella could have avoided that painful meeting if she had only opened up her mind to other options.
Good observations.
ReplyDeleteI agree that I thought it was annoying that we do not know about Bellas relationships back home in Phoenix or anything about her personal likes and dislikes. Given, we know she prefers hot dry air over rain and cold and she also like Jane Austin, but I think there was much more that Meyers could have done to better develop Bella.
ReplyDeleteThe over usage of "dazzle" was too much and I was sick and tired about hearing her describe Edwards breathe.
I also agree that Bella was way to passive.It would have been nice to see she grow a backbone at some point in the story. I was hoping she would in the chapter about the prom, but instead she cried. That was disappointing.
I had never realized that Meyer didn't talk about Bella's friends back home. I mean, how on earth could a girl move to a new town and not have any connections back home? Bella is such a weak character, in almost every way. Her actions are weak and her description is weak. And yeah, she is like a puppy. Edward and Bella have a very control/submissive relationship (Edward being the master and Bella being the puppy).
ReplyDeleteI also had a big problem when Bella was on the phone with James. However, I questioned something differently. I wanted to know how Alice didn't know that he had told Bella that, but I see what you're saying. Bella should have told Alice and Jasper. There was no way that James would have know.