Near the beginning of the novel Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, the clumsy
and socially awkward protagonist Bella Swan is nearly hit by a car that loses
control on the icy road. For a split second, Bella expects to die; however,
seemingly out of nowhere, the impossibly gorgeous and moody Edward Cullen
swoops in to save the day. Bella notices that his speed and strength are
nowhere near human, and tries to discover how he saved her. This opens up the
door to Edward’s controlling and dangerous personality.
Edward and Bella’s first
interactions are fueled with passion and anger, which, as Leisha Jones’ journal
article “Contemporary Bildungsromans and the Prosumer Girl” describes, are aspects
of a relationship that women are unable to resist. Some of the dominant social
norms for the female, as described by Jones, are that as women grow up, they
learn to be submissive as well as “[equate] sexuality with danger” (Jones 440).
Jones determines that Twilight outlines
these characteristics with ease. In Twilight, it is no difficult matter to
determine that Edward Cullen is the sexy bad boy who is always in charge. Bella
is “an all-too-human girl who falls in love with the perfect unattainable
loveobject vampire;” in other words, a stereotypically helpless female who
wants what she can’t have (Jones 441). When Bella is almost hit by the car and
Edward saves her, Bella admits that she was “consumed by the mystery Edward
presented. And more than a little obsessed by Edward himself” (Meyer 17). Bella’s
curiosity overwhelms her common sense and she continues to chase down this
dangerous boy despite what that means for her independence.
Though Bella begins with a
confident, independent streak, this quickly goes downhill as she starts to argue
with Edward over whether or not he was actually standing next to her at the
time of the car accident. Edward argues
Bella into submission, and forces her to agree to lie (Meyer 15). He refuses to
take no for an answer: “`Bella, you hit your head, you don't know what you're
talking about.` His tone was cutting” (Meyer 17). The fact that Bella becomes
willing to adapt her version of the story to fit Edward’s is a point in which
Bella fails to maintain her independence. From then on, she falls head over
heels for Edward Cullen, the dominant, angry, and mysterious vampire. Instead
of completing herself through a journey of self-discovery, education, and
mistakes as most young adults do at Bella’s age, Bella is ready to throw that
away for someone else. Rather than being her own person, “`...she does not know
her own name, and therefore cannot know either who she is or whom she is
destined to be`” (Barry 135). Bella is looking for someone to complete her. And
as someone that Bella equates his danger with sexuality, Edward fits the job
description.
Works Cited
Barry, Peter. Beginning
Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. 3rd ed. New York:
Manchester University Press, 2009. Print.
Jones, Leisha.
“Contemporary Bildungsromans and the Prosumer Girl.” Criticism 53.3
(2011): 439-469. Project MUSE. Web. 22 May 2012.
I agree with Mimi (and Jones’) arguments that the protagonist, Bella, clearly loses her independence very quickly in the novel. I believe that this story, in a way, can be dangerous Young Adult Literature for that reason, amongst others. Mostly I feel that it is Meyer’s use of wording that makes the story so “dangerous.”
ReplyDeleteThroughout the novel, Meyer’s uses strong adjectives to describe the characters and scenes. I feel that although it is effective and words well with the story, if perhaps she chose different wording then perhaps this book wouldn’t seem so dangerously impressive on young readers. For instance the scene where Edward has just saved Bella from potential attackers, they are in a small restaurant eating dinner (well, Bella is eating at least). This scene has the potential to be romantic and informative, but because of how Meyer’s describes their interactions, it becomes semi-chauvinistic and awkward. Edward says to Bella, "’I think you should eat something.’" And Meyers describes his voice as being “low, but full of authority.” (43) Immediately, the romantic aspect is replaced by an overbearing boyfriend/father figure telling the protagonist what to do, and with a clear tone of authority. All Bella wants to do here is sit with her vampire lover in the romantic candle light, but all Edward is doing is proving that he knows what is best…and Bella listens. Had this scene been written slightly different, we the reader would be all choked up and jealous of Bella. Instead, we begin to lose respect for the once independent protagonist.
Also, in this scene, Edward instructs Bella to drink. Meyers writes that “he ordered” this, and Bella “sipped at [her] soda obediently, and then drank more deeply, surprised by how thirsty [she] was” (44). Again, here we see that Edward knows Bella better than she knows herself. Perhaps she is frazzled by the night’s events, or the fact that she is on a date with the hunky senior vampire and is perhaps simply nervous, but either way we read that Edward did not simply suggest that she drink because this is possibly how she is feeling; he ordered her to. Anna Silver mentions that “moments such as these are behind the feminist concern about gender roles that the novel raises, as Edward is exaggeratedly more active and confident than the generally passive, insecure Bella” (125). Moreover that Bella’s clumsiness is not merely a sign of incompetence, but rather, she embodies an adolescent who is coming into womanhood and dealing with her first emotions of first love and lust. The use of such words as “ordered” and “authority” are what paints the picture of Edward being over-bearing. Although this does work well with what Meyer’s was trying to accomplish, but arguably if she had chosen different synonyms to replace such harsh adjectives, would Twilight be so dangerous? If Bella had acted on her own accord and chose to hang on Edwards every word while still keeping her own independence, would young adults still be getting a negative message? I argue, no. If Bella, as the protagonist in an extremely popular Young Adult Fiction novel, had maintained some sort of independent attitude, this novel would have shown young readers that it is possible to lose yourself in the fantasy of young love while still being able to function self-sufficiently.
Silver, Anna. Twilight is Not Good for Maidens: Gender, Sexuality, and the Family in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight Series. Mercer University. Project MUSE. Web. 18 May 2012.
Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight. New York: Little Brown & Co, 2005. Print.