a feminist male college graduate reads “Twlight”: Chapter Fifteen-The Cullens

Bella wakes up after falling asleep beside Edward and now they’re officially using the girlfriend/boyfriend nomenclature. Bella’s been giving and having her agency taken away since she started seeing Edward, and it’s a little alarming to me that phrases like “thoughtlessly threw myself across the room and into his lap” (312), “‘You’re not that creative”‘ (313), “I protested as he carried me easily down the stairs, but he ignored me” (315), and “You are so absurd” (319) are so ubiquitous and commonplace in this text as to be robbed of any sort of significance. This rapid-fire language of subjection loses it’s gravity after fifteen chapters of it. Still, these passages were alarming enough that I underlined them as I was reading. It’s also interesting that Edward gets possessive like this again once they agree that they are in a relationship.

Edward wants the relationship and everything that goes with it, but Bella is apprehensive about sharing their relationship with her father, perpetuating the distinct lack of father/daughter communication going on in this book. It’s gotten so bad between them that Charlie apparently disconnectes the battery cables on Bella’s truck to make sure she doesn’t sneak out at night–which is a fear that I find no apparent basis for. Bella hasn’t done anything to make Charlie not trust her. But this doesn’t let Bella off the hook–she seems content to keep her father at a distance.

The absence of a definite father figure (or even any parental figure) leaves something of a void in the narrative. And it seems as if Carlisle may be the character deployed to fill that absence. When she arrives at the Cullen house, Carlisle and Emse immediately welcome Bella and accept her. With the exception of Rosalie (and, by proxy, Emmett), all of the Cullens seem willing and even enthusiastic to have Bella if not as a member of the family than as a steward to their secret.

It’s also interesting that the reason Rosalie is apparently upset about Bella is because she is jealous of Bella’s humanity. This get’s back to the vampire ethics question from the last chapter. Rosalie would rather be a human than a vampire, which signals to me that perhaps she did not choose to become a vampire, or at least was not aware of the consequences of that choice (which makes sense given that Carlisle only turns people who are knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s door). It sets up a interesting tension not only between Rosalie and Bella, but Rosalie and Carlisle, who presumably turned her. I hope this tension get teased out further.

At this time, Carlisle is the character I find most interesting, both from a narrative standpoint (he’s three hundred years old!) and a thematic standpoint (he turns people in vampires, possible against their wills).

Ben’s End of Chapter Awards

Best Exchange That’s So Cheesy It Should Be Printed On Cheese Paper: “‘I love you,’ I whispered. ‘You’re my life now,’ he answered simply” (314).

Best Use of George Lucas-Caliber Dialogue That Made Me Wish Hayden Christensen Would Have Played Edward in the Movie: “‘You are utterly indecent–no one should look so tempting, it’s not fair’” (319).