Bella awoke in relief, her sheets and tubes were all tangled, weak from whisky and pills, in a Chicago hospital. And her father was there, in a chair by the window, staring so far away...Sorry, I'm getting Twilight mixed up with Lifted OR The Story Is In The Soil Keep Your Ear To The Ground again. It happens.
Previous entries can be found in the directory.
Chapter 24: An Impasse
Bella wakes up, assuming again that she is dead; there's a bright white light after all. But she's sitting in a lumpy bed, she's got tubes plugged into her wrists, and there's an "annoying beeping sound" nearby. "Death shouldn't be this uncomfortable," Bella muses. Nice, Bella. Near death experiences really bring out your inner wit!
"Either this 'disoriented narrator' device goes or I do."- Bella Wilde
Bella gets lucid. Edward is there, his chin leaning on her pillow. That's a little close Edward, you don't want to startle the girl! He's upset and anguishy and Bella starts panicking about her mother and father-- Edward tells her Alice called them-- her mother is here at the hospital. Obviously Bella starts wondering what the hell Alice could have told her; "My mother was here and I was recovering from a vampire attack." S. Meyer only occasionally acknowledges the weirdness of her story like this, but it's a good balance. If you don't do it, it does strain credulity. Do it too much, and you're putting a little too much meta-whatever in your YA fiction. A wink and a nod here and there is just right.
It also reminds us that Bella has a personality; people tend to attack and defend Twilight along the lines that Bella is the everygirl, a cipher into whom we can project ourselves. I disagree! I don’t think Bella is a profoundly shaped narrator, we’re not talking Humbert Humbert here, but she does have a personality that shines through more often than not. This is even true, to a lesser extent, of the Twilight film. I can’t speak for New Moon in either regard (yet), but let the record show I’m not going to make the cipher/everyman argument w/r/t to Bella (ever again—I actually may have somewhere in previous posts).
Edward gives Bella her alibi: he and Carlisle and Alice drove down to Phoenix to talk some sense into her after she fled Forks in a rage. Bella came over to the hotel where they were staying and fell down two flights of stairs and through a window. "You have to admit," Edward says, "it could happen." (Don't you think Bella's parents are going to have the drug talk with her when she recovers?) Edward took parental supervision with him, of course, because he's such a virtuous high schooler and all. I see how that reflects well on Edward, but doesn't it reflect poorly on Carlisle? Edward comes home and says, "Hey Dad, this girl I like just took off for Phoenix, want to go on a roadtrip?" and Carlisle just goes, "I'm game"? I guess Carlisle's presence at the scene of the accident to administer life-saving medical attention mitigates his otherwise unusual parenting choices.
We get the full list of Bella's injuries: broken leg, four broken ribs, cracked skull, blood loss, bruising. Edward admits he didn't like the blood transfusions Bella got-- she didn't smell like herself for a while. First of all, gross, Edward. Second of all, vampire beggars can't be vampire choosers when they are unwilling to make the girl they love into a vampire, Edward. Jasper and Emmett apparently got the honor of killing James, but again, we don't get much in the way of details.
"Blank"-James's bumper sticker
Bella doesn't remember Emmett and Jasper being there because they had to duck out-- the room was covered in blood and all. But Alice and Carlisle stayed. "They love you, too, you know," Edward says. They love her enough not to eat her. Well, if you got Alice drunk enough… never mind.
Bella brings up the fact that it would be pretty easy for her parents or anyone else to look into the hotel incident and find out it didn't happen, but Edward tells her Alice "had a little too much fun fabricating evidence." Alice fucking rules.
FACT:
Alice destroys hotels like a pro.
ASSUMPTION:
Alice has been banned from the Marriott Hotel Chain since 1961.
There's this kind of Charlie Chaplin routine that happens when Edward realizes he can make Bella's heart monitor freak out whenever he leans in for a kiss. When he's got it beeping like crazy, he finally kisses her and the machine flat-lines for a second. But then it's fine. Ha! Her heart literally stopped! Very funny, and very implausible! Edward backs off. "I'm not finished kissing you," Bella says. "Don't make me come over there." I feel like a lot of the boundaries between these two are gone; sucking venom from your significant other's wound will do that to a relationship, believe me.
Bella's mom shows up; Edward pretends to be asleep. There's a lot of "I was so worried" and "oh mom" and that sort of thing, but the big thing happens when Bella's mom starts talking about the new house they have in Florida and how Phil got signed and Bella is going to love it there. "Whoa, bitch- back the fuck up," Bella says. Okay, I'm paraphrasing. Bella's mom is appalled when Bella tells her she has no intention of leaving Forks, and concludes that it has to do with Edward.
Bella tries to downplay her affection for Edward, which is weird. She’s been waxing poetic about their love for chapters now, but she’s too insecure about it to be honest with her mother? Are you getting all this, Edward? Her mother says she thinks “that boy is in love with you,” and Bella struggles for a response. “As much as I loved my mom, this was not a conversation I wanted to have with her.” Is she talking about the sex talk? They haven’t had that conversation yet?
Bella’s mom seems eager to leave; she has to call Phil. Obviously Bella is making the right choice with Forks, huh? “Oh, okay you’re awake. Good. Okay, see you later, my boyfriend is calling!”
She leaves, and Edward expresses surprise that Bella would want to stay in Forks; Bella expresses surprise that it would surprise him. “But you’d be stuck inside all day in Florida,” she says. Edward says he would have stayed in Forks, or “someplace I couldn’t hurt you.” So we’re back to the misgivings, which I suppose is predictable. But they just escaped a near-death experience! You’d think Edward would give himself over to a little bit of misguided “and we’ll live happily ever after” bullshit for a few days before he starts in with all the “I’m dangerous” talk. But he says the worst part of the whole experience was sucking the venom out, not being sure that he wouldn’t kill her himself, which, I have to admit, is a pretty good reason to end a relationship.
Bella talks him down. Edward again agrees that he couldn’t bring himself to leave her even though he wants to. Didn’t this conversation already happen, two or three times? Bella tries to get him to actually promise not to leave, but he deflects. I still don’t have that picture of the shadow of a number four, but I could really use it now.
Finally, we get to the central ideological argument of this chapter and the rest of this book, when Bella asks Edward why he didn’t just let the venom vampirize her. He’s shocked she even knows about the mechanics of vampire-creation; he seems to be making a mental note to pound the shit out of Alice later, and not in a good way.
Bella makes an argument for equality. “A man and a woman have to be somewhat equal…as in, one of them can’t always be swooping in and saving the other one.” He says “you have saved me,” but that is a weak retort and he seems to know it.
“You don’t know what you’re asking.” His voice was soft; he stared intently at the edge of the pillowcase.
“I think I do.”
“Bella, you don't know. I’ve had almost ninety years to think about this, and I’m still not sure.”
“Do you wish that Carlisle hadn’t saved you?”
“No, I don’t wish that.” He paused before continuing. “But my life was over. I wasn’t giving anything up.”
Minor stylistic note: do you really need that “He paused before continuing”? By breaking a quote in half with just a plain old “Edward said” don’t you create a pause there anyway? Isn’t mentioning that someone paused basically always redundant?
Anyway, Edward’s contention for the next 25 pages or so is that becoming a vampire is dying. Bella believes, rather, that it is being born. He wants her to live her life, to experiences all of the milestones, joys and sorrows of human existence. Bella doesn’t want to get old and die while the man she loves remains seventeen forever. It is an interesting central question, mostly interesting because it has no bearing on actual life whatsoever. It is purely a thought experiment: is becoming immortal (taking in exchange the existence as a vampire and all of the negatives that go with it, small though they may seem) the end of a life, or the start of something more? It isn’t as simple as “is eternal life a blessing or a curse?” The question here is more like “does existence as a vampire transcend human existence?” Take this central question and compare it to Harry Potter, which has central questions like “What does it mean to be Good?” and “What is the Good Life?” and “What causes are worth dying for?” and “What is evil?” Harry Potter is pretty much an appropriation of the history of Western Philosophy. There are Nietzschian aspects of Voldemort; there’s some Platonic shit up in there too. Twilight has none of this. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Maybe the Great American Novel has to address Life’s Big Questions, but we already got a GAN for this century; it’s called The Wire. S. Meyer can do whatever she wants, and I think this central question is kind of fun, in a no-consequence sort of way.
It also makes for some great, charged exchanges between Bella and Edward in the hospital. Edward brings up her parents, Bella essentially makes the case that they don’t need her (just lines earlier she was making the case to her mother that part of the reason she wanted to stay in Forks was because Charlie did need her, but whatever Bella):
“…And Charlie’s resilient, he’s used to being on his own. I can’t take care of them forever. I have my own life to live.”
“Exactly,” he snapped. “And I won’t end it for you.”
There’s a case to be made that she could just bring her parents in on the whole vampire situation; if she ever becomes one she’ll have to, right? I guess then they won’t necessarily want to get old either, and Bella will be on the other side of this argument some day, and so the circle expands, and at what point do you stop letting people into the club? See what I’m saying? This argument has all sorts of weird angles; was this book originally intended for stoners? This is fucking heavy shit, man.
Bella threatens to get vamped from someone else, Edward gets pretty angry at her threat. That’s when Bella realizes why Edward has been all pissed off about the visions Alice was getting earlier in the book.
“Alice already saw it, didn’t she?” I guessed… “She knows I’m going to be like you…someday.”
“She’s wrong. She also saw you dead, but that didn’t happen either.”
“You’ll never catch me betting against Alice.”
So there you have it, I guess. Has the sequel been set up for you enough yet? (We have an epilogue for next time that pushes it a little more.) Bella makes Edward promise to stay as a nurse administers more drugs to knock her out again. Am I the only person concerned that Bella has taken a lot of medication, paranormal or otherwise, in this book?
"Stay." The word was slurred.
"I will," he promised. His voice was beautiful, like a lullaby.
Clearly we're winding down here, S. Meyer seems to be running out of similes.
"Like I said, as long as it makes you happy...as long as it's what's best for you."
I tried to shake my head, but it was too heavy. "[it's] not the same thing," I mumbled.
He laughed. "Don't worry about that now, Bella. You can argue with me when you wake up."
It seems like we've passed the point where it is what's best for Bella, right? Even in Edward's mind. So I don't think we have to worry about him leaving anytime soon. Should I be worried, guys?
There's this kind of Charlie Chaplin routine that happens when Edward realizes he can make Bella's heart monitor freak out whenever he leans in for a kiss. When he's got it beeping like crazy, he finally kisses her and the machine flat-lines for a second. But then it's fine. Ha! Her heart literally stopped! Very funny, and very implausible! Edward backs off. "I'm not finished kissing you," Bella says. "Don't make me come over there." I feel like a lot of the boundaries between these two are gone; sucking venom from your significant other's wound will do that to a relationship, believe me.
Bella's mom shows up; Edward pretends to be asleep. There's a lot of "I was so worried" and "oh mom" and that sort of thing, but the big thing happens when Bella's mom starts talking about the new house they have in Florida and how Phil got signed and Bella is going to love it there. "Whoa, bitch- back the fuck up," Bella says. Okay, I'm paraphrasing. Bella's mom is appalled when Bella tells her she has no intention of leaving Forks, and concludes that it has to do with Edward.
Bella tries to downplay her affection for Edward, which is weird. She’s been waxing poetic about their love for chapters now, but she’s too insecure about it to be honest with her mother? Are you getting all this, Edward? Her mother says she thinks “that boy is in love with you,” and Bella struggles for a response. “As much as I loved my mom, this was not a conversation I wanted to have with her.” Is she talking about the sex talk? They haven’t had that conversation yet?
Bella’s mom seems eager to leave; she has to call Phil. Obviously Bella is making the right choice with Forks, huh? “Oh, okay you’re awake. Good. Okay, see you later, my boyfriend is calling!”
She leaves, and Edward expresses surprise that Bella would want to stay in Forks; Bella expresses surprise that it would surprise him. “But you’d be stuck inside all day in Florida,” she says. Edward says he would have stayed in Forks, or “someplace I couldn’t hurt you.” So we’re back to the misgivings, which I suppose is predictable. But they just escaped a near-death experience! You’d think Edward would give himself over to a little bit of misguided “and we’ll live happily ever after” bullshit for a few days before he starts in with all the “I’m dangerous” talk. But he says the worst part of the whole experience was sucking the venom out, not being sure that he wouldn’t kill her himself, which, I have to admit, is a pretty good reason to end a relationship.
Bella talks him down. Edward again agrees that he couldn’t bring himself to leave her even though he wants to. Didn’t this conversation already happen, two or three times? Bella tries to get him to actually promise not to leave, but he deflects. I still don’t have that picture of the shadow of a number four, but I could really use it now.
Finally, we get to the central ideological argument of this chapter and the rest of this book, when Bella asks Edward why he didn’t just let the venom vampirize her. He’s shocked she even knows about the mechanics of vampire-creation; he seems to be making a mental note to pound the shit out of Alice later, and not in a good way.
Bella makes an argument for equality. “A man and a woman have to be somewhat equal…as in, one of them can’t always be swooping in and saving the other one.” He says “you have saved me,” but that is a weak retort and he seems to know it.
“You don’t know what you’re asking.” His voice was soft; he stared intently at the edge of the pillowcase.
“I think I do.”
“Bella, you don't know. I’ve had almost ninety years to think about this, and I’m still not sure.”
“Do you wish that Carlisle hadn’t saved you?”
“No, I don’t wish that.” He paused before continuing. “But my life was over. I wasn’t giving anything up.”
Minor stylistic note: do you really need that “He paused before continuing”? By breaking a quote in half with just a plain old “Edward said” don’t you create a pause there anyway? Isn’t mentioning that someone paused basically always redundant?
Anyway, Edward’s contention for the next 25 pages or so is that becoming a vampire is dying. Bella believes, rather, that it is being born. He wants her to live her life, to experiences all of the milestones, joys and sorrows of human existence. Bella doesn’t want to get old and die while the man she loves remains seventeen forever. It is an interesting central question, mostly interesting because it has no bearing on actual life whatsoever. It is purely a thought experiment: is becoming immortal (taking in exchange the existence as a vampire and all of the negatives that go with it, small though they may seem) the end of a life, or the start of something more? It isn’t as simple as “is eternal life a blessing or a curse?” The question here is more like “does existence as a vampire transcend human existence?” Take this central question and compare it to Harry Potter, which has central questions like “What does it mean to be Good?” and “What is the Good Life?” and “What causes are worth dying for?” and “What is evil?” Harry Potter is pretty much an appropriation of the history of Western Philosophy. There are Nietzschian aspects of Voldemort; there’s some Platonic shit up in there too. Twilight has none of this. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. Maybe the Great American Novel has to address Life’s Big Questions, but we already got a GAN for this century; it’s called The Wire. S. Meyer can do whatever she wants, and I think this central question is kind of fun, in a no-consequence sort of way.
It also makes for some great, charged exchanges between Bella and Edward in the hospital. Edward brings up her parents, Bella essentially makes the case that they don’t need her (just lines earlier she was making the case to her mother that part of the reason she wanted to stay in Forks was because Charlie did need her, but whatever Bella):
“…And Charlie’s resilient, he’s used to being on his own. I can’t take care of them forever. I have my own life to live.”
“Exactly,” he snapped. “And I won’t end it for you.”
There’s a case to be made that she could just bring her parents in on the whole vampire situation; if she ever becomes one she’ll have to, right? I guess then they won’t necessarily want to get old either, and Bella will be on the other side of this argument some day, and so the circle expands, and at what point do you stop letting people into the club? See what I’m saying? This argument has all sorts of weird angles; was this book originally intended for stoners? This is fucking heavy shit, man.
Bella threatens to get vamped from someone else, Edward gets pretty angry at her threat. That’s when Bella realizes why Edward has been all pissed off about the visions Alice was getting earlier in the book.
“Alice already saw it, didn’t she?” I guessed… “She knows I’m going to be like you…someday.”
“She’s wrong. She also saw you dead, but that didn’t happen either.”
“You’ll never catch me betting against Alice.”
So there you have it, I guess. Has the sequel been set up for you enough yet? (We have an epilogue for next time that pushes it a little more.) Bella makes Edward promise to stay as a nurse administers more drugs to knock her out again. Am I the only person concerned that Bella has taken a lot of medication, paranormal or otherwise, in this book?
"Stay." The word was slurred.
"I will," he promised. His voice was beautiful, like a lullaby.
Clearly we're winding down here, S. Meyer seems to be running out of similes.
"Like I said, as long as it makes you happy...as long as it's what's best for you."
I tried to shake my head, but it was too heavy. "[it's] not the same thing," I mumbled.
He laughed. "Don't worry about that now, Bella. You can argue with me when you wake up."
It seems like we've passed the point where it is what's best for Bella, right? Even in Edward's mind. So I don't think we have to worry about him leaving anytime soon. Should I be worried, guys?
2 comments:
I'm digging all of the awesome music allusions. (The Smiths & Conor Oberst)
:D
Haha. "I don't think we have to be worried about him leaving any time soon." You'd think so, wouldn't you?
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