Jan Carlos Avila
Prof. Kouzmine
ENC 1102
April 25, 2018
TWILIGHT DECODED
Twilight Decoded
As if being a teenager, in high school wasn’t hard enough already; what Isabella Swan was about to encounter would change her whole outlook in life. Isabella who prefers to be called Bella, moves from Arizona where she was living with her mother to Forks where she is now to live with her father for the very first time. Not only does she need to rekindle her relationship with her father, she must learn how to be without her mother, make new friends at a new school, and find new hobbies in a new state; talk about a challenge. Notwithstanding all the changes Bella is about to embark on, she is an ordinary teenager. Nothing extraordinary about her, she dresses bland, talks normal, no special talent; just very basic or at least she thinks. To this one particular classmate in her new High school Bella is extremely special. How is she so special? Well by the smell of her blood. As soon as Edward Cullen takes a whiff of Bella he immediately loses control and starts to thirst for her. Whiff… wait… what? Unlike Bella, Edward Cullen is not your average teenage boy. Edward Cullen was an average seventeen year old teenage boy in 1918 when he was dying of the Spanish Influenza in Chicago; his “father” Carlisle Cullen who is a doctor saved Edward’s life by biting him and transforming Edward into a vampire. This is not your average blood thirsty drink all human in sight’s blood type of story; there is so much more to the Twilight Saga and that is why it was the number one New York’s best seller for months on end. The Twilight series is comprised of four major books which are: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. Book one, Twilight is the inception of the story, where you learn about the characters, their life stories, and mostly where the reader learns how Bella and Edward interact and the infatuation they have with one another. New Moon, book two is about Bella finding out who she is without Edward through her friend Jacob which we then find out is a werewolf. Finally, Breaking Dawn which is broken down in a three part book where one part is in the view of Bella as she embarks in a whole new life alongside her vampire and werewolf friend. The second part is in the view of nonetheless, her werewolf friend Jacob and how he sees Bella’s life from the outside. Then; the third portion of Breaking Dawn takes us back to Bella’s perspective of her life’s events. Nonetheless, the Twilight series and its overwhelming series of events leave the reader laughing, crying and shocked.
Book one, on the cover a red apple held by two hands; why the apple? Stephanie Meyers, the writer found the red apple to represent a “forbidden fruit”, which happens to be a scripture from the Genesis book of the bible; i.e. “the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.” Meyer feels that Bella ended up with just that; the knowledge of good and evil. To Meyer, the apple signifies choice. https://stephaniemeyer.com/the-books/twilight Twilight begins with an unnamed narrator; the narrator goes on about how great the last few months have been and they have nothing to complain about. However, shortly thereafter we find out the narrator is Bella and she has graciously volunteered to move to Forks, Washington with her father so her newlywed mother can spend quality time with her new husband. Upon her move to Forks, she commences at a new high school where she receives a lot more attention from boys than she did living in Arizona with her mother. She quickly makes friends, and has a few boys crushing on her already, but her vision is blurred by the sight of the Cullen family. The Cullen family are 4 siblings that only interact with each other and no one else. Bella notices them in the lunch room and sees them as these magical looking humans; especially Edward which she is obligated to sit next to in her biology class. After Edward and Bella’s first encounter Edward goes missing from school for a few days and Bella starts to worry and believes his disappearance has something to do with her presence since she believes Edward was disgusted by her due to his initial reaction. Once Edward returns to school he tries to befriend Bella which leaves Bella confused. Although Bella is confused she cannot stop herself from thinking about Edward; how interested she is to know about him especially after the school rumors that the Cullen family are vampires. Nonetheless, Edward and Bella become more than friends, even after she confirms that he in fact is a vampire, she feels utterly in love with Edward. Edward explains to Bella how the Cullen family are not your average human blood eating vampire, instead they are a hybrid vampire family that only feed off the blood of animals. Bella goes on to sit with the Cullen’s during lunch alienating herself from her former human friends, to the point that they are treating her differently; but that does not stop her. Bella agrees to meet Edward’s family, which is awkward in many aspects, Carlisle and Esme Cullen (parents) are extremely thrilled to meet Bella, Alice (sister to Edward) which has the special power of seeing into the future, already knows she and Bella will get along, Jasper, Alice’s mate is a new special hybrid of vampire so he is in pain as he smells Bella’s blood and all he can think of is tasting it; Rosalie and Emmett are also Edwards brother and sister but are husband and wife. Rosalie does not fancy the thought of Bella nor is she welcoming Bella with open arms. But it is not only Rosalie that does not like the idea of Edward and Bella dating, Jacob, Bella’s childhood friend along with his family which are a long line of werewolves urge Bella to separate from Edward. Notwithstanding anybody’s regard to their relationship Bella and Edward continue onto prom together, very much in love. So much in love that Bella asks Edward to turn her into a vampire so they can live for eternity together, but Edward refuses.
New Moon, book two of the series shakes all Bella and Edward fan club members to their core. Although New Moon begins where we left off in book one, Bella and Edward very much in love, an incident occurs that puts Edward into a zone. In my opinion New Moon should have been called the Twilight Zone because that’s where Bella is most of this book. Summer has now passed and Bella and Edward must go back to school; which they do as the very much observed couple. Bella in this series is turning eighteen years old. She complains to her love Edward how she is getting older and he will always and forever look and be seventeen years old. She begs and begs to be turned into a vampire but Edward refuses each and every time. In a private celebration prepared by the Cullen family at the Cullen home for Bella’s eighteenth birthday which everyone is excited to celebrate since the Cullen’s do not celebrate birthday’s since they don’t get older Bella gets hurt. Opening presents Bella gets a paper cut and starts bleeding; Jasper cannot stand the sweet smell of Bella’s blood and attacks her. Vampires have super strength and super speed so Jasper darts towards Bella at lightning speed, to protect her Edward launches Bella standing in her path breaking a table; Carlisle who we recall is a doctor takes over watching and caring for Bella while Alice takes Jasper into the kitchen away from Bella and tries to sooth his thirst. This incident has Edward on edge about Bella and keeping her safe. Edward rushes Bella home, Bella is trying to convince Edward that the incident was not a big deal but he is remaining quiet and upset. The next day Edward walks Bella through a path in the woods near her house after school a path she and Edward have walked frequently. Edward proceeds to tell Bella that he wants to keep her safe and in order to do so he needs to stay away from her; at which point Edward vanishes. Bella in disbelief falls to the grown in tears balls up and passes out. Charlie, Bella’s father and his best-friend Billy from the Indian reservation which happens to be Jacob’s father search for Bella as she has been missing for hours. Bella is finally found and taken home. Bella is depressed for several months barely eating and remaining in her room. Bella’s depression causes her to what she believes is hallucinate when she does reckless activities. She hears Edwards voice ever so clearly. In one event Bella purchases a dirt bike on the side of the road that requires a few repairs, which leads her to visit Jacob since he is a mechanic. Bella comes to realize that she hasn’t seen Jacob in a while and he has transformed into an attractive young man. Jacob who has had a crush on Bella from the moment he met her agrees to help Bella repair the dirt bike and teach her how to ride it. Bella spends every day with Jacob. Bella would drive directly to Jacob’s house straight after school, all of Jacob’s friends would say that Bella was his girlfriend. Bella and Jacob would go everywhere together, Jacob would confide in Bella telling her how a group of boys from the Indian reservation were up to no good and would eventually come for him to be part of their gang. Jacob told Bella how the boys would go cliff diving off the reservation for fun. Bella was intrigued by the notation and in an attempt to hear Edwards voice again she too went cliff diving. As she dives off the cliff she hears Edward telling her how dangerous and reckless she is being; she splashes into the water, the deeper she goes the closer Edwards voice is. Bella is to the point of drowning and Jacob can barely save her but he does. She pleads Jacob not to tell Charlie on their ride home; arriving home she is told that she has a visitor which is none other than Alice, Edwards sister. As we recall Alice has special powers and in one of her visions she sees Bella cliff diving but since Alice cannot see werewolves Alice did not see if Bella survived. Bella’s first question was how is Edward, Alice then has a vision and see Edward going to the Voltari asking them to end his life since Bella was also dead. At that moment Alice tells Charlie Bella is having a sleepover at her house and rush out to and head to Italy to save Edward. The Voltari refuses to end Edward’s life, so Edward decides he will reveal his sparkly skin in the middle of the Volterra’s plaza giving patrons the ability to see him and reveal that he is a vampire so the Voltari has no choice but to take his life since it is the number one offense in the vampire rules. Luckily, Bella and Alice get there just in the nick of time saving Edward, but not without alarming the Voltari and requiring them to meet with them. They survive the meeting and head home in agreement that they will never again leave each other’s side. Jacob however, warns Bella that the wolfpack would have to end the preestablished peace treaty between the vampires and werewolves if she would ever be turned into a vampire.
Eclipse, book three of the series titled Eclipse according to Ms. Meyer herself is because of the content of how newborn vampires are on the attack and over shadowing the older vampires. The cover of the book, a red silk ribbon ripped into two pieces held by a thread, signifies Edward and Jacob, both of Bella’s ends held in the middle by Bella. https://stephaniemeyer.com/the-books/twilight Newborn vampires? How? Well in this book we find out that James’ lifelong partner Victoria is creating an army of newborn vampires in an attempt to have Bella killed as revenge for Edward killing James. This army is being created all over Forks, and affecting all vampires in the area. Edward feels the need to protect Bella once again therefore calling all vampires to meet and ask them to team up against the newborns. Bella fears that she will not survive the confrontation now that there are so many newborns after her. In between the newborn issues, Edward does not allow Bella to visit Jacob, because Edward too has special powers and that is reading minds and knows how Jacob feels for Bella. Jacob knowing that Edward does not want Bella seeing him, comes to Forks high school and kidnaps Bella to spend some time with her. Jacob professes his love for Bella and kisses her. Due to her escape, Edward agrees to allow Bella to visit Jacob in an attempt to prove his trust in her. The night before the battle Bella, Edward and Jacob decide to sleep in a tent on the mountains at a distance from where the battle will take place. The night is stormy and cold and although Edward is doing his best to keep Bella warm, his skin is cold as ice since he is a vampire. Edward has no choice but to let Jacob which is in wolf transformation come into the tent and keep her warm. Jacob takes advantage of the situation and teases Edward to make him jealous. The following morning, the battle commences. There is a huge battle in the mountains where Bella hides from the vampires and is protected by Jacob which also has agreed to fight for Bella. The newborns are all killed along with Victoria and Bella is once again safe. After the battle Bella goes to visit Jacob which was hurt in the fight, he tells her he will always be waiting for her but if she really wants to be with Edward he will let her go. Bella is all shaken up but decides to leave with Edward and inform her family that they are getting married. When Jacob finds out that Bella is getting married he transforms into a wolf and disappears. Is this the end of twilight?
Breaking Dawn, a three-part book of the series is the end. Part one: Jacob remains missing, posters all over town, Bella overwhelmed with the stares not only because she is engaged to Edward but Edward gifted her a flashy Mercedes as his engagement present to her. Wedding plans are on their way and the big day is around the corner. Bella can’t help but to think of all the vampires and humans that will be at their wedding and what a disaster this could be. Nonetheless, wedding day arrives and everyone is there, including Jacob. Jacob and Bella dance, during the dance Bella tells Jacob that she is in fact going forward with their honeymoon and as a human. This news causes Jacob to lose his cool and needs to be restrained. Notwithstanding, Bella and Edward leave for their honeymoon to Esme Isle, which is the Cullen’s family own private island. Bella does in fact give herself to her husband and although causing a lot of bruising she survives the honeymoon. Upon return of their honeymoon Bella realizes that she is pregnant and her belly is growing at an alarming rapid rate. Part two: is in the view of Jacob, he is appalled the hear that Bella is pregnant and growing so quickly. The wolfpack believe the baby to be a mutant and poses a real threat to them so they must kill the baby. Jacob upset at the wolfpacks leader Sam’s decision to kill the baby Jacob leaves the pack to protect Bella once again. Seth and Leah two other wolves part of the pack which have also become friendly with Edward and Bella leave with Jacob. But the baby is breaking Bella’s bones making her real weak; Edward decides to feed Bella his blood, which not only makes Bella feel better but she enjoys the taste as well. Jacob on the other hand tries to find another woman so he can try to forget about his feelings for Bella but is unsuccessful. The baby is born, Renesmee, Bella is dying and Edward has no choice but to turn her into a vampire to save her. Now that Renesmee is born, Jacob thinks he should kill her but once he sees her he imprints on her which means she is set to be his future spouse. Bella and Edward find out that Jacob has imprinted on their daughter; at first they are extremely upset but then are content with it. Renesmee is growing at a fast pace, which alarms the Voltari and causes them to question Renesemee’s threat. The Voltari requests to visit the Cullen’s and meet Renesemee. Upon the visit Alice shows the Voltari Renesemee’s future and Bella now a vampire allows the Voltari leader to read her mind which Edward has never been able to do although that was his special power he just has never been able to enter Bella’s mind. With the visions the Voltari agree that Renesemmee poses no immediate threat but will be monitoring closely.
The Twilight Series labeled as one of the best books written https://newyorktimes.com/twilightseries reached the hearts of young adults, teenagers and even middle-aged adults. Although per Meyer she was “jotting down a story” she had no idea it would turn into such a big sensation. The story does in fact appeal to the female readers since it is a love story with magical touches, they are well rounded and appealable to all readers of any age or gender. If you haven’t read the novel, it is highly recommended by the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Hopefully, Ms. Meyer intends to continue to write and brings us another epic love story.
Annotated Bibliography
Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight Saga. Little Brown and Co., 2005.
Reading Level: 7th
Stephanie Meyer, a mother with no writing experience but with a vast imagination composes a series of books that attract the minds of teenagers and young adults. The Twilight Saga, although fictional became an escape for many young girls and even adults. The book’s characters are described in such a manner that little to no imagination is necessary. One of the main characters, Bella, a dull ordinary teenager going through standard life trials and tribulations is a character anyone can relate to. Stephanie captivates the audience with thrilling adventure, love story and mystical characters. Releasing the first book of the Saga in 2005, Meyer was inspired by authors such as William Goldman, Orson Scott Card and Douglas Adams. Twilight was honored as a New York Times “Editor’s Choice and Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year”. Followed by New Moon in 2006, Eclipse in 2007; Breaking Dawn (Part 1) in 2008 and Breaking Dawn (Part 2) in 2012, Meyer became a well-known household name.
Annotated Bibliography
Writer: Leslie Schillinger
Publisher: New York Times
Reading Level: 5
Leslie Schillinger states that “Meyers trilogy seethes with the archetypal tumult of star-crossed passion in which supernatural element serves as heady spice.” Leslie Schillinger is a critic based out of New York. She is referenced in “Don’t you know about the bird?” by Melissa Martinez lareviewofbooks.org. Leslie Schillinger has been a critic/writer for the New York times for over a decade, started in 2004. Leslie’s articles and essays have made appearances on The New Yorker, The New York Times, New York, The New Republic, The Washington Post, Vogue, Foreign Policy, and The London Independent.
Annotated Bibliography
Writer: Polly Shulman
Publisher: The New York Times
Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Polly Shulman writer of Enthusiasm is compared to Twilight, both “make people think about those painful times as an adolescent when one is helpless victim to romantic infatuation or worse obsession.” Polly has written for the The New York Times, Discover, Newsday, Salon, Slate, Scientific America, Archaeology and The Village Voice. Graduate from Yale University but grew up in New York City. Polly is referenced in “The Grimm Legacy.”
Annotated Bibliography
Writer: Peter Travers
Publisher: Rolling Stones
Reading Level: 7
Peter Travers is a film critic and journalist who has written for People and Roling Stone. Travers additionally hosts celebrity interviews on a show called Popcorn on ABC. Travers is referenced on the Washington Post and Rotting Tomato’s. Travers states that Twilight Saga: Eclipse “is just one more walk on the mild sides for tweens who dream of being penetrated by cold flesh that will keep them young and cute forever.”