“Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.” (1). Bella offers her life to save her love, Edward Cullen. We all know the story. Good girl falls in love with a dark, mysterious, handsome, and very dangerous vampire (yet the fact that he is dangerous makes him even more gorgeous and desirable). Young adults and teens all over the world are biting at the new Twilight series and no matter how many times read over and over again, the Twilight books are as delicious as ever. We are left hungry for more.
I am no exception to the twilight trap. As soon as my fingers turn the first page I am hooked and read in the long hours of the night. I want to know who the “devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful” people are that Bella gawks at during lunch time (19). Why did Edward Cullen cut class? What are they? Who is Jacob? Does Edward like Bella? But most of all I want to know who this “dazzling guy” is (168). I want to know everything about Edward. The author, Stephenie Myers, allows the reader through the eyes of Bella to become friends with and later fall in love with the mysteriously and handsome Edward Cullen. I read it again and again. I escape the world I know and enter the world of Edward Cullen. After the umpteenth time of rereading Twilight my eyes jerk over the conversation between Bella and Edward. She says, “’You spied on me?’… He was unrepentant. ‘What else is there to do at night?’” (292-293). And that is when it hit me like a bucket of ice cold water being poured over my head. I woke up from my fantasy world of Edward to the real and alarming world of reality. Edward Cullen is a creeper. There is no nice way to put it, but someone who spies on others all through the night every night is more than unsettling, it is frightening and scary. But worse than an extreme stalker is someone who likes such radical behavior. You do not need a psychology degree to know that the relationship between Bella and Edward is not only wrong but disturbing on so many levels. Yet, the number one New York Times Best Seller of 2007 encourages the world that such human behavior is not only tolerable but welcoming . It would seem that the world has fallen in love with Edward and we thirst for more.
The innocent girl lusts after the bad guy. If his stalker behavior is something you can live with, surely his diet is enough to wake anyone up and put a stop to such a relationship. We may lust for Edward, but Edward lusts after blood. Bella’s blood is “exactly [his] brand of heroin” (268). He is a blood- sucking vampire! Edward exclaims, “It took everything I had not to jump up in the middle of that class full of children and-’ He stopped abruptly” (269). Even Edward could not verbalize how horrible he really is. I don’t care how incredibly good looking he is “even- makes- Bad- Pitt- look- ugly”. No Edward is worth the sacrifice. The nature of being with an evil and exotic creature such as a vampire is exciting and brings a certain level of mystery and uncertainty to life. It’s like our life is as glamorous as the movies. We want adventure, but does that mean we have to sacrifice the good things to experience it? Once again, we see how Edward is truly a bad boyfriend for Bella.
Stephenie Meyer resolves the conflict three books later and it is safe to assume the little vampire family lives happily ever after. The reader (usually a young adult or teen girl) concludes it is safe to fall in love with the Edwards of the world because it works out in this particular case. This is when we can no longer buy what the reader says and apply it to our lives but rather become active in our own lives and realize the truth. No handsome dark, dramatic, and essentially bad person is worth our time. Young girls today need to take a stand. We can no longer accept good looking boys with huge character flaws. We deserve something better. We deserve someone good. And to be quite honest, no matter what angle you look at- Edward just doesn’t make the cut.
