Cliche and Not Cliche

The beginning of any book is mostly exposition. We need to be introduced to both the main character(s) and the setting, the tone needs to be set and all of this needs to be done well so that we can immerse ourselves in the world the author has generated. Most novels don’t have much of an issue in doing this, being set in the real world with one or two minor changes that we can quickly accept. Twilight is going to be this way as well, it’s a novel about a teenage girl but it has vampires. We just have to learn to accept this to move on. So Meyer’s only real goal in the first chapter is to set up our main character…whose name is “Isabella Swan."

Ugh, this is trite beyond trite as she prefers to be called “Bella,” “Bella Swan.” In Italian “Bella” roughly means “Beautiful,” so her name essentially means “Beautiful Swan.” This sets up the obvious analogy to the fairy tale of the ugly duckling and we see one of the main story arcs already. Bella is going to be shy, pretty (but not too pretty–we get to that later), and most importantly–an outcast. She needs to be an outcast because of both the typical audience of a vampire book and because the story would have to be vastly different if she were the popular girl, although that would make for an interesting work itself–a popular girl who exiles herself.

We can place Bella’s age between 16-18 given the information that we have. She’s a junior in highschool so she could have an early birthday or a late birthday which would have given her the odd phenomenon of the late start which would undoubtedly make her very popular in college when she is the first girl that can legally buy booze. Until then, she must remain a pariah. Why is she a pariah? Well it seems that her mom and dad have divorced, not that uncommon anymore but we also know that her mom has some mental issues. This pushed Bella into the role of child adult. She’s an outcast not through any fault of her own but because her mom would forget to buy food, pay bills, etc. Bella had to shoulder these burdens on her own.

Again, this makes all of Bella’s social incompetence not her fault. She doesn’t relate to people her age because she’s been an adult. While her contemporaries were watching cartoons, playing sports, and goofing off with each other she was busy figuring out W-4 forms, telephone bills, and grocery lists. This again is a nod to the intended audience who are typically socially awkward themselves and never believe it’s their own fault. So far, it would seem that I have dated this woman before. It’s not simply a matter of finding the courage to just enjoy life or people your own age, it is impossible for them…well not really. They just consider it impossible. At the same time they both look down on their peers for being immature while at the same time wishing that they could be like that, but the fates will not allow it for them.

Her appearance roughly reflects this as well: “But physically, I’d never fit in anywhere. I should be tan, sporty, blond–a volleyball player or cheerleader, perhaps–all the things that go with living under the sun.

Instead I was ivory skinned, without even the excuse of blue eyes or red hair, despite the constant sunshine. I had always been slender, but soft somehow, obviously not an athlete; I didn’t have the hand eye coordination to play sports without humiliatin–myself–and harming both myself and anyone else who stood too close.”

We can couple the physical description with her lamentations about her social skills as well, “And if I couldn’t find a niche in a school with three thousand people, what were my chances here?”

All of this is very important because the character has to be two things: an outcast but with the material to not be. This is why she is named “Beautiful Swan” in a non-vampire story she would find a connection with the high-school star male and they would live happily ever after. However the more outcast she is, the more the vampires are going to notice her. It’s a simple rule, look at Mina Harker: she was a feminist before the days of feminism and the Vampire took notice of her. The thing about her character type, and the type of person it most closely resembles is that they are, at worst, phantoms in social settings. You sort of remember something about their presence but that’s where it ends. They simply aren’t noticed unless they choose to be and that almost always ends badly for them. This is our character.

Our setting if the real town of Forks, Washington which exists under “a near constant cover of clouds.” This is not so cliche and I like it. A great place for a vampire because the direct sunlight never exists. While most modern vampire stories take place in L.A., New York, or some other huge metropolis the climate isn’t right for predators that either abhor the sunlight or are destroyed by it. I’m not sure what we are establishing for this particular breed of undead: are they killed by it, does it lessen their powers, does the difference between sunlight and daylight make a difference? But the setting establishes that these are some of the smarter creatures that appear in fiction. They have sought out a place where the hated sun is hidden. I give Meyer credit on this one, the only thing that would make more sense is if this story took place North of the Arctic circle.