Corrections and Aftermath (Ch. 3, 68-75)

It seems that I do have to take back my “snow” criticism from last week. I was under the impression that the chains on tires have to do with depth of snow but it has more to do with slickness of terrain especially in higher elevations. The average elevation of Forks is 300′ above sea level, and of course this is an average so the hilly terrain would necessitate some added traction. I guess the road crews in Forks have their work cut out for them repairing the damage (see The Simpsons: Marge vs. the Monorail for an amusing example of why this is the case).*

That however doesn’t make the book any better, just more on the side of accuracy. We are still left with the issue of the lie. Bella is convinced that something odd happened, she is of course correct but she doesn’t have any evidence. Let’s look at what she is claiming happened: Edward was four cars away, the van was going to hit her, then she was on the ground with Edward standing over her. In her perception Edward crossed the distance of around 20 feet or so to push her aside. Edward tells her that he was standing next to her.

The only problem on Bella’s part is that for the entire length of the book so far, she has come off as a shy, introverted, person with a self-imposed stamp of advanced maturity. She consistently reminds the reader that she is unsure of herself in just about everything she does. So like a shut-in fan of Joss Whedon she has to hold on to something that everyone else believes to be false or else her worldview will fall apart. Where does the confidence come from? Only four chapters in and her character has changed this much?

Well, no it hasn’t. It’s only changed for this one thing. She still resents being the center of attention, she still reminds us that she is clumsy, and she still hides behind her hair in class. I’m willing to accept that the near death experience shook her up, but the problem lies in the plot itself: this is obviously going to be the catalyst that brings together Bella and Edward. Edward, for being a vampire much advanced in years than his appearance, apparently is an idiot. I could think of about four other lies that would better cover up the incident than his. What makes it worse is that he folds on the lie so quickly in the hospital that we have to push his motives into suspicion. He’s not the suave cool vampire of every other popular vampire fiction, he’s as every bit a doofus as Bella. The cool guy doesn’t explain himself, he should have just said, “live and be happy,” and let it drop. She would come around anyway, but he lacks the confidence to actually do this.

Which makes his further actions even more mysterious. “Live and be happy” theoretical vampire (whom I will now abbreviate as TV because I’m sure this is going to come up again) and Edward would behave the same way. Edward has taken to avoiding Bella whenever possible and when they arrive together in Biology he doesn’t speak to her. It’s a good move because we know from various vampire series that Edward has been scolded by the Vampire King/Scion/Lord.

Bella, on the other hand is having trouble dealing with everything. Tyler, who almost killed her, is seeking penance. Which is normal for almost having made her the meat in a car sandwich. Mike, her dough-eyed torch bearer and Eric, the greasy dragon t-shirt wearing loser won’t talk to Tyler. Which makes sense in a way. Bella is the new girl, the one they didn’t grow up with so they want her and Tyler almost killed her so they are giving him the cold shoulder. Bella of course draws the wrong conclusion, “Mike and Eric were even less friendly toward him (Tyler) than they were to each other, which made me worry that I’d gained another unwelcome fan.“

What doesn’t make sense is the context. Tyler isn’t a fan, he’s her almost murderer, that’s why he’s hanging around. It’s not because he likes her. These two have a connection. Clint Eastwood said in the movie Unforgiven that killing a man is a strange thing, you take away everything they have and everything they were ever gonna have. She knows this, what is also puzzling is how she derives that from the fact that the guys competing for her affection won’t talk to the third.

It’s also a mystery to me why she doesn’t like Mike. We know how she feels about Eric, and that is understandable. Mike may have come on too strong, but we don’t have any real evidence for this. He seems nice, is popular enough that nobody hates him, and from our bland descriptions he is decent looking. I know that sometimes you just know when you aren’t going to like someone, but if that was the case I would think that the shy introvert would just say it.

Obviously the crash is the center of everyone’s attention. Bella notices that no one is talking about Edward, she finds this strange. So do I, no matter how things turned out or what happened in the end he saved her life. She’s right to protest that he was the real hero but she feels different, “With chagrin I realized the probable cause–no one else was as aware of Edward as I always was. No one else watched him the way I did. How pitiful.”

It doesn’t matter that no one else has a crush on him the way she does, they would still have noticed a couple of things: that he pushed her out of the way of the car, that he was over her after the impact, and that he wasn’t in school that day because he was put into an ambulance. These things would be noticed, not in the same light as Bella does but still noticed.

Bella and Edward still aren’t talking. I have never saved anyone’s life before but I can imagine that I would feel a bit uncomfortable around them afterward. I could sympathize with Edward, if he were a tolerable person, but since he isn’t it doesn’t matter. Bella isn’t as understanding, “He wished he hadn’t pulled me from the path of Tyler’s van–there was no other conclusion that I could come to.”

“No other conclusion,” wow, someone needs to stop reading Emily Dickinson. I know that emotionally she is out of whack because she has a huge crush on Edward but this is extreme and leads us to Bella’s other problem, she is clinically depressed. I don’t mean that in a gothy-cutty way, I mean that in a DSM IV way. Someone won’t talk to her and this is the only conclusion that she can come up with. How about that he just doesn’t like her? Or that he feels uncomfortable after telling her there was a big secret at the hospital and that is what he regrets? He would rather that she just “live and be happy,” and not constantly wonder about him? Any of those three are far more plausible than her conclusion.

To her credit she does confront him on the issue: “When he finally spoke he almost sounded mad, ‘You think I regret saving your life?’
‘I know you do,’ I snapped.”

All of this because he won’t return her affections. Edward becomes angry with her, which is completely understandable. If I saved someone’s life and they were insistent that I would rather them dead, I would be awfully pissed off as well. What could you say to a person who thinks you believe you made a mistake when you didn’t let them die? It all emanates from Bella’s obsession with him, because he doesn’t share the same preoccupation with her that she does with him. It’s this kind of bullshit that makes me glad that I went to an all boys high school.

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*Thanks to Deadmoneywalking and Jupiter888Girl for directing me to check on this.