Subjugation (Pgs. 179-197)

We are backtracking a little bit this week because two issues popped up during the last section and due to space constrictions* I felt that I would break it up into two posts. Sometimes doing these only once a week can be quite frustrating. The first issue was obviously the vampire powers that Edward possesses, I deemed that more important because the great nerd rage over Meyer's work is partly based on the fact that these aren't real Vampires...as opposed to the "real vampires" that actually exist.

The second post concerns the new revelation of Edward's stalking of Bella. So many people seem to idolize their relationship** that it's very troubling to me to see his actions toward her being deemed not only acceptable but desirable. Simply described this relationship is not based on mutual respect. The surest sign of this is that Edward behaves like a controlling abusive boyfriend by constantly reminding Bella that she is in danger and will surely be in mortal danger without his presence. Another is that the entire relationship is dictated by him, if you take a look at the sections we've read so far you'll notice that every conversation and action is on his fiat. He gives permission for her to ask questions, he determines when they will interact, ask yourself this: when does she determine anything in spite of his wishes?

We are back in the car driving from Port Angeles to Forks, and Edward has consented to answering a couple of questions after the absurd accusation and confirmation of ESP. He's permitted Bella to ask a couple of questions, which is odd in itself since what he is telling her would necessitate that she ask many follow ups. She asks the question regarding why he can't read her mind and, "he sighed."

See what I mean? He sighs impatiently like she's pestering him with questions about some trivial matter that she's making up in her head...the waitress from earlier perhaps, however since she is asking him about an ability that he possesses on everyone on the planet but her the question should have been anticipated. This might be excusable if he were actually 17 and not over a century old. This may, in fact, be the problem with the legions of fans of the relationship between the two. At seventeen we might cut a boy some slack because hormones are driving their actions, but at a certain point it ends, and certainly after a century he should behave somewhat better toward women.

The relationship has never been that good to begin with. Edward makes it worse by reminding Bella that he's her guardian angel, only Edward can keep her safe, not even Bella can stay out of trouble without him. This sets up a one-way dependence relationship where if she begins to believe it (and she does) she will begin to understand that she's completely helpless without him. This is the same mentality that keeps abused women going back to their husbands/boyfriends. Defenders might comment that Edward is correct, he has saved Bella twice so far.

That might be the case, we know that he did save her from the car accident. We don't know what the four men were planning but up until Edward pulled up, all they had done was harass her. Yet, Edward reinforces the danger Bella is in by driving excessively fast. When she freaks out he explains that he's never been in an accident nor ever gotten a ticket. That's not the point though, the point is that Bella is obviously scared, Edward in true form argues before slowing down to 80. Every chance he gets Edward reminds her that she's in danger and that it is only his will keeping her alive. He keeps her in a state of subjugation.

What's worse is that she makes excuses for him, "Your eyes. I told you I had a theory...I've noticed that people-men in particular-are crabbier when they're hungry." He's not angry because she's asking questions, it's because he's hungry...silly blogger, I guess I have the whole thing wrong. Men get upset when they are hungry, not because some silly girl is asking pertinent questions about the nature of their being. Edward doesn't need to relax, he needs to eat...which is worse considering what it is that he eats.

Edward goes on to reinforce his role in their relationship, "I suppose, being you, it could have been much worse--and that possibility tormented me the entire time I was away." He feels panged when he's not around her to protect her from herself. That is the "it" that he is referring to? The fact that she fell and scraped her hand a tiny bit. Something that was deemed to be of so little importance to Bella, that this is the first time that she is mentioning it. I don't know what scenario he's envisioning but unless her fall took place while she was walking on coals while juggling running chainsaws I don't think that it really could have been much worse.

Edward then moves back to the much more dangerous situation of the four men. Bella didn't run because she was trying to remember how to fight off an assailant, her brilliant plan, "I was going to smash his nose into his brain."

Which is a profoundly bad idea for two important reasons. The first is despite what we all learned from the movie "The Last Boyscout" it isn't actually possible. The nose isn't made of bone, it's made of cartilage, a substance that is significantly weaker than bone and tends to snap instead of driving like a nail into the gushy brain anyway. Breaking the nose is a good defensive move since it bleeds a good deal and will cloud the other person's vision as their eyes reflexively water up. It won't be fatal though. The other reason is that unless she was going to perform the maneuver in rapid succession four times in a row she was still in danger. Probably more so, after harming one of the attackers, as the awe factor would last approximately a second before one them grabbed her.

Another minor reason that this was a bad idea, is that Bella would have to overcome that clumsiness that she always reminds us of. Making a decent upward palm strike on an attacker is an action that requires coordination from a person that can't play Badminton without falling down. In no way was Bella going to get out of this by herself. However, it is noteworthy that she at least had enough confidence to come up with something. The trouble is that Edward showed up and she didn't have to assert herself in anyway.

Before she gets out of the car, Bella is told to take Edward's jacket. He doesn't want her to catch a cold, it's a nice sentiment and odd coming from someone that has been reminding (and then proving although not in the way he intended) that he's dangerous. I wonder what the gesture is motivated by, in Psychology one of the things we learned about sociopathy is that those people pay out like slot machines. They are good every so often making their victims think that there is some hope, Bella's repeating over and over again to herself and to Edward throughout the book thus far that, "he's not bad" is illustrative that this method has already worked on her.

The next day Bella awakes, her father gone, and she notices that Edward is in the driveway waiting for her in his shiny Volvo. He asks her if she would like to ride in his car to school. I wonder if this is Mormon second base, but he does ask which is a nice change of pace from his usual orders.

Maybe I'm being hard too hard on the whole thing. She's young, he's playing a seventeen year old, and this is how some teenage relationships are without ever turning into actual abuse. Surely the overly intelligent Bella, fan of Jane Austen, the girl who viewed Chaucer and Shakespeare as basic, who had to turn to books in Arizona because she was such a social outcast would see the signs and determine what she was getting used to. She couldn't willingly engage in a dominating relationship, she knows better right?

 "He was really giving me a choice--I was free to refuse,"

Since this is viewed by her as a surprise, I guess she doesn't.
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*i.e. I can only make these posts so long before people stop reading and just start skimming.

**Do a google search on Twilight and take a gander at some of the websites. You'll see what I mean.

The Powers that Be (Pg. 176-188)

This section is a lot like the final Episode of Lost is going to be: it's satisfactory which disappoints in a way because I wanted so much more. I don't know exactly what I wanted so I'm not too disappointed but the feeling is still there. We are still in Port Angeles, where it is revealed that Edward is a stalker. Following Bella to keep her safe from the inevitable danger that surrounds her even though she's only been in two dangerous scenarios (and that's being generous).

It's been established that Edward has telepathic vampire powers. Instead of playing with the powers Bella goes on to be jealous of every woman that is smiling at Edward at the Italian Restaurant where they are eating. What I don't understand, and it is a continual complaint regarding her, is why she claims that she is so smart and inquisitive when she doesn't express a single characteristic of that personality type. Let's take a look at this ESP.

Bella basically tells Edward that he has it, it makes no sense that she would draw this conclusion, but he confirms it anyway because he is such a good secret keeper. Instead of following up with some obvious questions she just accepts it and moves on. For example when they leave the table Edward pays the waitress setting up an obvious inquiry line for Bella: "He didn't look away from me as he thanked her. I suppressed a smile."

Bella is suspicious of the waitress because she thinks that the woman, who needs to smile and be friendly so that she is tipped well, has the hots for Edward. Instead of asking Edward to read her mind she just smiles because he possibly snubbed her. Anything to display the powers that he has would work here, but Bella, just isn't as inquisitive or intelligent as she would like us to think she is (it bears repeating...often). A normal person, when confronted with the claim of ESP would seek to test it, the more intelligent the person is the more they are going to be skeptical and ask for proof. Blind acceptance isn't a trait that Bella should have if we are to believe her.

The whole section is about Edward's powers and it's done as a "tell" violating the rule of "show don't tell" that anyone who has taken a creative writing class should know. In this case, I'll leap to Meyer's defense since she has to explain Edward's nature in the confines of a restaurant and then a car, so most of it works. It's not bad writing, but it's not great writing either; it's competent which is much more than I was led to expect before I began this project.

Leaving the restaurant, Edward in an unusual display of courtesy opens the door of his car to let Bella in. He shuts the door and walks around the front, "I watched him walk around the front of the car, amazed, yet again, by how graceful he was."

Here is where Meyer should be following the "show don't tell" rule. Edward is walking a maximum of 7 feet what kind of grace can he exhibit? More importantly, why is he so graceful? I don't know how people walked one hundred years ago but I can't imagine that it was any different than it is now. What is also important is whether or not Bella unlocked his door for him, or even tried. This is a rule explained by Sonny in the movie A Bronx Tale. You let the girl in, and walk around the car, if she has unlocked the door she is a keeper*, if not she's selfish and you should dump her.

In the car, Bella grills Edward more about the telepathy, "'How does it work-the mind reading thing? Can you read anybody's mind, anywhere? How do you do it? Can the rest of your family...?' I felt silly asking for clarification on make-believe."

The questions are very pertinent, although the timing is completely wrong. She asks them in the car on the way back to Forks. Again, the restaurant would have been better. I would also like to know if he could read an Infant's mind, since it would settle an old philosophical debate concerning Rationalism v. Empiricism. The explanation he gives is good. He explains that, "It's a little like being in a huge hall filled with people, everyone talking at once."

It reminds me of an episode of Star Trek: The Next Genertaion, where the most useless person on the bridge, Troi, takes in a Betazoid prodigy who has been telepathic since birth and is unable to shut out the voices (Season 3: Tin Man). Edward just lets them buzz around like white noise, something it doesn't seem that the inept Troi** ever suggested.

The next line of inquiry is pretty relevant too, Bella wants to know why Edward can't read her mind. Again, Edward explains it well as a guess, he thinks that Bella's brain is different and it's like her's is on Am but he only gets FM. Nice explanation but Bella takes it the wrong way, "My mind doesn't work right? I'm a freak?' The words bothered me more than they should--probably because his speculation hit home. I'd always suspected as much, and it embarrassed me to have it confirmed."

Well unless by "freak" Bella means, falsely superior, lacking all confidence, prone to lying to itself, then yes, she's a freak. This is all based on Edward's guess, and we can assume this is the first time he's encountered it. If he hasn't then in a hundred more years he'll probably have a better one for the girl he's stalking then. The other thing is that Bella has so far been spending her time bragging about how different she is, then becomes upset when that is confirmed. It further adds to the confusion as to whether I'm supposed to identify or pity her, instead leading me to being disgusted with her.

Aside from the ridiculous, but apparently true, theory of Edward's telepathy Bella has the theory that he's a vampire. She confesses the whole story to him, which is unnecessarily summarized, although she does skip the part about the internet research (as would I). Edward doesn't reply to any of it but it's unclear whether this is out of loyalty to his family, embarrassment, or reluctance to admit his essence. All we know is that his knuckles tightened around the steering wheel.***

So finally, the nature of Meyer's vampire: burning in the sun? "Myth." Which is fine, because Stoker's Dracula walked in the daylight as well. It's addressed in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula that this is not true either but that the powers of the vampire diminish.

Sleeping in a coffin? Again this is wrong, but not in the way you are thinking. These vampires don't sleep at all. I will give her credit for this, because it's at least creative. However Bella has the ability of the Warren Commission to ask follow up questions the most obvious being, "So what do you do all day?" As it is literally, all day. He should be incredibly intelligent, pop-culture savvy, or his gamerscore on XBOX Live is through the roof. Having all that extra time doesn't seem to be helping him any, unless that's how long it takes him to get ready for school.

"You aren't concerned about my diet?' he asked sarcastically." I don't get the adverb in that sentence. For someone who is so concerned about her safety, this shouldn't be a glib comment. She isn't, because she's already decided he's the one despite the fact that his personality reminds me of Ted Bundy and he is a blood drinker.

Since this is a modern Vampire story, we have to do away with the Vampire preys on humans angle because so many people, especially the book's intended audience, actually want to be Vampires without all the mess of having to eat people. They can live off of animal blood, well that is still life they are leaching so it's not so bad and what I do like is how he explains the difference, "I can't be sure, of course, but I'd compare it to living on tofu and soy milk."

So refraining from drinking human blood is like being a vegetarian? Does this mean that the other Vampires in the world regard the Cullens as smug, pretentious, holier-than-thou douche bags who ruin every meal they are invited to? Probably, I'll bet that Volvo has an Apple sticker on the back as well.

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*It actually is a good indicator, in my experience. Although I do amend the rule so that it is whether or not she attempts to unlock the door. It can be hard to find the button nowadays and you can't fault anyone for that.

**Before you Trekkies go all crazy on me let me ask you this: has she ever contributed anything to an episode other than stating the completely obvious?

***He does get upset, but I'm saving that for next week because there is a larger issue concerning his stalking present along with it.

Writing out of the Corner (Pg. 164-176)

Last week we discussed the deus ex machina of Edward showing up to save Bella. I only offer that summary because we left off with the corner that Meyer had written herself into and now she has to write her way out of it, the only way that I can see this happening is that she must begin to reveal to Bella who Edward is this I am terming the "big deal." The "big deal" is the only way that Meyer can write herself out of the corner of having Edward show up at this most fortunate of times. I said last week that his appearance is so fortuitous that it would make Aristotle roll his eyes in contempt. Only the Greek gods have this kind of prescience so let's see how this plays itself out.

We're in the tourist town of Port Angeles and Bella has just dove into Edward's Volvo speeding away from what, at best, was going to be a mugging. He is quiet while Bella is in the car. After ordering her to put on her seat belt he doesn't ask her how she is doing. No, instead, he tells her to distract him. What follows is the best bit of unintentional dating advice for young girls that this book has so far offered, "Sometimes I have a problem with my temper, Bella.' He was whispering, too, and as he stared out the window his eyes narrowed into slits. 'But it wouldn't be helpful for me to turn around and hunt down those...'" [Ellipses authors]

Ladies, if ever a guy tells you that he has a problem with his temper, run away. It's a complete deal breaker, it doesn't make him the cool type of dangerous it makes him the dangerous type of dangerous. What's odd about his comment is that all the four boys are guilty of thus far is harassment. They may have frightened Bella, but that's it. If Edward did go hunting them down, he would be prosecuted for murder and my legal knowledge (gleaned from watching too many reruns of Law and Order) tells me that he might be able to plead it down to manslaughter if he did it right away, but that would still be four counts probably run consecutively.

The temper comment isn't revelatory. We know he has a temper from his other actions. So far, Dreamy McVampire has ordered Bella around several times and he refuses 'no' as a response for anything that he asks. The only difference is that now he's admitting it, but Bella isn't seeing the warning signs despite her supposed superior intelligence. Being frightened of her four alleged attackers it's understandable that she doesn't question Edward's desire to hunt them down, she could be theorizing that he just wants to beat them up, but we know better.

Edward takes her back to her friends at the restaurant, who despite being worried over their missing third have decided to sit down and have a nice dinner. I wonder how the conversation would have went: "I wonder where Bella is?" Jessica asked while absently twirling linguine on her fork.
"I don't know, but do you think that Mike and you are going to be an item?" Angela replied wishing that she had her fake ID with her.

Normally I would write three or four paragraphs on how the two should have acted. But given the fact that Bella has shown them very little concern for their lives it becomes almost consistent that they should do the same. When Bella shows up with Edward, they don't even ask where he came from. The do give an inquiry into where she's been, but then let it drop as Edward decides that he's going to give Bella the ride back to Forks. Jessica and Angela, probably think they are being traded up. She's going to ditch them for some alone time with Edward. A guy would suffer for this, his friends would let him go but then give him a substantial amount of grief for doing so.

The restaurant scene is strange. Because there is a lot of nothing that happens, which Bella regards as significant. In hindsight some of it is, but Bella can't know that as long as her theory remains unconfirmed. Edward draws the eye of both the hostess and the waitress, which in turn draws out Bella's jealousy. If these two get together she's going to be a problem, suspicious of every woman that looks at Edward especially as she ages and they do not.*

Then there is the normal behavior Edward exhibits which Bella reads into. The hostess offers them a table, Edward refuses it asking for a booth for more privacy. Bella observes two things: the first is that she thinks Edward paid the hostess, the handshake tip that I've only done once. She then accuses him of "dazzling her" using his magic vampire powers to get the new table. Not only do the two things contradict each other, but there is the place itself. It can't be that busy necessitating him to do either. I don't fault Meyer here but her character. It's obvious these two kids are on a date, a dead restaurant wouldn't be reluctant to re-seat the lovebirds if they appear to be well behaved.

Bella, is falling prey to a condition that infects all conspiracy theorists, selective evidence awareness. She's already bought into the theory that Edward is a Vampire, and everything she observes must confirm that theory or else it isn't worth it. Like the "truthers" and the mysterious C-130 flying over DC, it must have something to do with the plan. Edward refusing the table isn't that odd, but she crams it into her evidence then accuses him of it.

He takes it with no consideration. Perhaps he is so used to doing it, that he doesn't realize it. Then again, I don't think that he actually did anything but ask for a new table. Edward of course doesn't eat, Bella orders mushroom ravioli and the two begin talking. This is the beginning of what we have been waiting for, the big reveal, more importantly we should get our reason for Edward's sudden appearance.

"This is more complicated then I'd planned," Edward comments to no one in particular. Sure, he's talking at Bella but not to her. In this relationship Edward has all of the power. There is nothing that Bella can really offer him at this point except his attachment to her. This is probably a begrudging conversation on his part. Something that he doesn't want to do but feels that he might as well lest he hear about it later. He probably has the same feeling in his head that everyone has when they hear the words "we need to talk."

Bella, as usual, cuts to the point, what is unusual is that her first questions isn't full of self deprecation, "Why are you in Port Angeles?"

It's the most obvious question, it's the most relevant, and for my part, it's really the one that I want to know too. Edward, as established, is not a good liar because he responds by telling her to skip that one and go to the next question. Almost a century old and he can't say something like, "I was looking for a new suit," he obviously has lived in the woods too long.

Bella reluctantly agrees then goes on with a comment so out of the blue the font might as well be written in it, "Let's say, hypothetically of course, that...someone...could know what people were thinking, read minds, you know ---with a few expections.'

As we say on the internet, WTF? Ah, telepathy, is there anything a vampire can't do? Edward, inexplicably plays along. Beyond being an as-yet-unconfirmed-vampire this accusation of Edward's super powers doesn't even make sense. If we take Dracula to be the prime mover for Vampires, and move forward from there, ESP doesn't fit. I know that some Vampire literature has it, I believe Lestat was able to read minds in the Ann Rice universe, but it's entirely rare. And it's too convenient.

Yet, it's really the only way that Meyer can get Edward to save Bella at this particular point. Even that doesn't explain it fully, "I followed you to Port Angeles,' he admitted, speaking in a rush. 'I've never tried to keep a specific person alive before, and it's much more troublesome than I would have believed. But that's probably just because it's you. Ordinary people seem to make it through the day without so many catastrophes."

It's a repeat of the problem with 80's romantic comedies, that the stalker eventually wins the girl. Even Bella wonders about it too, but secretly she's flattered by the attention (guys: it only works in fiction). What I don't like, because the stalking doesn't bother me since I already don't like Edward, is that it's such a cheap way out of the corner for Meyer. He was in Port Angeles because he's been following Bella. Why, because she's a trouble magnet. Which we know, because Edward's saying it right now. So far Bella has almost been in a car accident, and then...she was harassed. So far that's it.

Having established that Edward can read minds we know that he knew what the four harassers were thinking. What, however does that prove? Roger Ebert, in his review of the deplorable movie The Dream Catcher, wondered about a movie that would deal with the real experiences of a telepath. Most people have desires, thoughts, that are normal but once in awhile they get...odd. Or are evidence of an animal desire that the rational human brain overwhelms. If you throw a punch in anger the thought may be just to hurt the other person but the Id may desire that person's death. It doesn't mean that you are going to kill the person, or that you even want to only that for a brief minutia of an instance the desire was there. Only German Philosopher Immanuelle Kant could hold a person to moral culpability based on latent intention in their action. Then again this book comes from a tradition where a person is guilty of adultery if they find another person "sexy."**

Edward, reading the thoughts of the four perceives an animalistic desire that probably went beyond what they were actually going to do. In any case, Bella is hardly a trouble magnet. Having had been in one dangerous instance and one that could have possibly been dangerous but was at least frightening. So this is Meyer's explanation for Edward showing up without the benefit of a seeing stone of Numenor. Story-wise this means that Edward has to explain his true nature and we finally can get to the big reveal.

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*Like the often quoted line from Dazed and Confused, "I love highschool girls every year I get older and they stay the same age."

**The other thing about Edward's reaction is that he is guilty of the same thing, only he expresses his desire in words. If the four are guilty for thinking about murdering/raping Bella, Edward is as guilty for murdering them since he expresses his wish to hunt them down in the car and in the restaurant. I guess it doesn't matter because he is our hero though.

The Eagles are Coming! (Pg. 153-164)

Deus Ex Machina literally translates as "the hand of god." It's almost never good to hear someone describe a plot device as the hand of god. It comes to use as the author of a story is the god of the world they are writing. Literally they can do anything with their pen, and if they get stuck the ancient writers used to bring the actual gods in to solve the problem. Think of Homer and the Iliad where Athena literally grabs the hair of Achilles to stop him from slaying Agamemnon. Better yet the Eagles of Middle Earth, who show up always where there is no escape for heroes. Gandalf on the pinnacle of Orthanc, Frodo and Sam in the lava flow of Mt. Doom, the battle of five armies in The Hobbit, and since the Eagles are emissaries of the Valar they literally are a hand of god. To use this concept is cheating, because it means that no matter what problem the hero is in the author can just make up something to get them out.

I'm getting ahead of myself though, let's see what Bella does this time. Bella decides that she needs some girl time and takes a trip to Port Angeles to help her friends Angela and Jessica pick out dresses for the big dance. This isn't intrinsically odd, but there are some unusual tidbits here. The first concerns her in the department store as she is picking helping, "I encouraged her to go with the blue; why not play up the eyes?"

Why not? This is odd because up until now we don't have much of a read on Bella's fashion sense. This line makes it appear as though she is superior, yet again, to her friends. It's entirely devoid of context since the only times she has even remarked on clothing style is in noticing the impeccable style of the Cullens.

We are also made aware that Tyler is claiming that he is taking her to the prom. A two-fold issue because Prom is a late Spring thing and now it's approximately early Spring. This just means that the school really likes to keep the students in a busy schedule. The other thing is that Bella reacts to it with rage. Now, I've been in a situation similar involving a girl in college who was calling me her boyfriend when I barely knew the person. That elicited confusion on my part. To be fair, I don't know how a woman would react if the situation was reversed. Tyler's motive is obvious, he's still trying to make amends for almost pulverizing our intrepid protagonist. The news comes as a surprise to Bella, which is also odd because all of these people sit together at lunch and she knew nothing of this. None of other suitors (Mike and Eric) mentioned it to her. The school is so small but the people are so distant it seems.

The dresses and the all-important, all too mysterious to men, shoes are purchased (we really don't notice them ladies) so the girls decide to go to dinner. Sounds good? Well it doesn't work out. Bella needs some alone time and decides to travel to a book store that she is pretty sure exists in the town. I am not sure what Jessica and Angela are up to since they agree to meet in an hour but they go somewhere. This is where the story takes a sharp turn.

Bella walks around, "I had no trouble finding the bookstore, but it wasn't what I was looking for. The windows were full of crystals, dream-catchers..." she sees the hippy/Wiccan owner decides against it, "I decided that was one conversation that I could skip." In Toledo there used to be one of those shops at the corner of Secor and Central near the Beaner's coffee shop. These types of places are not bookstores even if that's what they call themselves, they are New Age shops. You will find a Philosophy section but it's not Philosophy it's Deepak Chopra, The Secret type of bullshit. The shelves are lined with books on Tarot, Faries, Magic (although with the alternate spelling "magick"). The queer thing about it is that this should be exact type of place Bella needs to visit. There aren't going to be many other places where she could find rows of books on the supernatural, even finding a book on Vampires that will undoubtedly cast them in a good light. I would have skipped it as well, but I don't believe in Vampires.

"I decided to turn East at the next corner, and then loop around after a few blocks..." Our hero makes a series of stupid decisions. The first is to wander around looking for another bookstore that may not actually exist, it would be nice if we knew what she was looking for but since we don't we just follow her around. Instead of staying in the tourist shopping district she wanders in one direction well past the point where the stores are. Then she sees a group of four men that frighten her but she decides to walk past them. That's stupid decision number 2. Her instincts told her to not associate with Anime Eric but now in real danger she decides to toughen up?

Two of the four people are behind her and she is spooked. Meyer does a good job creating the tension. Bella is genuinely frightened and it comes off very well in the writing. Especially with the objection that I would normally have. One of the men cat calls her and then later she notices two of them behind her. Normally I would ask why she was scared, even Bella does so, "Breathe, I had to remind myself. You don't know they're following you."

Excellent. I've walked through some dangerous areas before with people behind me (downtown Detroit was an interesting one), this thought ran through my brain multiple times. People do have places to go that may or may not have anything to do with you. Her initial thought to save herself is to jump in front of a car, I'm not certain where that comes from since it is obviously going to be far more dangerous than she expects. Her paranoia abets itself when she notices that the two men behind her have increased their distance.

Her relief is short lived, "I realized then that I wasn't being followed. I was being herded."

She sees the remaining two in front of her, somehow they anticipated her direction. A completely lost woman, a strange town, and they have expertly pushed her into a trap. A trap, that seems completely unnecessary as she walked right by the four of them on an isolated street earlier.

We don't know what they were planning, we can assume, like Bella, that at the very least they are going to rob her. Bella made a couple of stupid decisions but we're not going to blame the victim. Her fear and the whole situation is extremely well written, conveying both her fear and the attempts of her mind to solve the situation. Her self-deprecation is not only justified here it lends more credibility to her status as a character. She claims that she has no self-confidence and for the first time it appears to be genuine.

As the tension begins to boil and as soon as it does Edward shows up in his Volvo. All of the sudden he comes to her rescue. It was good in the parking lot of the school because it made sense that Edward would be there. In Port Angeles, away from her friends, on an obscure street away from the populated areas for Edward to just show up is going to take a good deal of explaining. Tolkien's Eagles are sent from the gods so it makes at least some sense that they show up in times of peril. Edward isn't the herald of the gods, Meyer has a nice corner to write herself out of.