Aristotle remarked that " for the man who is very ugly in appearance...is not very likely to be happy" (The Nicomachean Ethics ch. 8). It sucks for the ugly people, and in this age of 'everyone is beautiful on the inside' it may seem like heresy to agree with the ancient Greek. However the bald fact of the matter is that he's right. The better looking a person is, the easier their life is going to be. People want to help beautiful people, and they are forgiven more for transgressions than uglies. I bring it up because I wonder how much shit Bella would tolerate from Edward if he weren't so angelic in appearance.
One of the minor mysteries of the story so far has been how Edward was able to retrieve Bella's truck a week ago (in book terms of course) without having a key. That mystery is solved, Edward has been in her house, spying on her for quite sometime. Which she regards as something other than what we would normally expect, "You spied on me?' But somehow I couldn't infuse my voice with the proper outrage. I was flattered."
Let me repeat the important/troublesome part, "I was flattered."
For the entire time that I have been doing this series, I have wondered what exactly the appeal of Edward could be. I don't want to hazard a guess at how many female readers I have but if just one of them wants to explain his appeal on an other-than-physical level I would gladly repost it as an article update. The reason is that I really have no idea why anyone should like him.
This whole spying on her is more like the behavior a stalker exhibits before making the final leap to serial killer. Bella, being the intelligent person we are supposed to believe that she is, knows that it's weird/wrong but can't quite get mad at him. She was flattered which means she obviously thinks that she is unworthy of his attention but still getting it anyway. However, he just watched her enter the house from the bushes right? It's not like he's standing over her while she sleeps.
"You're interesting when you sleep." Oh, wait he does. He watches her sleep because he finds it interesting, and because he's bored after all, "What else is there to do at night?"
I don't know Ed, how about not sneaking into people's rooms and watching them sleep. That's the very least you could do so that you don't come across as a creepy, obsessive, nut job; and the best part about not doing it? It requires no effort, as it's a negative action. The only good part is that it does let us know that Meyer's vampires can enter a premises without being invited. I always thought that limitation on the Vampire was a clever way of forcing civility on them.
Let's assume that Edward looks less like Christopher Lee's Dracula (with the charm, manner, and looks) and more like Max Schreck's Count Orlock from the movie Nosferatu. Now what would Bella think if she knew that person was watching her sleep at night? Or ladies, what would you think?
I've seen it in bars numerous times. Beautiful girl catches guy looking at her and her reaction is always dependent on what the guy looks like. It varies between a smile and quick look away, to a disgusted head shake. It's nothing to be ashamed or angry about, it's human nature and we are all wired like this. Yet there's a line most of us have that even an attractive person can cross and it involves hovering over a person while they are asleep. Unless I'm missing something that women secretly want but are afraid to mention it, although I seriously doubt that this is what they idolize in these books.
The other thing about the stalker behavior is that it shows a complete lack of control of Dr. Carlisle over his progeny. We know that Edward has been doing this for a long while, and his family has only approved of his relationship for a short time. In the meantime Edward has been about the town stalking women apparently under the nose of his maker.
Charlie comes home and Edward vanishes, because for some reason that we aren't told Bella thinks that she needs to keep the relationship with Edward secret. I've mentioned why I think this is so in the past and here adds only more evidence to the pile. Charlie comes in after a long day of fishing and is "bushed." I had no idea people still used that word in that way but it's indicative of Charlie's age. He asks Bella to make him some of the lasagna that she's having and then, "Charlie sat in the chair, and contrast between him and its former occupant was comical."
She's contrasting the physical appearance between her father and her boyfriend...that's just weird. Charlie, thankfully plays no part in creepy Electra relationship this time. I always thought girls were supposed to think that their boyfriends were cooler than their dads, not this. Looks shouldn't be a consideration because of the generation gap, but here Bella laughs at her dad's appearance compared to Edward's. That means she puts them on the same plane, which isn't right.
Then, just like before, Meyer realizes what she has done with the two and snaps back into reality, "No, Dad, I just want to get some sleep."
I relish those few times that Bella uses the word "Dad" because it means that the creepiness is at least temporarily gone as Meyer goes back to the only natural power relationship in the state of nature. It must be doubly confusing for Bella who races upstairs, showers, and changes so that she can fool her dad into thinking she's going to bed only to meet Edward in her room. From one relationship to the other. Good thing that the she's running to the better looking one.
One of the minor mysteries of the story so far has been how Edward was able to retrieve Bella's truck a week ago (in book terms of course) without having a key. That mystery is solved, Edward has been in her house, spying on her for quite sometime. Which she regards as something other than what we would normally expect, "You spied on me?' But somehow I couldn't infuse my voice with the proper outrage. I was flattered."
Let me repeat the important/troublesome part, "I was flattered."
For the entire time that I have been doing this series, I have wondered what exactly the appeal of Edward could be. I don't want to hazard a guess at how many female readers I have but if just one of them wants to explain his appeal on an other-than-physical level I would gladly repost it as an article update. The reason is that I really have no idea why anyone should like him.
This whole spying on her is more like the behavior a stalker exhibits before making the final leap to serial killer. Bella, being the intelligent person we are supposed to believe that she is, knows that it's weird/wrong but can't quite get mad at him. She was flattered which means she obviously thinks that she is unworthy of his attention but still getting it anyway. However, he just watched her enter the house from the bushes right? It's not like he's standing over her while she sleeps.
"You're interesting when you sleep." Oh, wait he does. He watches her sleep because he finds it interesting, and because he's bored after all, "What else is there to do at night?"
I don't know Ed, how about not sneaking into people's rooms and watching them sleep. That's the very least you could do so that you don't come across as a creepy, obsessive, nut job; and the best part about not doing it? It requires no effort, as it's a negative action. The only good part is that it does let us know that Meyer's vampires can enter a premises without being invited. I always thought that limitation on the Vampire was a clever way of forcing civility on them.
Let's assume that Edward looks less like Christopher Lee's Dracula (with the charm, manner, and looks) and more like Max Schreck's Count Orlock from the movie Nosferatu. Now what would Bella think if she knew that person was watching her sleep at night? Or ladies, what would you think?
I've seen it in bars numerous times. Beautiful girl catches guy looking at her and her reaction is always dependent on what the guy looks like. It varies between a smile and quick look away, to a disgusted head shake. It's nothing to be ashamed or angry about, it's human nature and we are all wired like this. Yet there's a line most of us have that even an attractive person can cross and it involves hovering over a person while they are asleep. Unless I'm missing something that women secretly want but are afraid to mention it, although I seriously doubt that this is what they idolize in these books.
The other thing about the stalker behavior is that it shows a complete lack of control of Dr. Carlisle over his progeny. We know that Edward has been doing this for a long while, and his family has only approved of his relationship for a short time. In the meantime Edward has been about the town stalking women apparently under the nose of his maker.
Charlie comes home and Edward vanishes, because for some reason that we aren't told Bella thinks that she needs to keep the relationship with Edward secret. I've mentioned why I think this is so in the past and here adds only more evidence to the pile. Charlie comes in after a long day of fishing and is "bushed." I had no idea people still used that word in that way but it's indicative of Charlie's age. He asks Bella to make him some of the lasagna that she's having and then, "Charlie sat in the chair, and contrast between him and its former occupant was comical."
She's contrasting the physical appearance between her father and her boyfriend...that's just weird. Charlie, thankfully plays no part in creepy Electra relationship this time. I always thought girls were supposed to think that their boyfriends were cooler than their dads, not this. Looks shouldn't be a consideration because of the generation gap, but here Bella laughs at her dad's appearance compared to Edward's. That means she puts them on the same plane, which isn't right.
Then, just like before, Meyer realizes what she has done with the two and snaps back into reality, "No, Dad, I just want to get some sleep."
I relish those few times that Bella uses the word "Dad" because it means that the creepiness is at least temporarily gone as Meyer goes back to the only natural power relationship in the state of nature. It must be doubly confusing for Bella who races upstairs, showers, and changes so that she can fool her dad into thinking she's going to bed only to meet Edward in her room. From one relationship to the other. Good thing that the she's running to the better looking one.
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