"How old is Dr. Carlisle?"
This is a good question, although because of his unique nature it has two answers. Like Edward who is both 17 and over a hundred, we need both of them mainly because of how badly Edward is written. If you've been following this blog one my main complaints is that Edward is supposed to be a centurion but acts like a 17 year old with more talents than the average teenager. Dr. Cullen is going to be much older, but we don't know exactly how old he was when he was changed. It's curious because there is the possibility that Meyer is going to write consistently here. Perhaps the vampires in her universe are forever stuck in the age when they were changed, that would be odd but it would at least allow us to forgive Edward's actions a little bit.
First off we learn that Dr. Carlisle is the son of an Anglican preacher. I'm not sure if that makes him more interesting or if this explanation is just a lame attempt to drive religion into the story. I'm willing to suspend judgment on that thus far. He's Anglican and then we learn that, "Carlisle was born in London, in the 1640s, he believes. Time wasn't marked as accurately then, for the common people anyway."
An interesting point of history is that the religious sect known as the Puritans were still allowed within the umbrella of the Anglican church until the 1660s. I think that if Meyer was going to set up some dichotomy between what Carlisle was raised as and what he eventually became it would have been better to call his father a Puritan rather than a simple Anglican. The Puritans, to quote Robin Williams, were the people so uptight the British didn't even want them. They make our Christian Fundamentalists look progressive by comparison, that makes for a more interesting conflict. So obviously we don't get it...then again the story isn't about Dr. Cullen so we can give that a pass.
The thing about time not being marked accurately is odd to me. The Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1582, the Julian calendar had been adopted since the time of the Romans, so I don't understand how he couldn't know his exact age. The printing press, the church, and the government of England would have kept dates. If we have exact dates for the landing at Plymouth, the date of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, etc. not having a date for Carlisle's birth is odd. It's not like his father was a coal miner or some peasant either, he was a preacher which meant he was literate and could read a calendar. Also he would be quite able to remember how many summers he's been alive, the exact date...maybe not, but he should have the year down.
Carlisle's father gets more and more Cotton Mather-ish as the descriptions go on, "He also believed very strongly in the reality of evil. He led hunts for witches, werewolves,...and vampires.' I grew stiff at the word. I'm sure he noticed, but he went along without pausing."
So he wasn't just a preacher he was a crusader. I wonder how many the senior Cullen put to the flame that were actually creatures of the netherworld. If you read any of the history about the witch hunts you will discover two important features: the first is that a great deal less people were executed than popular culture (and Wiccans) would have you believe. For instance the infamous Salem witch trials killed 20 people,* that's it. While the Satanists and the Wiccans refer to this period as the "burning times" they also seem to neglect the fact that those unfortunates in Salem were hanged. The other feature is that hardly any people practicing witchcraft were killed at all. The problem was that accusation was as a good as guilt, plus the "victim" of the witch was also able to make a property claim on the witch's estate. This led to a great deal of abuse, especially by those following the malleus maleficarum** as the guide to locating witches, or professional witch hunters looking to collect bounties. Remember that it would be virtually impossible to prove that someone isn't a witch once accused. In fact, things like this are STILL happening in modern sub-Saharan Africa.
The end of the above quote confuses me as well. Why does Bella stiffen at the mention of the word "vampire?" To be sure that is a fear response, but what is she afraid of? She's already in the den of the vampires, she doesn't care that they exist, and she's there of her own free will. Is it because they used to hunt the vampires? That doesn't make sense since they don't live in Kenya. That Edward doesn't stop is actually testament to him. She has no reason to be afraid if she's come this far.
Dr. Cullen's father passes away, we never learn how, and the burden of hunting evil is thrust on Carlisle. He finds some real vampires, which implies that he's been killing fake vampires for awhile now, and they live in the sewers of London, "In those days, when monsters were not just myths and legends, that was the way many lived."
At first I thought that sentence was stupid. Then I realized that it is very cleverly worded. It's not that vampires and werewolves don't exist in Bella's present it's that no one believes in them now. As opposed to back then when people thought they were real. Meyer did good on that sentence.
Carlisle chases the vampires into the sewer with a crowd of pitchfork and torch wielding commoners running down a vampire who attacks them. The vampire cries out in Latin but gets the drop on Carlisle who hides under potatoes for three days emerging with the full knowledge of what he had become. Something is missing. Carlisle is attacked but then he hides when other people come to his aid and chase off the vampire.
Carlisle was merely attacked, is that all it takes? "He paused. I could sense that he was editing something, keeping something from me."
Really Bella!? Edward is hiding something from you and you think that it's noteworthy. Here's a clue sweetheart: he's always hiding something from you. What could he be hiding? I'm thinking the sex. In a dismally horrible movie with Casper Van Dien and Craig Ferguson called "Modern Vampires" that was the key to turning a person into a vampire. What else could he be hiding? Blood draining? It's really the only thing that makes sense.
Which would be a nice metaphor because this whole Vampire hunting preacher that becomes one himself would be just like all of those Anti-Gay ministers that get busted for having sex with men.*** Too bad Meyer is a Mormon and that their church was so instrumental in getting the ballot voted down in California last year. Carlisle recognizing what he has become decides that he's going to attempt to kill himself, but he doesn't know how which is a nice touch since he can't do the normal things like laying out in the sun. The other thing we learn is that Meyer's vampires can't get killed by being dunked under running water, which is an old myth that has gone the way of phlogiston theory, but it used to be a classic.
Carlisle overcomes his bloodlust and swims to France. Bella is aghast, "He swam to France?"
Edward is funny because he reminds her that people do that all the time. The point of Calais is so close to England that it's a regular event for trained swimmers. What surprises Bella the most is that she finally realizes that Vampires don't need to breathe and she freaks out. The super-speed, strength, the mind reading, the blood drinking, the lack of regular food, the prophesying, the agelessness, hypnosis, she takes all of that in stride. Only two things about being a vampire really get her attention: the striking good looks and the fact that they don't need to breathe. She can't really be this stupid can she?
_______________________________
*Or 19 depending on when you stop the period of the trials.
**"The hammer of the Witch" a 15th century handbook on finding, prosecuting, and executing witches.
***It's a nice coincidence that it happened again this week.
This is a good question, although because of his unique nature it has two answers. Like Edward who is both 17 and over a hundred, we need both of them mainly because of how badly Edward is written. If you've been following this blog one my main complaints is that Edward is supposed to be a centurion but acts like a 17 year old with more talents than the average teenager. Dr. Cullen is going to be much older, but we don't know exactly how old he was when he was changed. It's curious because there is the possibility that Meyer is going to write consistently here. Perhaps the vampires in her universe are forever stuck in the age when they were changed, that would be odd but it would at least allow us to forgive Edward's actions a little bit.
First off we learn that Dr. Carlisle is the son of an Anglican preacher. I'm not sure if that makes him more interesting or if this explanation is just a lame attempt to drive religion into the story. I'm willing to suspend judgment on that thus far. He's Anglican and then we learn that, "Carlisle was born in London, in the 1640s, he believes. Time wasn't marked as accurately then, for the common people anyway."
An interesting point of history is that the religious sect known as the Puritans were still allowed within the umbrella of the Anglican church until the 1660s. I think that if Meyer was going to set up some dichotomy between what Carlisle was raised as and what he eventually became it would have been better to call his father a Puritan rather than a simple Anglican. The Puritans, to quote Robin Williams, were the people so uptight the British didn't even want them. They make our Christian Fundamentalists look progressive by comparison, that makes for a more interesting conflict. So obviously we don't get it...then again the story isn't about Dr. Cullen so we can give that a pass.
The thing about time not being marked accurately is odd to me. The Gregorian calendar was adopted in 1582, the Julian calendar had been adopted since the time of the Romans, so I don't understand how he couldn't know his exact age. The printing press, the church, and the government of England would have kept dates. If we have exact dates for the landing at Plymouth, the date of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, etc. not having a date for Carlisle's birth is odd. It's not like his father was a coal miner or some peasant either, he was a preacher which meant he was literate and could read a calendar. Also he would be quite able to remember how many summers he's been alive, the exact date...maybe not, but he should have the year down.
Carlisle's father gets more and more Cotton Mather-ish as the descriptions go on, "He also believed very strongly in the reality of evil. He led hunts for witches, werewolves,...and vampires.' I grew stiff at the word. I'm sure he noticed, but he went along without pausing."
So he wasn't just a preacher he was a crusader. I wonder how many the senior Cullen put to the flame that were actually creatures of the netherworld. If you read any of the history about the witch hunts you will discover two important features: the first is that a great deal less people were executed than popular culture (and Wiccans) would have you believe. For instance the infamous Salem witch trials killed 20 people,* that's it. While the Satanists and the Wiccans refer to this period as the "burning times" they also seem to neglect the fact that those unfortunates in Salem were hanged. The other feature is that hardly any people practicing witchcraft were killed at all. The problem was that accusation was as a good as guilt, plus the "victim" of the witch was also able to make a property claim on the witch's estate. This led to a great deal of abuse, especially by those following the malleus maleficarum** as the guide to locating witches, or professional witch hunters looking to collect bounties. Remember that it would be virtually impossible to prove that someone isn't a witch once accused. In fact, things like this are STILL happening in modern sub-Saharan Africa.
The end of the above quote confuses me as well. Why does Bella stiffen at the mention of the word "vampire?" To be sure that is a fear response, but what is she afraid of? She's already in the den of the vampires, she doesn't care that they exist, and she's there of her own free will. Is it because they used to hunt the vampires? That doesn't make sense since they don't live in Kenya. That Edward doesn't stop is actually testament to him. She has no reason to be afraid if she's come this far.
Dr. Cullen's father passes away, we never learn how, and the burden of hunting evil is thrust on Carlisle. He finds some real vampires, which implies that he's been killing fake vampires for awhile now, and they live in the sewers of London, "In those days, when monsters were not just myths and legends, that was the way many lived."
At first I thought that sentence was stupid. Then I realized that it is very cleverly worded. It's not that vampires and werewolves don't exist in Bella's present it's that no one believes in them now. As opposed to back then when people thought they were real. Meyer did good on that sentence.
Carlisle chases the vampires into the sewer with a crowd of pitchfork and torch wielding commoners running down a vampire who attacks them. The vampire cries out in Latin but gets the drop on Carlisle who hides under potatoes for three days emerging with the full knowledge of what he had become. Something is missing. Carlisle is attacked but then he hides when other people come to his aid and chase off the vampire.
Carlisle was merely attacked, is that all it takes? "He paused. I could sense that he was editing something, keeping something from me."
Really Bella!? Edward is hiding something from you and you think that it's noteworthy. Here's a clue sweetheart: he's always hiding something from you. What could he be hiding? I'm thinking the sex. In a dismally horrible movie with Casper Van Dien and Craig Ferguson called "Modern Vampires" that was the key to turning a person into a vampire. What else could he be hiding? Blood draining? It's really the only thing that makes sense.
Which would be a nice metaphor because this whole Vampire hunting preacher that becomes one himself would be just like all of those Anti-Gay ministers that get busted for having sex with men.*** Too bad Meyer is a Mormon and that their church was so instrumental in getting the ballot voted down in California last year. Carlisle recognizing what he has become decides that he's going to attempt to kill himself, but he doesn't know how which is a nice touch since he can't do the normal things like laying out in the sun. The other thing we learn is that Meyer's vampires can't get killed by being dunked under running water, which is an old myth that has gone the way of phlogiston theory, but it used to be a classic.
Carlisle overcomes his bloodlust and swims to France. Bella is aghast, "He swam to France?"
Edward is funny because he reminds her that people do that all the time. The point of Calais is so close to England that it's a regular event for trained swimmers. What surprises Bella the most is that she finally realizes that Vampires don't need to breathe and she freaks out. The super-speed, strength, the mind reading, the blood drinking, the lack of regular food, the prophesying, the agelessness, hypnosis, she takes all of that in stride. Only two things about being a vampire really get her attention: the striking good looks and the fact that they don't need to breathe. She can't really be this stupid can she?
_______________________________
*Or 19 depending on when you stop the period of the trials.
**"The hammer of the Witch" a 15th century handbook on finding, prosecuting, and executing witches.
***It's a nice coincidence that it happened again this week.
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