Again Bella is nervous, and again it's for all the wrong reasons. She should be nervous because she's going to hang out with a bunch of vampires at night, isolated, and to play baseball in the middle of a thunderstorm. It's not that though, she's nervous because she's going to have to do a little off roading in Edward's truck and then be carried by him as he runs through the woods which is something that she's already done before. He assures her that it's perfectly safe but she is still nervous. He decides that to make it better a little making out is in order. I suppose this makes a little sense, he wants her to think about something else but it gets weird, "I was suddenly welded to his stone figure. I sighed, and my lips parted."
Ok, so far so good, but then, "Damn it Bella!' he broke off gasping."
I've re-read this section two or three times completely unable to figure out what it is that startled him. He was lightly pecking her lips and then she goes for the deeper kiss he all of the sudden gets worried. Literally there is no indication for what made him so upset. Is it that he was going to have feel her internally? Perhaps having part of his mouth inside her would awaken his normal instinct of wanting to eat her? That might be the case but there is no indication of it. If that is the case then we have to wonder about how chaste their relationship is going to be. She reminds him that he's indestructible...for some reason, which causes him to retort, "I might have thought that before I met you."
It's been a long time since we've seen sociopath Edward in action so this is a refreshing reminder of the consistency that Meyer has written his character. Here, Edward is setting up blame for anything that goes wrong in his life on Bella. Before her, Edward was invincible but now...he's capable of being harmed. She's his all too convenient kryptonite. It's not as though she's going to get him in trouble, that's not what he is saying, he's saying that being involved in her life is prima facie dangerous to him. Although we don't know why because he hoists her on his back and then runs her to the field. She drops off of him and as a reminder about how clumsy she is she falls right on her butt.
"He stared at me incredulously, evidently not sure whether he was still too made to fine me funny. But my bewildered expression, pushed him over the edge, and he broke into a roar of laughter."
The best part here is that his only two choices for action are to be mad or to laugh at her. It never crosses her mind* that he should be concerned that she fell or that she could have fallen on something. Nope, he's either inexplicably mad or amused at her clumsiness. This probably isn't even evidence of her clumsiness given the setting. He's just run her at blinding speed through the woods at night so she's probably experiencing a little vertigo or disorientation and it has been pouring. Falling is actually a normal thing, but he doesn't care. Not only that, it never crosses her mind that the man who just told her that he loves her should be concerned.
In Sebastian De Grazi's book, Machiavelli in Hell, he describes the philosopher's work in terms of his view on women. He takes the position that women don't bear any particular focus for Machiavelli women are mere trophies for men. I disagree with that conclusion since Machiavelli writes about Italy in the Renaissance and Roman history in which women weren't especially noted by the historians. Yet when a strong woman of some importance comes into the fray Machiavelli does mention her, Caterina Sforza is the great example. If Grazi was correct it's a misogynistic view. What do you call it when it is the woman who is viewing herself as merely a trophy for the man? Because Bella does that, "I whispered, remembering the black moods that pulled him away from me, that I'd always interpreted as well justified frustration- frustration at my weakness, my slowness, and unruly human reactions..."
If a woman is viewed by a man as being a trophy this is precisely how he would view her. She should show up and shut up, present only to look good and be occasionally charming--but not too charming--to the more important male friends. This is how the man in that relationship thinks that the woman should view him as stronger, faster, and cool in his relations with others. Bella does this to herself from the outset. Part of me wants to shrug my shoulders saying that she chooses this herself but the greater part of me remembers that this woman, this relationship, is idolized and that I have a daughter. Sure, I can admit that I have been sometimes frustrated at a girlfriend's "unruly human reactions" but I also now that my frustration in those instances is NOT "well-justified." We can't expect Bella to behave like Caterina Sforza did toward the Orsi brothers.** We can expect her to not be this weak and insufferable. The whole point of the comment is to let us know how good Edward is by putting up with her despite her flaws which should cause him to run. Ladies, it's a bad sign if you ever think this and it's even worse if he ever says it.
"Are you ready for some ball?" Edward comments. No, I'm not nearly prepared for the lameness that's about to ensue, and I know it's lame before it even begins. This is going to be worse than Blitzball, Rollerball, and that stupid game from the beginning of Starship Troopers. It's done at night, by Vampires so we are supposed to think it's cool. The only reason for this to exist is to further tell us that Vampires are awesome, because they play baseball.
"I tried to sound appropriately enthusiastic, 'Go Team!" Bella can't seriously be this out of touch can she? "Go Team?" There really aren't any teams, it's just the Cullens with Esme as Umpire. That means it is three on two with probably a designated pitcher, no, wait there is a designated pitcher...Alice.
This is about the stupidest thing you can do. Alice quickly becomes my favorite in this story because she's easily the best person morally. How do we know? Because she is happy, carefree, even though she knows how everything turns out, which means that for most of the time she just makes everyone feel good about their lives by pretending not to know that happens. Let's be clear, they put the one person who can see the future as pitcher. She could have a great night pitching a perfect game, because she knows the outcome of every pitch. Even if the future is all emotion, as Yoda says, she could still do it. It's a testament to her nature that they even let her do this given her ability which we know works best on the Vampires. Ironically it's Bella that has the best chance of surprising her with actually hitting the ball. Yet, Alice is pitcher and she softballs the throws like a Fox News Anchor interviewing Sarah Palin, and Jasper gets a hit. No matter how good Jasper and Caslisle might be, no matter how fast the dreamy Edward is, they have to know that if they even touch the ball with the bat it's because Alice allowed them to. I wonder what her in house chess record is.
Not just a hit, but a HIT. This is like a baseball game between the Hulk and Superman. It's not just baseball, it's extreme baseball. Several times we notice how fast everything is and how Bella can't see the ball. Well no shit she can't it's night time. Which brings us to another problem. It's dark, overcast with the occasional bolt of lightening how can Bella even pretend to see. She runs with Esme across the field yet never trips despite her alleged clumsiness. This is just patently inconsistent especially where above she just fell down.
Yet my favorite part of the section is when Esme and Bella are running along and Esme recounts her origin. She tells what has to be the most uncomfortable story ever told by a mother to her son's girlfriend. First off, she had a baby that died a few days after it was born. I horrible tragedy that I can't even begin to sympathize with, but do you want to be mentioning this to a stranger? Then it gets even better as she explains her distraughtness over that compelled her to commit suicide, which she would have succeeded at had Carlisle not turned her into what she is now. "Awkward" doesn't even begin to describe it. What is Bella supposed to do with that information? Especially when you consider how even she considers any normal reaction to that kind of story to be "unruly?"
It's Carlisle's turn at bat but then Alice grows stiff. It seems the fates have grabbed her attention...
___________________________
*Because we must remember that she is narrating this story.
**Assassin's Creed II fans know this story, it really happened. In brief Caterina "Il Tigre" Sforza (her last name means "fire" and she also gets nicknamed "The Tiger" she was quite the badass) was capture by the Orsi brothers and somehow convinced them to let her in her castle at Forli. Stupidly they agreed and as soon as she was in she locked the doors behind her preparing for a siege which she knew they could not accomplish. They still held her children however and in pointing this out, she climbed to the battlement hiked up her skirt and informed them that she still could make more. See Machiavelli's Discourses Book III chapter 6.
Ok, so far so good, but then, "Damn it Bella!' he broke off gasping."
I've re-read this section two or three times completely unable to figure out what it is that startled him. He was lightly pecking her lips and then she goes for the deeper kiss he all of the sudden gets worried. Literally there is no indication for what made him so upset. Is it that he was going to have feel her internally? Perhaps having part of his mouth inside her would awaken his normal instinct of wanting to eat her? That might be the case but there is no indication of it. If that is the case then we have to wonder about how chaste their relationship is going to be. She reminds him that he's indestructible...for some reason, which causes him to retort, "I might have thought that before I met you."
It's been a long time since we've seen sociopath Edward in action so this is a refreshing reminder of the consistency that Meyer has written his character. Here, Edward is setting up blame for anything that goes wrong in his life on Bella. Before her, Edward was invincible but now...he's capable of being harmed. She's his all too convenient kryptonite. It's not as though she's going to get him in trouble, that's not what he is saying, he's saying that being involved in her life is prima facie dangerous to him. Although we don't know why because he hoists her on his back and then runs her to the field. She drops off of him and as a reminder about how clumsy she is she falls right on her butt.
"He stared at me incredulously, evidently not sure whether he was still too made to fine me funny. But my bewildered expression, pushed him over the edge, and he broke into a roar of laughter."
The best part here is that his only two choices for action are to be mad or to laugh at her. It never crosses her mind* that he should be concerned that she fell or that she could have fallen on something. Nope, he's either inexplicably mad or amused at her clumsiness. This probably isn't even evidence of her clumsiness given the setting. He's just run her at blinding speed through the woods at night so she's probably experiencing a little vertigo or disorientation and it has been pouring. Falling is actually a normal thing, but he doesn't care. Not only that, it never crosses her mind that the man who just told her that he loves her should be concerned.
In Sebastian De Grazi's book, Machiavelli in Hell, he describes the philosopher's work in terms of his view on women. He takes the position that women don't bear any particular focus for Machiavelli women are mere trophies for men. I disagree with that conclusion since Machiavelli writes about Italy in the Renaissance and Roman history in which women weren't especially noted by the historians. Yet when a strong woman of some importance comes into the fray Machiavelli does mention her, Caterina Sforza is the great example. If Grazi was correct it's a misogynistic view. What do you call it when it is the woman who is viewing herself as merely a trophy for the man? Because Bella does that, "I whispered, remembering the black moods that pulled him away from me, that I'd always interpreted as well justified frustration- frustration at my weakness, my slowness, and unruly human reactions..."
If a woman is viewed by a man as being a trophy this is precisely how he would view her. She should show up and shut up, present only to look good and be occasionally charming--but not too charming--to the more important male friends. This is how the man in that relationship thinks that the woman should view him as stronger, faster, and cool in his relations with others. Bella does this to herself from the outset. Part of me wants to shrug my shoulders saying that she chooses this herself but the greater part of me remembers that this woman, this relationship, is idolized and that I have a daughter. Sure, I can admit that I have been sometimes frustrated at a girlfriend's "unruly human reactions" but I also now that my frustration in those instances is NOT "well-justified." We can't expect Bella to behave like Caterina Sforza did toward the Orsi brothers.** We can expect her to not be this weak and insufferable. The whole point of the comment is to let us know how good Edward is by putting up with her despite her flaws which should cause him to run. Ladies, it's a bad sign if you ever think this and it's even worse if he ever says it.
"Are you ready for some ball?" Edward comments. No, I'm not nearly prepared for the lameness that's about to ensue, and I know it's lame before it even begins. This is going to be worse than Blitzball, Rollerball, and that stupid game from the beginning of Starship Troopers. It's done at night, by Vampires so we are supposed to think it's cool. The only reason for this to exist is to further tell us that Vampires are awesome, because they play baseball.
"I tried to sound appropriately enthusiastic, 'Go Team!" Bella can't seriously be this out of touch can she? "Go Team?" There really aren't any teams, it's just the Cullens with Esme as Umpire. That means it is three on two with probably a designated pitcher, no, wait there is a designated pitcher...Alice.
This is about the stupidest thing you can do. Alice quickly becomes my favorite in this story because she's easily the best person morally. How do we know? Because she is happy, carefree, even though she knows how everything turns out, which means that for most of the time she just makes everyone feel good about their lives by pretending not to know that happens. Let's be clear, they put the one person who can see the future as pitcher. She could have a great night pitching a perfect game, because she knows the outcome of every pitch. Even if the future is all emotion, as Yoda says, she could still do it. It's a testament to her nature that they even let her do this given her ability which we know works best on the Vampires. Ironically it's Bella that has the best chance of surprising her with actually hitting the ball. Yet, Alice is pitcher and she softballs the throws like a Fox News Anchor interviewing Sarah Palin, and Jasper gets a hit. No matter how good Jasper and Caslisle might be, no matter how fast the dreamy Edward is, they have to know that if they even touch the ball with the bat it's because Alice allowed them to. I wonder what her in house chess record is.
Not just a hit, but a HIT. This is like a baseball game between the Hulk and Superman. It's not just baseball, it's extreme baseball. Several times we notice how fast everything is and how Bella can't see the ball. Well no shit she can't it's night time. Which brings us to another problem. It's dark, overcast with the occasional bolt of lightening how can Bella even pretend to see. She runs with Esme across the field yet never trips despite her alleged clumsiness. This is just patently inconsistent especially where above she just fell down.
Yet my favorite part of the section is when Esme and Bella are running along and Esme recounts her origin. She tells what has to be the most uncomfortable story ever told by a mother to her son's girlfriend. First off, she had a baby that died a few days after it was born. I horrible tragedy that I can't even begin to sympathize with, but do you want to be mentioning this to a stranger? Then it gets even better as she explains her distraughtness over that compelled her to commit suicide, which she would have succeeded at had Carlisle not turned her into what she is now. "Awkward" doesn't even begin to describe it. What is Bella supposed to do with that information? Especially when you consider how even she considers any normal reaction to that kind of story to be "unruly?"
It's Carlisle's turn at bat but then Alice grows stiff. It seems the fates have grabbed her attention...
___________________________
*Because we must remember that she is narrating this story.
**Assassin's Creed II fans know this story, it really happened. In brief Caterina "Il Tigre" Sforza (her last name means "fire" and she also gets nicknamed "The Tiger" she was quite the badass) was capture by the Orsi brothers and somehow convinced them to let her in her castle at Forli. Stupidly they agreed and as soon as she was in she locked the doors behind her preparing for a siege which she knew they could not accomplish. They still held her children however and in pointing this out, she climbed to the battlement hiked up her skirt and informed them that she still could make more. See Machiavelli's Discourses Book III chapter 6.
No comments:
Post a Comment