Like Prologues that begin somewhere toward the end of the story, epilogues are tricky things. Usually an epilogue is reserved for resolving some matter of the story that was not essential to the plot but that readers might want to know about: like the last page in Dickens' "Christmas Carol" where we find out that Scrooge changed permanently and likewise with the final resolution in "A Clockwork Orange" where Alex realizes that children are the reason for him to give up his Droogish ways.* Other times an Epilogue can add a final twist to a story revealing something essential for the future of the character such as in the movie "A Young Sherlock Holmes," where after the credits you see the main antagonist Professor Rathe sign in to a hotel under the name "Moriarty."
We must note however that the story should be done with and the epilogue is merely a "PS" to the main story. It should also have no real bearing on the story but somehow related to it. The main point of that is whether or not an epilogue is needed for this story. Is there any question that we have remaining for the main characters or one of the briefly mentioned side characters? Not to my knowledge. Everything seems to be rather tied up nicely, maybe an explanation of what happened with Charlie. There could be a twist coming, so the only rational course of action is to press on and keep reading.**
Bella and Edward are in a car heading to some unknown destination. Edward is in a black tuxedo while Bella is in a blue dress and stilleto heels. What do we know right now? It's not marriage because Bella isn't in white, they are in high school so that leaves one thing: prom season. This also means that we are forward a couple of months from when we last saw them, apparently the fact that Bella and the Cullens skipped school for several days has been resolved with little to no fanfare. Bella wants to know where they are going and Edward won't tell her.
I suspect that he won't tell her because he's impatient at her stupidity. Seriously where else can they be going? She's been back to school I suspect and if their school was anything like mine there were probably posters and announcements on the wall beckoning people to remember that the prom was going on. No matter because he just looks oh-so-dreamy, "He threw a mocking smile in my direction, and my breath caught in my throat. Would I ever get used to his perfection?"
To cap off a complaint that I have had throughout the entire book, I am sick of hearing about how good looking Edward is mainly because that's all he seems to be. Bella's attraction to him is not based on personality, she's never made mention of anything that he does only what he looks like. His actions speak against it, the only good things that he has done for her have been things that anyone would do in the same situation: rescue her from some punks and then rescue her from a killer. He paid for her dinner once as well, but it was a date so I don't think that counts. Also, the "perfection" that he possesses is just a cop out. Other than his hair color and expensive clothing what does he look like? Pale complexion, golden eyes, hair, and...what else? All we are constantly told is that he is perfect and gorgeous, but never are we shown those features.
Charlie calls Edward's cell phone, and we get to something that we may actually want to know. How did Charlie react to everything? Well he was "worshipfully grateful" toward Dr. Carlisle for saving Bella, but dislikes Edward because he felt that it was his fault Bella ran off in the first place. Now, Bella has curfew rules. That's it. He's not inquisitive about why she ran off, why she ended up in Arizona, or even how (since they took the Cullens car and not hers, especially since she made it clear that Edward was the reason she didn't want to stay in Forks). I would like to know what exactly the explanation was to Charlie. That would be much more of an interesting point of fact for the story than this car ride to what we all know, but Bella, is prom.
Charlie called because Tyler is at his house expecting to take Bella to the prom. If we remember, Tyler is the guy who almost killed Bella and he figured that he would take Bella to the "Girl's Choice" Dance because of that fact. We might think that Tyler is being an idiot here but we don't know what's happened in the last few months (weeks?). We do know that Tyler is still looking for penance for this almost action, and he might be dumb but not a dumb character since he is so purposely clueless, it's probably a good piece of writing there but without the omitted information it's hard to tell. Charlie puts Tyler on the phone and Edward tells him, "To be perfectly honest, she'll be unavailable every night, as far as anyone else beside myself is concerned."
Note that Edward does this without talking to Bella. I'll take controlling boyfriend for one hundred Alex. It's possibly the last time we will have proof that Edward is not an ideal boyfriend or even person. What if Bella wants to hang out by herself, or maybe give Tyler a pity coffee date to get him off her back? Or just hang out with Jessica and Alice? Not if Edward has anything to say about it.
None of this matters though because Bella is far from being any type of role model for women. She doesn't grasp that Edward is the controlling ass that he is, only that finally, after 5 pages she realizes that she's going to prom, "You're taking me to the prom!"
This should be the last proof we need to show that Bella is as stupid as she is oblivious, I'm sure with fifteen pages left though that there is plenty of time for her to demonstrate this once more. Yet her reaction is as puzzling as her obliviousness is offensive, "I was mortified. First, because I'd missed the obvious...my half-fearful hopes seemed very silly now."
I guess we can give her points for at least realizing how dumb she is, but the second part: what hopes? Was she hoping for a surprise wedding? That would seem about right given that Bella Swan seems to have an utter lack of any goals in her life or ambition to do anything but Edward. I suppose Alice could have dressed her in blue to hide the supposed wedding as white would be a dead giveaway but I don't see that working out. Bella is already to commit herself to life with Edward, who will not grow old as she does. Edward just wants to go to the dance, which is realistic for a 17 year old (which he isn't), but Bella keeps needling him with unreasonable worries.
So far all of this seems completely unnecessary and tacked on. Hopefully the actual end of this book will give us a good reason for enduring Bella's utter stupidity and Edward's sociopathic need for control being once more displayed. Other than that the Epilogue is faring much worse than the prologue did.
______________________
*It's pretty lame, and the movie makes more sense where it ends.
**Giving me at least two more weeks of posts for the novel as well.
We must note however that the story should be done with and the epilogue is merely a "PS" to the main story. It should also have no real bearing on the story but somehow related to it. The main point of that is whether or not an epilogue is needed for this story. Is there any question that we have remaining for the main characters or one of the briefly mentioned side characters? Not to my knowledge. Everything seems to be rather tied up nicely, maybe an explanation of what happened with Charlie. There could be a twist coming, so the only rational course of action is to press on and keep reading.**
Bella and Edward are in a car heading to some unknown destination. Edward is in a black tuxedo while Bella is in a blue dress and stilleto heels. What do we know right now? It's not marriage because Bella isn't in white, they are in high school so that leaves one thing: prom season. This also means that we are forward a couple of months from when we last saw them, apparently the fact that Bella and the Cullens skipped school for several days has been resolved with little to no fanfare. Bella wants to know where they are going and Edward won't tell her.
I suspect that he won't tell her because he's impatient at her stupidity. Seriously where else can they be going? She's been back to school I suspect and if their school was anything like mine there were probably posters and announcements on the wall beckoning people to remember that the prom was going on. No matter because he just looks oh-so-dreamy, "He threw a mocking smile in my direction, and my breath caught in my throat. Would I ever get used to his perfection?"
To cap off a complaint that I have had throughout the entire book, I am sick of hearing about how good looking Edward is mainly because that's all he seems to be. Bella's attraction to him is not based on personality, she's never made mention of anything that he does only what he looks like. His actions speak against it, the only good things that he has done for her have been things that anyone would do in the same situation: rescue her from some punks and then rescue her from a killer. He paid for her dinner once as well, but it was a date so I don't think that counts. Also, the "perfection" that he possesses is just a cop out. Other than his hair color and expensive clothing what does he look like? Pale complexion, golden eyes, hair, and...what else? All we are constantly told is that he is perfect and gorgeous, but never are we shown those features.
Charlie calls Edward's cell phone, and we get to something that we may actually want to know. How did Charlie react to everything? Well he was "worshipfully grateful" toward Dr. Carlisle for saving Bella, but dislikes Edward because he felt that it was his fault Bella ran off in the first place. Now, Bella has curfew rules. That's it. He's not inquisitive about why she ran off, why she ended up in Arizona, or even how (since they took the Cullens car and not hers, especially since she made it clear that Edward was the reason she didn't want to stay in Forks). I would like to know what exactly the explanation was to Charlie. That would be much more of an interesting point of fact for the story than this car ride to what we all know, but Bella, is prom.
Charlie called because Tyler is at his house expecting to take Bella to the prom. If we remember, Tyler is the guy who almost killed Bella and he figured that he would take Bella to the "Girl's Choice" Dance because of that fact. We might think that Tyler is being an idiot here but we don't know what's happened in the last few months (weeks?). We do know that Tyler is still looking for penance for this almost action, and he might be dumb but not a dumb character since he is so purposely clueless, it's probably a good piece of writing there but without the omitted information it's hard to tell. Charlie puts Tyler on the phone and Edward tells him, "To be perfectly honest, she'll be unavailable every night, as far as anyone else beside myself is concerned."
Note that Edward does this without talking to Bella. I'll take controlling boyfriend for one hundred Alex. It's possibly the last time we will have proof that Edward is not an ideal boyfriend or even person. What if Bella wants to hang out by herself, or maybe give Tyler a pity coffee date to get him off her back? Or just hang out with Jessica and Alice? Not if Edward has anything to say about it.
None of this matters though because Bella is far from being any type of role model for women. She doesn't grasp that Edward is the controlling ass that he is, only that finally, after 5 pages she realizes that she's going to prom, "You're taking me to the prom!"
This should be the last proof we need to show that Bella is as stupid as she is oblivious, I'm sure with fifteen pages left though that there is plenty of time for her to demonstrate this once more. Yet her reaction is as puzzling as her obliviousness is offensive, "I was mortified. First, because I'd missed the obvious...my half-fearful hopes seemed very silly now."
I guess we can give her points for at least realizing how dumb she is, but the second part: what hopes? Was she hoping for a surprise wedding? That would seem about right given that Bella Swan seems to have an utter lack of any goals in her life or ambition to do anything but Edward. I suppose Alice could have dressed her in blue to hide the supposed wedding as white would be a dead giveaway but I don't see that working out. Bella is already to commit herself to life with Edward, who will not grow old as she does. Edward just wants to go to the dance, which is realistic for a 17 year old (which he isn't), but Bella keeps needling him with unreasonable worries.
So far all of this seems completely unnecessary and tacked on. Hopefully the actual end of this book will give us a good reason for enduring Bella's utter stupidity and Edward's sociopathic need for control being once more displayed. Other than that the Epilogue is faring much worse than the prologue did.
______________________
*It's pretty lame, and the movie makes more sense where it ends.
**Giving me at least two more weeks of posts for the novel as well.
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