Part II, of our Epilogue continues at the surprise Prom as Bella must be thinking, "It just totally snuck up on me." Especially when you consider that Alice dressed her up, they got into a Limo, and Edward was wearing a tuxedo. I am so happy to almost be done with this idiot. I haven't seen the movie, but I will say this about Kristen Stewart: she couldn't have done any worse of a job with Bella than Hayden Christianson did with Anakin. When you've got a shitty character, there's only so much that acting can make up for it. Yet Bella being an utter idiot, was the focus of my criticism two weeks ago and hopefully we're past it now. Hopefully.
The Cullens are all in the gym dressed up, looking like gods among men, especially Rosalie in a tight red backless number. I wonder how many Proms that the Cullens have attended, and why they would keep going to them? Looking back, I don't even remember why I went to the ones that I did. It was like rehearsing for a party I was never going to attend in real life. Then they hand you a champagne glass and a beer stein but tell you that alcohol is off limits. If any guy is reading this about to enter into the age where you start going to these things, here's a bit of advice, find a classic style tuxedo. Something that James Bond would wear into a casino, and buy the damn thing! As a junior you will probably end up going to two proms at least, and this will save you money.
Edward dances with Bella, who reminds him and us, that she can't dance. We know, but you know what Bella? It doesn't matter anymore. The whole, clumsy-to-the-point-of-having-a-genetic-disorder-thing was a four hundred page set up so that your excuse for injuring your leg in the attack would be swallowed. Now that part is over, so we don't need this anymore. Please stop talking about it since everyone in town has apparently bit that improbable piece of BS. Although not everyone...
After a couple of dances, Jacob shows up at the Prom. Which is odd for a couple of reasons, first off he's dressed in a white tee shirt and a tie. To be fair, the tee shirt is long sleeved, but the image in our heads is pretty ludicrous. I don't know if it makes it better or worse if the tee shirt is a turtleneck. I guess Meyer wants to show that the Native kids live in some sort of poverty or are just that outside of social capacity, but he couldn't get a dress shirt? Jacob at least understands that he has to put on something nice. I'm not sure why Meyer makes his clothes like this, but there's something else too. Jacob does not go to school at Forks HS, he walks up to Edward and Bella alone, so he's not with anyone. Did he buy a ticket? If so, how? If not, why was he let in? Being let in is even stranger when you realize that Proms are Black Tie affairs and Jacob's attire doesn't even resonate on the Emily Post category list.
He asks to cut in, and Edward who having laid it out to Tyler earlier, lets him. This is uncharacteristic of Edward and reminds me of yet another Simpson's Episode (I think I've referenced at least ten so far), "Lady Bouvier's Lover," where Abe Simpson is dancing with Marge's Mom and Mr. Burns asks to cut in. Abe lets him, because I think at some point in time you couldn't refuse the cut in request. Why is Jacob there?
This is the question that Bella asks, where she should be asking, 'how is he there?' If you park at a high school and try and walk in the door with no reason to be there, you will be questioned by security. There is something more odd about Jacob though, "he must have grown a foot since the last time I'd seen him..."
Later, it's established that he's 6'2". I guess he is taller, but I'm not certain because we were never told how tall he was earlier. Not even in reference to Bella. Furthermore, how tall is Bella? These little details wouldn't matter normally, but since she's making big deal of his height it would be nice to know it now.
Jacob is at the prom because, "my dad paid me 20 bucks to come to your (Bella's) Prom." I suppose that Jacob didn't dress up because he gets the 20 either way. The whole crux of this "confrontation" is that Billy knows that Bella's full of shit story about her leg is full of shit. And Billy wants Jacob to tell Bella that, "we're watching."
Normally that would be creepy, but since Edward is already literally watching Bella sleep, it isn't. We know what Billy means too, Billy knows that the Cullens are vampires and they're going to watch out for them. The only thing that Billy doesn't know is that Edward didn't injure Bella. Either way, this whole thing is a set up for the second book. I just wonder if this epilogue was there in the first edition of the novel because this whole scene with Jacob only makes sense because there is another book with Jacob taking more of a role in the story. Then like a ghost Jacob is gone, returns Bella to her owner...errr boyfriend, Edward for another and last encounter with the worst couple in fiction.
Edward, still reeling from Bella's stupidity, asks her what she was expecting on the way to the prom. A good question, because that's what I was asking two weeks ago. However he can't just ask the question and does an annoying thing that I have overlooked the two of them do throughout the book. He asks her that if he asks her a question will she answer it. Which is stupid, because he could just ask and if she doesn't answer it he's no better off. What if she said 'no I won't answer it.' Does that mean he won't speak because in that case he ought to since the less these two say the better they come off. He asks and she answers, "I didn't think it would be some trite human thing...prom!"
"Human thing." She's still human but the phrase reveals more than she ought to. See, in the beginning of the book she saw the Cullens eating by themselves and wanted desperately to be a part of it. We could read it in her mind the way she jealously looked at them while forming plans to use her friends (which are mentioned as she waves down to them at the prom) in order to step up to their table. She already considers herself to be a vampire, and to have shed off the last remnants of her former life to be one of them. I think as a conclusion to this whole story this is the real metaphor.
I have heard people say that the story is about sex. That Edward loves Bella so much he won't defile her, while Bella loves him so much that she wants him to. All vampire stories have the sexual subtext, and frankly it would take really good writing to not have that in a vampire story. However, this story is really about how one girl sheds her entire identity, gives up her friends, family, and life for this one guy whom she will depend on for her entire existence and can't live without. Is that really the role model we want our daughters to have? That happiness is being attached to some male in an utter dependence role?
It's funny because what Bella was expecting was to be turned by Edward but Edward doesn't want to do it. Again people say that it's about love, but I disagree. She wants him forever and he won't do it even though he doesn't think his life is that bad. Sure he calls himself a monster but what exactly is so rueful about? None of the things that he should be, since those are all things that he could change: his personality, his treatment of Bella. Those could improve and they aren't symptomatic of being a Vampire. Just from being a sociopathic, controlling, soon-to-be-abusive boyfriend.
They dance again "and he leaned down to press his cold lips once more to my throat."
Actually for an end sentence that's not too bad.
The Cullens are all in the gym dressed up, looking like gods among men, especially Rosalie in a tight red backless number. I wonder how many Proms that the Cullens have attended, and why they would keep going to them? Looking back, I don't even remember why I went to the ones that I did. It was like rehearsing for a party I was never going to attend in real life. Then they hand you a champagne glass and a beer stein but tell you that alcohol is off limits. If any guy is reading this about to enter into the age where you start going to these things, here's a bit of advice, find a classic style tuxedo. Something that James Bond would wear into a casino, and buy the damn thing! As a junior you will probably end up going to two proms at least, and this will save you money.
Edward dances with Bella, who reminds him and us, that she can't dance. We know, but you know what Bella? It doesn't matter anymore. The whole, clumsy-to-the-point-of-having-a-genetic-disorder-thing was a four hundred page set up so that your excuse for injuring your leg in the attack would be swallowed. Now that part is over, so we don't need this anymore. Please stop talking about it since everyone in town has apparently bit that improbable piece of BS. Although not everyone...
After a couple of dances, Jacob shows up at the Prom. Which is odd for a couple of reasons, first off he's dressed in a white tee shirt and a tie. To be fair, the tee shirt is long sleeved, but the image in our heads is pretty ludicrous. I don't know if it makes it better or worse if the tee shirt is a turtleneck. I guess Meyer wants to show that the Native kids live in some sort of poverty or are just that outside of social capacity, but he couldn't get a dress shirt? Jacob at least understands that he has to put on something nice. I'm not sure why Meyer makes his clothes like this, but there's something else too. Jacob does not go to school at Forks HS, he walks up to Edward and Bella alone, so he's not with anyone. Did he buy a ticket? If so, how? If not, why was he let in? Being let in is even stranger when you realize that Proms are Black Tie affairs and Jacob's attire doesn't even resonate on the Emily Post category list.
He asks to cut in, and Edward who having laid it out to Tyler earlier, lets him. This is uncharacteristic of Edward and reminds me of yet another Simpson's Episode (I think I've referenced at least ten so far), "Lady Bouvier's Lover," where Abe Simpson is dancing with Marge's Mom and Mr. Burns asks to cut in. Abe lets him, because I think at some point in time you couldn't refuse the cut in request. Why is Jacob there?
This is the question that Bella asks, where she should be asking, 'how is he there?' If you park at a high school and try and walk in the door with no reason to be there, you will be questioned by security. There is something more odd about Jacob though, "he must have grown a foot since the last time I'd seen him..."
Later, it's established that he's 6'2". I guess he is taller, but I'm not certain because we were never told how tall he was earlier. Not even in reference to Bella. Furthermore, how tall is Bella? These little details wouldn't matter normally, but since she's making big deal of his height it would be nice to know it now.
Jacob is at the prom because, "my dad paid me 20 bucks to come to your (Bella's) Prom." I suppose that Jacob didn't dress up because he gets the 20 either way. The whole crux of this "confrontation" is that Billy knows that Bella's full of shit story about her leg is full of shit. And Billy wants Jacob to tell Bella that, "we're watching."
Normally that would be creepy, but since Edward is already literally watching Bella sleep, it isn't. We know what Billy means too, Billy knows that the Cullens are vampires and they're going to watch out for them. The only thing that Billy doesn't know is that Edward didn't injure Bella. Either way, this whole thing is a set up for the second book. I just wonder if this epilogue was there in the first edition of the novel because this whole scene with Jacob only makes sense because there is another book with Jacob taking more of a role in the story. Then like a ghost Jacob is gone, returns Bella to her owner...errr boyfriend, Edward for another and last encounter with the worst couple in fiction.
Edward, still reeling from Bella's stupidity, asks her what she was expecting on the way to the prom. A good question, because that's what I was asking two weeks ago. However he can't just ask the question and does an annoying thing that I have overlooked the two of them do throughout the book. He asks her that if he asks her a question will she answer it. Which is stupid, because he could just ask and if she doesn't answer it he's no better off. What if she said 'no I won't answer it.' Does that mean he won't speak because in that case he ought to since the less these two say the better they come off. He asks and she answers, "I didn't think it would be some trite human thing...prom!"
"Human thing." She's still human but the phrase reveals more than she ought to. See, in the beginning of the book she saw the Cullens eating by themselves and wanted desperately to be a part of it. We could read it in her mind the way she jealously looked at them while forming plans to use her friends (which are mentioned as she waves down to them at the prom) in order to step up to their table. She already considers herself to be a vampire, and to have shed off the last remnants of her former life to be one of them. I think as a conclusion to this whole story this is the real metaphor.
I have heard people say that the story is about sex. That Edward loves Bella so much he won't defile her, while Bella loves him so much that she wants him to. All vampire stories have the sexual subtext, and frankly it would take really good writing to not have that in a vampire story. However, this story is really about how one girl sheds her entire identity, gives up her friends, family, and life for this one guy whom she will depend on for her entire existence and can't live without. Is that really the role model we want our daughters to have? That happiness is being attached to some male in an utter dependence role?
It's funny because what Bella was expecting was to be turned by Edward but Edward doesn't want to do it. Again people say that it's about love, but I disagree. She wants him forever and he won't do it even though he doesn't think his life is that bad. Sure he calls himself a monster but what exactly is so rueful about? None of the things that he should be, since those are all things that he could change: his personality, his treatment of Bella. Those could improve and they aren't symptomatic of being a Vampire. Just from being a sociopathic, controlling, soon-to-be-abusive boyfriend.
They dance again "and he leaned down to press his cold lips once more to my throat."
Actually for an end sentence that's not too bad.
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