After Bella is done considering how ugly she is in the mirror, she decides that she might as well face the music and deal with Edward. First though she has a plan, "I decided that, if I couldn't talk to him today, really talk, then I was going to see Carlisle tomorrow. I had to do something."
While it's hard to be accurate (mostly because I'm not going back and counting) it's been a couple of days since the party where Ed almost killed Bella. In that time, Edward has gotten distant leading Bella to doubt her future with the god among men which has motivated her to do--nothing. She's done nothing, she hasn't really tried to corner him into a conversation. I mean, she sort of has, but then he waves it off as being nothing dropping the subject. Bella, of course, can't bring it up again for fear of displeasing her master, er boyfriend. During the last novel I discusses many times that Edward was an abusive boyfriend, he made all of the decisions for the two of them and for her alone, but also that she's at the point where she's obviously in fear of displeasing him. So much so that she won't even confront Edward about the distance between them, but would rather go behind his back to his "dad" to figure out what is going on. That's either indicative that she is psychological enthralled by him or that she's such a chicken shit that she won't even try to talk to the source of the problem. Instead she's going to go the backdoor method in order to not make him mad, but what does she think is going to happen when Carlisle tells him?
The problem with the book is that we are supposed to think that Edward is the ideal mate for our girlish hearts. However he seems to lack two things that every woman I know has claimed to want in a guy: sense of humor and ability to listen. I'm not going to make some hackneyed 80's stand up joke about how women are lying about it, what I'm going to say is that Edward isn't funny. Not at all, in fact there is an incredible lack of levity in the story so far. Edward, not only misses that sense of humor, but also he never listens to her. Not once does he really have a conversation with her wherein her viewpoint is discussed in some way without him correcting her or basically telling her how to think. Again, I ask, what does she get out of this relationship?
The four worst words strung together in the English language are, 'we need to talk.' Nothing good ever follows that phrase, otherwise why would you need to talk. Here Edward goes about it differently, "Come for a walk with me." It sounds normal but to Meyer's credit, she does well in the atmosphere sense--it just feels bad. Anyone that has ever been dumped has said some silly things or made some ridiculous assumptions about the other person in order to avoid the inevitable. During this walk Edward talks about how it is time for the Cullens to move on, to transfer locations as Carlisle is no longer seeming reasonable to pass for 30. Eyebrows, according to Edward, are being raised.
This is how Edward dumps her. He's not straight with Bella, it's all about the moving. Bella does something odd here, instead of pleading with him not to move--which would be the obvious course of action she just assumes that she's going with them. It's another example of how bad of a role model Bella actually is. She has no identity of her own, everything regarding her existence is wrapped up in Edward. She's prepared to drop her only family members, her actual life, and whatever aspirations she made have had just to be with this one guy. In some ways I get it, I've been there thinking that the person dumping me would come around if only I would change every last thing about my life. That reality though hits home, and you realize that what the other person needs is not reasonable. That realization hurts but it's what helps you get through the break up. Bella doesn't get it and finally Edward spells it out, "Bella, I don't want you to come with me."
I've literally had those words said to me (with a different name of course).
Edward then does the excuse making. He tells her that he's no good for her, that she ought to find someone else, that his life is too dangerous, etc. The one thing that he never says to her is that she'll find someone better. Which is curious because usually that is something said, but Edward's pride won't let him say it. What Edward actually means is that she doesn't belong in his world, a much better world as he's portrayed it. Bella just kind of takes it like a whipped dog. The only thing that Edward does do right is perceive her sadness at the break up and fear for her safety. He tells her not to do anything stupid, but then does something rather clever. She can't kill herself because of any intrinsic self worth, or Kantian/religious argument against suicide but because she has a responsibility to her father. It's clever because a person who wants to kill themself in such a state won't perceive that they are worth anything, that the self can't be improved by its own destruction, or that God/god/gods don't approve. He instead heaps a responsibility on her that he knows she won't ignore.
He finishes by telling her to forget about him, that it would be like he never existed...aside from her memory of course, and then vanishes in the forest. What happens now is around 12 pages of rambling incoherent thought processes coupled with her fainting. It's tough to dissect because on one hand her inability to make any sense reflects her pain at being dumped. On the other hand I can't say that it's on purpose. Especially because she's currently unconscious on the floor of the forest so the incoherence is at one time a bit too coherent for her being unconscious and at the same time too incoherent for the thought of a person still possessing rationality.
The rain wakes her up as well as the sound of a large creature, like a dog, nearby. When she gets up it's a person looking for her, not a dog. A bit of obvious foreshadowing there as the person is one of Billy Black's friends from the reservation. It's then revealed that Carlisle has told everyone that he's moving to Los Angeles, a fact that we know is wrong from what Edward had said earlier and seems only to be there so that Bella can be smug about knowing something that the other people don't. Finally there's a brief conversation with Charlie where we find out that the Blacks on the reservation are having a party because the Cullens have left. It adds nothing to the plot, but what's curious is that the Charlie is called at all. Reservations are zones that operate with their own legal systems. In other words Chief Swan isn't going to be called if the kids on the reservation are doing something on the reservation, there's a different Sheriff for that--probably Sheriff Black. Now the Reservation Sheriff might give Swan a call out of courtesy but he wouldn't be the first one notified. In either case the Reservation is celebrating because the Cullens have left Forks.
Which brings us to a plot hole. In the previous book Charlie and Billy had stopped talking because Billy wouldn't allow the reservation kids to go to the hospital with Dr. Cullen working there. When we first meet Billy it's the first time that Charlie and he have been together in several months. So it seemed that Carlisle was only working in Forks for the same amount of time. Yet the Cullens seem to be so established in Forks that they must have been there longer. Carlisle's replacement talks about what a great loss he was, but he couldn't have been that integral unless he had been there for a long time. So which is it?
While it's hard to be accurate (mostly because I'm not going back and counting) it's been a couple of days since the party where Ed almost killed Bella. In that time, Edward has gotten distant leading Bella to doubt her future with the god among men which has motivated her to do--nothing. She's done nothing, she hasn't really tried to corner him into a conversation. I mean, she sort of has, but then he waves it off as being nothing dropping the subject. Bella, of course, can't bring it up again for fear of displeasing her master, er boyfriend. During the last novel I discusses many times that Edward was an abusive boyfriend, he made all of the decisions for the two of them and for her alone, but also that she's at the point where she's obviously in fear of displeasing him. So much so that she won't even confront Edward about the distance between them, but would rather go behind his back to his "dad" to figure out what is going on. That's either indicative that she is psychological enthralled by him or that she's such a chicken shit that she won't even try to talk to the source of the problem. Instead she's going to go the backdoor method in order to not make him mad, but what does she think is going to happen when Carlisle tells him?
The problem with the book is that we are supposed to think that Edward is the ideal mate for our girlish hearts. However he seems to lack two things that every woman I know has claimed to want in a guy: sense of humor and ability to listen. I'm not going to make some hackneyed 80's stand up joke about how women are lying about it, what I'm going to say is that Edward isn't funny. Not at all, in fact there is an incredible lack of levity in the story so far. Edward, not only misses that sense of humor, but also he never listens to her. Not once does he really have a conversation with her wherein her viewpoint is discussed in some way without him correcting her or basically telling her how to think. Again, I ask, what does she get out of this relationship?
The four worst words strung together in the English language are, 'we need to talk.' Nothing good ever follows that phrase, otherwise why would you need to talk. Here Edward goes about it differently, "Come for a walk with me." It sounds normal but to Meyer's credit, she does well in the atmosphere sense--it just feels bad. Anyone that has ever been dumped has said some silly things or made some ridiculous assumptions about the other person in order to avoid the inevitable. During this walk Edward talks about how it is time for the Cullens to move on, to transfer locations as Carlisle is no longer seeming reasonable to pass for 30. Eyebrows, according to Edward, are being raised.
This is how Edward dumps her. He's not straight with Bella, it's all about the moving. Bella does something odd here, instead of pleading with him not to move--which would be the obvious course of action she just assumes that she's going with them. It's another example of how bad of a role model Bella actually is. She has no identity of her own, everything regarding her existence is wrapped up in Edward. She's prepared to drop her only family members, her actual life, and whatever aspirations she made have had just to be with this one guy. In some ways I get it, I've been there thinking that the person dumping me would come around if only I would change every last thing about my life. That reality though hits home, and you realize that what the other person needs is not reasonable. That realization hurts but it's what helps you get through the break up. Bella doesn't get it and finally Edward spells it out, "Bella, I don't want you to come with me."
I've literally had those words said to me (with a different name of course).
Edward then does the excuse making. He tells her that he's no good for her, that she ought to find someone else, that his life is too dangerous, etc. The one thing that he never says to her is that she'll find someone better. Which is curious because usually that is something said, but Edward's pride won't let him say it. What Edward actually means is that she doesn't belong in his world, a much better world as he's portrayed it. Bella just kind of takes it like a whipped dog. The only thing that Edward does do right is perceive her sadness at the break up and fear for her safety. He tells her not to do anything stupid, but then does something rather clever. She can't kill herself because of any intrinsic self worth, or Kantian/religious argument against suicide but because she has a responsibility to her father. It's clever because a person who wants to kill themself in such a state won't perceive that they are worth anything, that the self can't be improved by its own destruction, or that God/god/gods don't approve. He instead heaps a responsibility on her that he knows she won't ignore.
He finishes by telling her to forget about him, that it would be like he never existed...aside from her memory of course, and then vanishes in the forest. What happens now is around 12 pages of rambling incoherent thought processes coupled with her fainting. It's tough to dissect because on one hand her inability to make any sense reflects her pain at being dumped. On the other hand I can't say that it's on purpose. Especially because she's currently unconscious on the floor of the forest so the incoherence is at one time a bit too coherent for her being unconscious and at the same time too incoherent for the thought of a person still possessing rationality.
The rain wakes her up as well as the sound of a large creature, like a dog, nearby. When she gets up it's a person looking for her, not a dog. A bit of obvious foreshadowing there as the person is one of Billy Black's friends from the reservation. It's then revealed that Carlisle has told everyone that he's moving to Los Angeles, a fact that we know is wrong from what Edward had said earlier and seems only to be there so that Bella can be smug about knowing something that the other people don't. Finally there's a brief conversation with Charlie where we find out that the Blacks on the reservation are having a party because the Cullens have left. It adds nothing to the plot, but what's curious is that the Charlie is called at all. Reservations are zones that operate with their own legal systems. In other words Chief Swan isn't going to be called if the kids on the reservation are doing something on the reservation, there's a different Sheriff for that--probably Sheriff Black. Now the Reservation Sheriff might give Swan a call out of courtesy but he wouldn't be the first one notified. In either case the Reservation is celebrating because the Cullens have left Forks.
Which brings us to a plot hole. In the previous book Charlie and Billy had stopped talking because Billy wouldn't allow the reservation kids to go to the hospital with Dr. Cullen working there. When we first meet Billy it's the first time that Charlie and he have been together in several months. So it seemed that Carlisle was only working in Forks for the same amount of time. Yet the Cullens seem to be so established in Forks that they must have been there longer. Carlisle's replacement talks about what a great loss he was, but he couldn't have been that integral unless he had been there for a long time. So which is it?
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