"Last night had been particularly bad," Bella remarks from the inside of her truck as she pulled over because crying while driving is dangerous. Despite the fact that you can't actually do it (thanks Nina), you can cry will stopped in a car but not while driving. Your body has this thing called the not-wanting-to-die prerogative that prioritizes certain actions. Driving is more important than crying. Her comment is odd because if "last night" was the night when she went to the movies with Jessica, it wasn't bad at all. She ends the previous chapter by saying that the pain had not lessened but that she had grown stronger. How is that "particularly bad?"
Bella has been having a nightmare where she is lost in the woods. The accompanying description of the forest is well done, as I repeatedly said during the last book, Meyer can lay out a scene very well. Bella is troubled by the nightmares because it's always the same and she always wakes up screaming. So what does she do to take her mind off the forest? She drives around in her truck through the forest lined roads while telling us, "I didn't want to remember the forest."
It leads us to an issue that we've had with this character in the entire story so far: she says one thing, but then does another. There is a literary device called "the unreliable narrator" in which a story is told in this way. To be the unreliable narrator, the voice we read has to contradict the events we witness or at least the facts of the story. Think of Akira Kurosawa's Rashoman or Captain Nemo's autobiography in The Mysterious Island, the point of view is being told as being true but it's the recollections of a character that do not reflect the facts of the situation which make them false. The point is that whether done deliberately (with knowledge of the mistakes, hence a lie) or accidentally (thinking the recollections are honest) it drives the story. It takes cleverness to use it correctly. The thing about Bella Swan is that while we can't trust her, we can't call her an unreliable narrator. The difference is that the things that happen which contradict her narration are done for the sake of plot. The plot drives her into either saying or doing the wrong thing. She tells us she doesn't want to be in the forest while driving through it, why? Because she needs to be on the road so that the next thing happens.
There's an interesting dissection of Edward's promise to Bella as she waits in the place that she doesn't want to be. Edward told her that, "it would be like I never existed," and while her feelings rebel against that idea she begins to realize that he lied, or is an oath breaker. What I like about it is that finally she sees something wrong in him. It's small but it's something. She realizes that he can't erase her memory, he can't undo the past, which allows her to think that she "would be able to look back on those few short months that would always be the best of my life."
I won't even knock her for that sentiment. I remember my first girlfriend, Rose, who was of no real significance in my life. I didn't particularly care about her that much but at the time I thought I did. Simply because she was the first and I hadn't developed the callous yet. I thought ours would be the best relationship every possible for me after she dumped me...AT THE TIME. It always feels like forever in the present, but it's not. She continues reflecting about the best time of her life and comes to the conclusion that the whole relationship was, "more than I asked for, more than I deserved."
My friend, Cassie, was saying that the biggest appeal of this book was that Meyer writes depressed very well. I'll admit to both having some sympathy for the main character due to experiences I have had and the experiences of close friends, but I wonder at Cassie's opinion here. I'm not sure Bella is supposed to be depressed or if she accidentally falls into that character trait because of the writer. What Bella is saying sure sounds like a depressed person, but thus far every time she's opined similarly it's purpose has been to glorify how good and desirable Edward is.
For some reason she gets out of her car, after deciding that if Edward couldn't keep his time-travel promise she won't keep her safe living promise either. It's important to note that she gets out of her car first, then remarks, "Sometimes kismet happens. Coincidence? Or was it meant to be?" upon seeing two motorcycles with a 'for sale, as is' sign above them.
The first thing she says is stupid. Of course kismet happens, it has to or else they wouldn't call it "kismet." Kismet literally means fate or destiny, the kind of thing that can't be avoided. The motorcycles are just what she needs to live recklessly, so it ought to be fate. Yet, Bella talks herself right out of that conclusion, despite the fact that it was exactly what she needed at the time. The only type of fate that I believe in is this kind of fate, fictional. This is one time in which I actually grimaced when someone talked themselves out of believing in it, but again it's that disconnection.
Bella has been having a nightmare where she is lost in the woods. The accompanying description of the forest is well done, as I repeatedly said during the last book, Meyer can lay out a scene very well. Bella is troubled by the nightmares because it's always the same and she always wakes up screaming. So what does she do to take her mind off the forest? She drives around in her truck through the forest lined roads while telling us, "I didn't want to remember the forest."
It leads us to an issue that we've had with this character in the entire story so far: she says one thing, but then does another. There is a literary device called "the unreliable narrator" in which a story is told in this way. To be the unreliable narrator, the voice we read has to contradict the events we witness or at least the facts of the story. Think of Akira Kurosawa's Rashoman or Captain Nemo's autobiography in The Mysterious Island, the point of view is being told as being true but it's the recollections of a character that do not reflect the facts of the situation which make them false. The point is that whether done deliberately (with knowledge of the mistakes, hence a lie) or accidentally (thinking the recollections are honest) it drives the story. It takes cleverness to use it correctly. The thing about Bella Swan is that while we can't trust her, we can't call her an unreliable narrator. The difference is that the things that happen which contradict her narration are done for the sake of plot. The plot drives her into either saying or doing the wrong thing. She tells us she doesn't want to be in the forest while driving through it, why? Because she needs to be on the road so that the next thing happens.
There's an interesting dissection of Edward's promise to Bella as she waits in the place that she doesn't want to be. Edward told her that, "it would be like I never existed," and while her feelings rebel against that idea she begins to realize that he lied, or is an oath breaker. What I like about it is that finally she sees something wrong in him. It's small but it's something. She realizes that he can't erase her memory, he can't undo the past, which allows her to think that she "would be able to look back on those few short months that would always be the best of my life."
I won't even knock her for that sentiment. I remember my first girlfriend, Rose, who was of no real significance in my life. I didn't particularly care about her that much but at the time I thought I did. Simply because she was the first and I hadn't developed the callous yet. I thought ours would be the best relationship every possible for me after she dumped me...AT THE TIME. It always feels like forever in the present, but it's not. She continues reflecting about the best time of her life and comes to the conclusion that the whole relationship was, "more than I asked for, more than I deserved."
My friend, Cassie, was saying that the biggest appeal of this book was that Meyer writes depressed very well. I'll admit to both having some sympathy for the main character due to experiences I have had and the experiences of close friends, but I wonder at Cassie's opinion here. I'm not sure Bella is supposed to be depressed or if she accidentally falls into that character trait because of the writer. What Bella is saying sure sounds like a depressed person, but thus far every time she's opined similarly it's purpose has been to glorify how good and desirable Edward is.
For some reason she gets out of her car, after deciding that if Edward couldn't keep his time-travel promise she won't keep her safe living promise either. It's important to note that she gets out of her car first, then remarks, "Sometimes kismet happens. Coincidence? Or was it meant to be?" upon seeing two motorcycles with a 'for sale, as is' sign above them.
The first thing she says is stupid. Of course kismet happens, it has to or else they wouldn't call it "kismet." Kismet literally means fate or destiny, the kind of thing that can't be avoided. The motorcycles are just what she needs to live recklessly, so it ought to be fate. Yet, Bella talks herself right out of that conclusion, despite the fact that it was exactly what she needed at the time. The only type of fate that I believe in is this kind of fate, fictional. This is one time in which I actually grimaced when someone talked themselves out of believing in it, but again it's that disconnection.
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