Ethics, for me is default philosophy. If someone asks me if they ought to be a philosophy major, after at first telling them no I ask them if they like to study ethics. The answer to this question is important, if they can't work through at least some of the basic problems of ethics they have no business in the discipline. Ethics has real world application unlike the theoretical and purely academic study of phenomenology or metaphysics. One of the principle ethical theorists, was, of course, Aristotle. In his Nichomachean Ethics he lays out two types of immoral person: the vicious and the incontinent. The vicious person is the one that is incapable of being moral. The moral choice to refrain from stealing or murder never enters into their head, they have lost the rational capability necessary to make a good choice. The incontinent, on the other hand knows the moral choice but then, for whatever reason (lack of will, cowardice, peer pressure, etc.) they choose wrongly. The important difference is that the incontinent knows they are doing wrong. Aristotle believed that the vicious individual was worse than the incontinent, but after reading this chapter I'm not so certain that is the case.
Spring Break is upon us, as Bella laments on Monday morning. This is a rather flippant observation from Bella given that we now know that she is going to bait in the trap that is being set to catch the vampire currently seeking her death. She also points out that this Spring break she is being hunted and last spring break she was being hunted as well, "I hoped that this wasn't some kind of tradition forming."
A word of advice to potential writers, don't point it out when you are reusing your own plot devices. It's not clever, it only proves that you are aware of it as well.
On Tuesday, less than a page later, we have a brief encounter with Mike and a monologue about how Jacob is in love with Bella. These are two distinct occurrences but cover the same ground. Jacob's feelings are known to Bella and it's obvious to everyone. Bella not sharing the feeling continues to string Jacob along, knowing that he will wait for her to come around since he said as much three chapters or so ago. This is where we come back to Aristotle. The problem for me is that this example sets up the counter argument. Yes, in cases of murder, it is worse to not be aware that it is wrong. However in this case, doesn't it make Bella more moral if she isn't aware of Jacob's feelings, or if she doesn't know that he will continue to bear the torch for her than the situation presented here? Especially when we consider that he is 16 and she's 18. Two years doesn't mean much when you are in your twenties or older, but at that age there are leaps and bounds of maturation that need to be accomplished. I have to go against "The Philosopher" on this one, she's much worse with the knowledge she has.
Back in La Push, the chapter jumps around pretty frequently and we are still on page 2 of it, we find out that Emily can bake a cake, "that would have won over a harder man than Charlie." Emily being a human female in this story serves only the one purpose in her existence, I've seen more female empowerment in porn movies at this point. The other point I want to make is that none of that makes sense. Why is she trying to win him over isn't she married to Sam? When did Charlie hate her or Sam? It's another file in the Charlie mystery: despite the glowing discussions of the Cullens in the previous book, Bella told us that he didn't like Edward. Despite what we know of Charlie and Sam Uley (that he called him to help find his daughter in the beginning of the book) somehow he's got to be won over by a cake. The cake thing also is insulting to men, just because a woman can bake doesn't mean we are going to fall for it. We're all not Homer Simpsons.
Jake and Bella have some lame getting to you know conversation that fills in plot details which would have been more appropriate a chapter or two ago. It concerns his lineage on both sides that was going to make him a werewolf no matter what. We also find out that they are faster than the vampires, and have blood temperatures above 108. I'm able, though not willing to accept that. It's the same as the sparkling thing for her vampires, it's an odd detail but it seems completely unimportant. Why tell us this? Jacob explains something, "I never get cold anymore. I could stand like this'--he gestured toward his bare torso--'in a snowstorm and it wouldn't bother me. The flakes would turn to rain where I stood."
I suppose that explains the cliff diving in the winter, but another tip for the writers out there--if you are going to add a detail like this, do the damn research. Just because he has a higher body temperature doesn't mean he can't lose that temperature. In fact if the snow is melting before it hits him, it means that he is losing heat at a ridiculous rate. That's not even an average understanding of how things like biology and thermodynamics work. And why is he standing there without his shirt on? They just left the house with a whole bunch of people in it.
Jacob wants to talk about the vampires, which makes sense as he is currently trying to kill one of them. So he asks about whether they had any other special powers than the mind reading. Bella is hesitant, "this felt like a question that he would ask of his spy, not his friend. But what was the point of hiding what I knew? It didn't matter now, and it would help him control himself."
Let me reiterate, Jacob is currently hunting a vampire and he wants to know--for his own safety and his brothers, what they are up against. He's hunting a vampire that he knows is trying to kill Bella, but Bella doesn't want to tell him because...I'm not sure why. She wants to hold on to the pain, she doesn't want to betray the guy who dumped her? Someone help me out here. Eventually, I suppose, she realizes her folly and tells him, "Jasper could sort of control the emotions of the people around him...And then Alice could see things that were going to happen. The future, you know, but not absolutely..."
Huh? Of the two abilities that she mentions, she downplays foresight. As in the one ability that might give Victoria foreknowledge of the trap they are setting she decides to mention that second. That would be like the Emperor explaining to Luke in Return of the Jedi that the trap he had set was based on superior tactical knowledge, firepower, logistics, oh and by the way I could kind of tell what was happening before it occurred but that's really not the issue here. I get that she has a death wish but if, as she claims, she cares for Jacob she might want to rethink her priorities.
The conversation ends with Jacob promising to take Bella cliff diving, yes cliff diving--he's going to take the person who claimed that she couldn't walk across a flat surface without falling jumping off a cliff. Those plans aren't going be fulfilled as the wolves have caught a fresh scent which they believe may be Victoria trapped between some mountain range. They've gone out for the kill, Bella shows some concern not realizing that it's five against one which worked pretty well for them with Laurent. That kind of irrationality is actually nice, because it's normal. I'm sure parents were worried when their sons flew bombing missions over Afghanistan, but the odds are kind of in their favor on that one.
What does Bella do? Try to kill herself of course, by going cliff diving alone. This brings back the voice, "No, Bella!' he was angry now, and the anger was so lovely." Yeah, lovely; but then again, I suppose that is the only real emotion aside from impatience that he did show her. It's revealing that she calls the voice her "delusion" but that being the case how can it give new information from before?
As she's being pulled into the riptide, the descriptions get kind of good. The disorientation, the cold. It's also nice that the oxygen deprivation leaves her content, the euphoria that you only get from CO2 poisoning or alcohol. She says goodbye and lets the current pull her away. Since we're only on page 362, I'm assuming she survives although we are in a corner on this one. Because unless the riptide pulled her right into a boat she's done for. The biggest concern is that this is supposed to be a heroic act, it's framed as such which is complete bullshit. Yet this woman is still a role model.
Spring Break is upon us, as Bella laments on Monday morning. This is a rather flippant observation from Bella given that we now know that she is going to bait in the trap that is being set to catch the vampire currently seeking her death. She also points out that this Spring break she is being hunted and last spring break she was being hunted as well, "I hoped that this wasn't some kind of tradition forming."
A word of advice to potential writers, don't point it out when you are reusing your own plot devices. It's not clever, it only proves that you are aware of it as well.
On Tuesday, less than a page later, we have a brief encounter with Mike and a monologue about how Jacob is in love with Bella. These are two distinct occurrences but cover the same ground. Jacob's feelings are known to Bella and it's obvious to everyone. Bella not sharing the feeling continues to string Jacob along, knowing that he will wait for her to come around since he said as much three chapters or so ago. This is where we come back to Aristotle. The problem for me is that this example sets up the counter argument. Yes, in cases of murder, it is worse to not be aware that it is wrong. However in this case, doesn't it make Bella more moral if she isn't aware of Jacob's feelings, or if she doesn't know that he will continue to bear the torch for her than the situation presented here? Especially when we consider that he is 16 and she's 18. Two years doesn't mean much when you are in your twenties or older, but at that age there are leaps and bounds of maturation that need to be accomplished. I have to go against "The Philosopher" on this one, she's much worse with the knowledge she has.
Back in La Push, the chapter jumps around pretty frequently and we are still on page 2 of it, we find out that Emily can bake a cake, "that would have won over a harder man than Charlie." Emily being a human female in this story serves only the one purpose in her existence, I've seen more female empowerment in porn movies at this point. The other point I want to make is that none of that makes sense. Why is she trying to win him over isn't she married to Sam? When did Charlie hate her or Sam? It's another file in the Charlie mystery: despite the glowing discussions of the Cullens in the previous book, Bella told us that he didn't like Edward. Despite what we know of Charlie and Sam Uley (that he called him to help find his daughter in the beginning of the book) somehow he's got to be won over by a cake. The cake thing also is insulting to men, just because a woman can bake doesn't mean we are going to fall for it. We're all not Homer Simpsons.
Jake and Bella have some lame getting to you know conversation that fills in plot details which would have been more appropriate a chapter or two ago. It concerns his lineage on both sides that was going to make him a werewolf no matter what. We also find out that they are faster than the vampires, and have blood temperatures above 108. I'm able, though not willing to accept that. It's the same as the sparkling thing for her vampires, it's an odd detail but it seems completely unimportant. Why tell us this? Jacob explains something, "I never get cold anymore. I could stand like this'--he gestured toward his bare torso--'in a snowstorm and it wouldn't bother me. The flakes would turn to rain where I stood."
I suppose that explains the cliff diving in the winter, but another tip for the writers out there--if you are going to add a detail like this, do the damn research. Just because he has a higher body temperature doesn't mean he can't lose that temperature. In fact if the snow is melting before it hits him, it means that he is losing heat at a ridiculous rate. That's not even an average understanding of how things like biology and thermodynamics work. And why is he standing there without his shirt on? They just left the house with a whole bunch of people in it.
Jacob wants to talk about the vampires, which makes sense as he is currently trying to kill one of them. So he asks about whether they had any other special powers than the mind reading. Bella is hesitant, "this felt like a question that he would ask of his spy, not his friend. But what was the point of hiding what I knew? It didn't matter now, and it would help him control himself."
Let me reiterate, Jacob is currently hunting a vampire and he wants to know--for his own safety and his brothers, what they are up against. He's hunting a vampire that he knows is trying to kill Bella, but Bella doesn't want to tell him because...I'm not sure why. She wants to hold on to the pain, she doesn't want to betray the guy who dumped her? Someone help me out here. Eventually, I suppose, she realizes her folly and tells him, "Jasper could sort of control the emotions of the people around him...And then Alice could see things that were going to happen. The future, you know, but not absolutely..."
Huh? Of the two abilities that she mentions, she downplays foresight. As in the one ability that might give Victoria foreknowledge of the trap they are setting she decides to mention that second. That would be like the Emperor explaining to Luke in Return of the Jedi that the trap he had set was based on superior tactical knowledge, firepower, logistics, oh and by the way I could kind of tell what was happening before it occurred but that's really not the issue here. I get that she has a death wish but if, as she claims, she cares for Jacob she might want to rethink her priorities.
The conversation ends with Jacob promising to take Bella cliff diving, yes cliff diving--he's going to take the person who claimed that she couldn't walk across a flat surface without falling jumping off a cliff. Those plans aren't going be fulfilled as the wolves have caught a fresh scent which they believe may be Victoria trapped between some mountain range. They've gone out for the kill, Bella shows some concern not realizing that it's five against one which worked pretty well for them with Laurent. That kind of irrationality is actually nice, because it's normal. I'm sure parents were worried when their sons flew bombing missions over Afghanistan, but the odds are kind of in their favor on that one.
What does Bella do? Try to kill herself of course, by going cliff diving alone. This brings back the voice, "No, Bella!' he was angry now, and the anger was so lovely." Yeah, lovely; but then again, I suppose that is the only real emotion aside from impatience that he did show her. It's revealing that she calls the voice her "delusion" but that being the case how can it give new information from before?
As she's being pulled into the riptide, the descriptions get kind of good. The disorientation, the cold. It's also nice that the oxygen deprivation leaves her content, the euphoria that you only get from CO2 poisoning or alcohol. She says goodbye and lets the current pull her away. Since we're only on page 362, I'm assuming she survives although we are in a corner on this one. Because unless the riptide pulled her right into a boat she's done for. The biggest concern is that this is supposed to be a heroic act, it's framed as such which is complete bullshit. Yet this woman is still a role model.
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