Everybody seems to want Bella to be some sort of heroic role model. Guess what? She behaves like a normal teenage girl. Sorry if people can’t accept reality. Not every woman can be Xena or Buffy – and thank God for that, because if they were, the human race would have died out long ago due to women that can’t stand anything feminine (having kids, etc) and want to dedicate their lives to beating up bad guys and sending faxes.

Bella is no Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She’s just a teenage girl who fell in love for the first time. People often feel strongly about their first love and Bella is no different. She’s still at that stage where she’s discovering who she really is and sometimes it takes people years before they feel comfortable in their own skin.

I think it’s realistic that Bella isn’t some super strong female who has all of the answers and can solve every problem on her own. She has a lot of self-doubt about her own worthiness as a human being and needs constant assurance from her boyfriend. This is how many (not all) teenage girls are, but most of them do grow out of it as they become more mature and develop more independence through life experiences. It’s not fair to expect Bella to have the strength and wisdom of a fully grown woman. Now if she behaved like this as a 25 year old, then that would be different…

Bella is not all weak though. Remember, she grew up with Renee who was more like the immature daughter while Bella had to be the grown-up. She had to look after her mother and take care of her. That takes a lot of maturity and strength. When she goes to live with Charlie, she takes care of him as well, though not in the same way she took care of her mother (Charlie, thankfully, has some common sense). So similar to teens in real life, Bella is mature in some ways and immature in others, which means she still has a lot of growing up to do.

Many people have criticized the unhealthy relationship between Bella and Edward and are concerned that teenage girls and young women are actually wishing for a similar type of relationship. While I did find Edward’s obsessiveness creepy (especially when he snuck into her room and watched her sleep), there were aspects of his personality that left me wishing I could find someone with those traits. Edward is protective of Bella and he truly admires her. While I am very independent and ambitious, it is occasionally nice to have someone protect me or rescue me when I get into trouble. I cannot begin to tell you the number of cowardly men I’ve dated. I’ve always ended up rescuing them or protecting them to the point where I felt like their mother, which was just creepy. It gets exhausting after a while. I think feminism has brought about a new problem in which many men just don’t have balls; they’ve become used to strong women to the point where they expect to be babied and women end up with boyfriends/husbands who are more like children.

My point is that when women are swooning over Bella and Edward’s relationship, I don’t think most of them want the exact same relationship, but they do want a relationship in which they feel like the guy will stand up and fight for them even if they don’t need someone to fight their battles. It’s just a nice feeling to know that someone has your back and is completely devoted to you.

Although it was very creepy of Edward to sneak into Bella’s room to watch her sleep, I’ve heard a lot of teens say that they wished a guy would do the same thing. What I think (or at least I hope) these teens mean is that they wished they could find a guy who found them interesting just as they are; they want someone who is attentive to them. Normally, guys only display that level of intense focus and attention when watching/playing sports, playing video games, fixing cars, etc, but rarely is that level of attention focused on their girlfriend/wife.

The relationship between Bella and Edward is purely carnal. I feel this is a good choice of words, especially in Edward’s case, since his attraction towards Bella stems from the fact that her blood smells particularly delicious to him. In other words, Edward is attracted to Bella in the same way that I am attracted to a steak. Bella is attracted to Edward because part of his predatory repretoire is his irresitability to humans. (He is handsome, smells good, etc.) Their relationship never progresses beyond this stage. In fact, they more or less admit that they are each other’s drug of choice. They can’t live without each other like a crack addict can’t live without her fix. Although such a relationship is very attractive to 14 year old girls, it is not a good relationshop to idealize. When Edward left, Bella expressed her lonliness in an unhealthy, immautre way as shown by the blank pages. Many people probably remember feeling the same way for a week, when they broke up with their first love, which again explains the appeal to 14 year olds. But, I digress.

The only person who seems to behave normally is Jacob. Bella is capable of having anormal relationship with him, a posssibility which the author, to her credit, acknowledges. Jacob is not over protective (smothering) like Edward. In fact, he doesn’t prevent her from visiting the vampires, although Edward prevents her from visiting the werewolves. Jacob is also not as needy as Edward and does what he feels is right, even if Bella disapproves. Edward only acts if he feels Bella will give him an OK. This again shows the immaturity of their relationship.

I’d like to close with a few blanket comments. Charlie is the worst character of the bunch. Does he ever do any policing? Does he ever miss the generic sports games he seems to love? Why doesn’t anybody care that the Cullens never eat? Was Jessica mad at Bella purely so Stephanie Meyer didn’t have to write about her anymore? If Bella is so unattractive, why does everyone at the school want to date her? Also, Edward never seems to go all the way and tell Bella what the other boys are thinking. Is he worried that a little self esteem might strengthen her personality? The part the bugs me the most is that the premise of the book, vampirism and lycanthropy as a metapor for puberty and all the fun that comes with it, is generally squandered. I think a more talented writer would be able to use this idea more effectively.

Finally, I hope in the final book the following happens: Bella is changed, and Edward is no longer attracted to her since he can no longer eat her. She feels rejected, tries to get together with Jacob, but find that Jacob no longer loves her, since he “imprinted” on her human form. Bella then calls on the Volturi to kill her. They can’t/won’t and she lives the rest of her life miserable and alone. At least then, her bad behavior won’t go unrewarded! Sorry if this was a bit rambling.