Thoughts on Twilight

I'm not going to lie, after reading the first couple of pages of this teen obsession, romantic love, I want Edward Cullens to marry me novel I was pretty much a helpless speck of dust sucked into this addictive story like the rest of world. I must say Stephaine's Meyer's writing style makes it extremely easy to follow along and very difficult to put the book down until the very last page. I really enjoy her use of stream of consciousness and the way she makes it so easy to step in Bella's shoes thoughout the novel. More importantly, who wouldn't want a tall handsome figure with beautiful characteristics to be in their life. Edward Cullen is so easy to fall in love with I even found myself forgetting sometimes he is suppose to be a scary vampire that could lose control at any time and kill Bella.

Okay, enough about Bella's perfect world and why I should go to bed dreaming about my new fantasy of marrying a vampire instead of Justin Timberlake. Far too often are messages such as anti-feminist values overlooked in stories such as Twilight. This is because so many readers are blinded by the love story floating on top. I want to make it a point to say how aggravated I am on just how much an empty character Bella really is. She is passive, stays in the kitchen while her father cleans guns and drinks beer, she lets Edward tell her what to do and eventually her entire world revolves around this one guy that can kill her at any given moment. Please do not get me wrong, I was once an adolescent nieve teen where my world revolved around a boy. However, it gets rather annoying to find Bella will not even stick up for herself once. I mean if this were Buffy she would have already given Edward the keys to the street and been able to protect herself.

I understand this is novel is a phenomenon in today's society and does teach young girls about adolescence to an extent. Then again, one must ask themselves from a feminist point of view what this story is telling young girls about love. That perhaps the way Edward controls Bella and how Bella is so passive toward the situation is how all relationships should be? These are just a couple of the many questions that one must think before letting their young child read this book.

Furthermore, yes, Twilight is addicting and a very easy read to get lost in the world of fantasy and love. I think there are some aspects of Edward that I too would allow him worthy of being hung up in my room. However, looking at the way gender roles are stereotypically geared toward a certain light, almost makes me wonder what the underlying message really is in this must have novel that everyone craves to read.