Content Note: Rape, Vehicle Collision Twilight Recap: Bella has been rescued from an imminent gang-rape by Edward Cullen.
Twilight, Chapter 8: Port Angeles
Twilight was not -- and I think most people will agree with this statement -- written to be taken as complex social commentary. It's a romance novel, built around the eroticism of sexual abstinence and denial. And for all that, it works pretty well if you like that sort of thing. Or so I'm told. YMMV.
Where Twilight fails -- and it does, notably in areas of racism and misogyny -- I honestly believe that it fails through ignorance or laziness or incuriousness rather than malice. Sure, the author and her editors could have spent a significant amount of time and effort removing the casual misogyny seen in the narrative treatment of Bella and Lauren and Rosalie and Leah and pretty much the entire rest of the female cast, and sure they could have pulled out the racism by excising the cultural appropriation and the Magic Dark People Legends and the portrayal of the werewolves as mindless and violent. But in order to remove those aspects, the team of people responsible for this book has to know they're doing it and (more to the point), they have to care. And we live in a society that is openly hostile to education on these issues and which rewards (with millions of dollars worth of sales!) books which contain racism and misogyny therein. So there's a definite problem of education and motivation there.
And I want to make this very clear, that if you are a Twilight-fan or a person responsible for Twilight, this deconstruction is not about you being a bad person. It's not. This deconstruction series is not and has never been about "OMG Twilight bad"; the point of this series is "OMG Twilight popular... so what does that say about us as a general whole?"
I say all that for two reasons. One, I think it needs to be reiterated from time to time that my goal here is social commentary, not grr-stupid-authors-and-their-stupid-fans because I do not feel that way at all about the authors and fans of anything I deconstruct. To Each Hir Own, I say. (And I like problematic things too!) But two, today we are going to talk about Twilight as it follows a trope that is older than dirt, but it still chafes my chaps. This isn't Twilight's fault; I don't expect every author on earth to reexamine their genre and rework every unfortunate trope ever in their genre. But it's here and it bugs me and I'm going to talk about it. And the "it" in that sentence is the Bella/Edward reaction in the wake of her near rape.
I jumped into the seat, slamming the door shut behind me. [...]
The tires squealed as he spun around to face north, accelerating too quickly, swerving toward the stunned men on the street. I caught a glimpse of them diving for the sidewalk as we straightened out and sped toward the harbor.
"Put on your seat belt," he commanded, and I realized I was clutching the seat with both hands. I quickly obeyed; the snap as the belt connected was loud in the darkness. He took a sharp left, racing forward, blowing through several stop signs without a pause.
Edward is driving unsafely.
This is partly because of the situation, but it's also partly because total contempt for traffic laws is pretty much what the Cullens do. And we'll talk about this more later, but I just know it's going to come up in the comments, so briefly: this is awful.
It's awful because it wrecks the world-building. The Cullens are supposedly trying to be discreet and blend into the local population; driving like the rules don't apply to you isn't going to help that cause. I don't care how good Edward's telepathy is or what kind of range he can throw, someone is going to observe them doing this and then there will be trouble.
It's awful because it wrecks the characterization. The Cullens are supposedly largely humane people who just want to live with the minimum amount of death necessary to sustain them; driving unsafely is a sure means of getting someone killed. So what if Edward can sense everyone for a billion mile radius? Can he also sense the animals? When a moose or a deer wanders on the road and he careens into it because Vampire Reflexes are not Car Reflexes (meaning the car can only react so quickly, regardless of how awesome Edward is), Bella is going to die. (No, really, I have experience with this.)
And it's awful because it's once again glorifying privilege in a book that's absolutely marinating in privilege. Not only is being a vampire better because you're immortal and beautiful and graceful and perfect in every way (and let's not forget MORE PALE), you can also break traffic laws with impunity in your sexy car!!
*insert strangled noise at the back of Ana's throat*
(I'm not trying to be mean, I'm really not, it's just that after pages and pages of this, it starts to feel like this series should be called Twilight: Privileged For (Un)Life! or something.)
So, anyway, Edward is driving like he's Zeus in a Ferrari and endangering Bella whilst doing so (his "Put on your seat belt" command not withstanding) and while this is not unusual, the reason this time is that Edward is very very very angry about the whole rape thing.
I studied his flawless features in the limited light, waiting for my breath to return to normal, until it occurred to me that his expression was murderously angry.
"Are you okay?" I asked, surprised at how hoarse my voice sounded.
"No," he said curtly, and his tone was livid.
And here is reason eleventy billion why Edward Cullen is a terrible person: he's making Bella's rape about him.
Men! Do not do this. I keep meaning to write a "How To Respond To A Rape Victim" post, and I keep not doing getting around to it, but here it is in short: Do not appropriate a rape victim's experience for yourself. You don't like rape? Good for you. It makes you angry? Keep it to yourself.
Seriously. I cannot count how many times I've confessed my experiences with rape to close friends and lovers, only to have them stomp about the room and RAEG that they're so angry, that if they even find the guy, they'll beat him up! They'll kill him! They hate rape SO much!
This is not helpful. You're making the whole experience about you. And by reacting as if this is The Worst Thing In The World OMG RAGE, you're signalling that you don't take rape seriously. If you did, you'd already know -- just by knowing that I am a woman -- that there is a 25% chance that I've been raped in my lifetime. That statistic is horrific and monstrous, yes, and it's something we should all care deeply about, but by being unable to control your reaction and acting like this is SHOCKING ASTONISHING NEWS, you are signalling that you are not an ally and that you additionally may have problems with temper, impulse control, and with making things All About You.
And that can make rape victims very, very nervous.
When a rape victim shares hir experience, the best way to react is with compassion and empathy, and with an attempt to take your emotional cue from them. Seriousness is good. Sympathy is good. "I'm so sorry that happened to you," is usually a safe thing to say. "They had no right to do that to you," if zie seems like they are feeling social pressure to justify that it wasn't entirely their rapist's fault. "No one should have to go through that," if zie seems anxious about sharing an "easy" rape when so many people have it worse.
Threatening to murder the people responsible for the rape? Does not help. I just want to repeat that.
"Distract me, please," he ordered. [...] "Just prattle about something unimportant until I calm down," he clarified, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.
Additionally, ordering a rape victim to distract you so that you can calm down from your horrible trauma of being made aware that rape is a real thing that exists in the real world is also not helpful. Especially when the actual rape victim you are ordering around is at that moment having to deal with the horrible trauma of nearly-being-raped.
This is serious priority inversion, and it happens all the time in real life and in literature, and it irks me so very much. I have to assume it's a symptom of Privilege; when everything in your entire life has been framed in terms of how you -- Privileged White Male Vampire -- feel, then of course a traumatic experience that happened to someone else should immediately (and only!) be framed in terms of how the Privileged White Male Vampire in the room feels about things! It's just the natural order of things, right? Privileged White Male Vampire feelings come first.
"Um." I wracked my brain for something trivial. "I'm going to run over Tyler Crowley tomorrow before school?" [...] So I figure if I endanger his life, then we're even, and he can't keep trying to make amends. I don't need enemies and maybe Lauren would back off if he left me alone. [...] "If he's paralyzed from the neck down, he can't go to the prom, either," I muttered, refining my plan.
Edward sighed, and finally opened his eyes.
"Better?"
"Not really." [...]
"What's wrong?" My voice came out in a whisper.
"Sometimes I have a problem with my temper, Bella." He was whispering, too, and as he stared out the window, his eyes narrowed into slits. "But it wouldn't be helpful for me to turn around and hunt down those . . ." He didn't finish his sentence, looking away, struggling for a moment to control his anger again. "At least," he continued, "that's what I'm trying to convince myself."
"Oh." The word seemed inadequate, but I couldn't think of a better response.
I'm not going to criticize Bella for talking about running over Tyler. I kind of want to, but I'm not going to because:
- Bella's anger is entirely justified. Tyler is being incredibly aggressive by telling everyone not that he's planning to ask Bella to the prom, but that he's going to take her there as if it were a done deal. This puts Bella in the position of having to call Tyler a liar (and look cruel and heartless) or go with someone she doesn't like and can't trust. Predators are very good framing themselves as romantics.
- Bella has just suffered a serious trauma. She's very nearly been gang-raped; I can give her a pass for not being the clearest thinker at the moment.
- Bella has been ordered to perform. She's in a dangerously speeding car that has taken her out of town and into a remote area with a man who is seething with rage and has ordered her to speak now. See #2; I'm not going to leap on her here and now when we've more chances to do so later at a much better time.
So there's that. But we're not done because now I'm going to ding Twilight for something that pretty much every book does but that doesn't get them off the deconstruction hook.
Edward says it "wouldn't be helpful" for him to turn around and track down Bella's would-be rapists and murder them. And you know what? I agree with him; it wouldn't be helpful for him to do that. But you know what would be helpful? If he and Bella went and filed a goddamn police report.
I do not -- repeat: do not -- blame real life victims for not wanting to deal with the police. I didn't report my real life rapist to the police and if I could do it all over again, I still wouldn't. I know for a fact (because I actually do know a bit about my real situation and please keep in mind in the comments that you, personally, do not) that I would not have been believed, that the entire process would have been incredibly damaging to me, and that I would have been kicked out of the college I was attending at the time. (That last one very nearly happened anyway.)
But Edward and Bella are not real life people; they are characters in a book. Bella is a police chief's daughter, a virgin, and a stranger in a big city who was nearly gang raped by strange men in the middle of the street. If ever there was a rape victim who might be taken seriously by the police, surely it is she. Edward is the respected son of the local celebrity doctor, and he is handsome, polished, and poised. He is additionally telepathic. He can smoothly and perfectly answer every question put before them. He can easily pick the would-be rapists out of a line-up. He could take this moment to at least suggest to Bella that they do this -- that the pain and effort and trouble will be worth it if it saves some other girl like Bella from being raped tonight by these men.
Edward doesn't suggest it. Bella doesn't think of it.
They don't think of it because the rape wasn't real. The rape was a literary device to propel the characters together, a way for Edward to save Bella and a way for Bella to be grateful to Edward. The rape is intended to break down emotional walls, to make them both vulnerable (for varying degrees of "vulnerable") so that they can step away from the animosity they've built up and really see what's important: that they're in love.
That's a stock trope of the genre. S. Meyer didn't invent it. She was under no obligation to reinvent it. But I don't have to like it.
Edward will later justify his years of murdering humans because the men he murdered were rapists, murderers, predators of women. Edward asserts that he can't control his temper, that he is driven to vigilantism. This is a lie.
Vigilantism is the last resort of those denied the satisfaction of justice. It's what people turn to when rapists are allowed to get off scot-free because of their privilege, of their connections, of their power and money and influence. Edward, who has all those things in spades, doesn't need to fight clandestinely against rapists. He could put them away all on his own, the legal way, by being the perfect, trustworthy, privileged, telepathic witness for the prosecution that he is.
He doesn't do that, because Edward ultimately doesn't care about rape. He doesn't care about rape victims or about justice for them. He doesn't care about preventing rape. He doesn't care because rape, to him, is All About Him. Always, not just when it happens to Bella. Rape is all about his anger, his temper, his need for violence, his blood lust.
And because of that, Edward Cullen is a poster boy for the appropriation of victims' experience.
71 comments:
"Edward will later justify his years of murdering humans because the men he murdered were rapists, murderers, predators of women. Edward asserts that he can't control his temper, that he is driven to vigilantism. This is a lie.
Vigilantism is the last resort of those denied the satisfaction of justice. It's what people turn to when rapists are allowed to get off scot-free because of their privilege, of their connections, of their power and money and influence"
I'm sort of reminded of Dexter by this actually. For all his talk of killing bad people, it comes down to the fact that he needs to murder people and he uses the rapist thing as a way of justifying to himself that he's still a good person. The difference of course is that with Dexter one gets the impression that this disconnect between what the protagonist thinks of himself and what he does is deliberate on the part of the writers.
Really, really good post.
And here is reason eleventy billion why Edward Cullen is a terrible person: he's making Bella's rape about him.
Ugh, yes! Part of this sort of behaviour makes me think that the Edward figure in question is super-pissed that some jerk had the nerve to get onto his property, rather than actually being upset that one human being is treating another human being like that.
Additionally, ordering a rape victim to distract you so that you can calm down from your horrible trauma of being made aware that rape is a real thing that exists in the real world is also not helpful.
Again, yes. I'm actually quite stunned at Edward's response - I know he's meant to be all Dark and Passionate, but isn't he meant to say something like "My god, Bella, are you all right?" Or if this is going to be all old-fashioned and unhelpful stereotypes anyway, maybe Bella crying in his arms whilst he reassures her that he's never going to let stuff like that happen again... Admittedly, that would be pretty naff too (or in the hands of Meyer I suspect it would be), but would at least acknowledge that Bella's had a horrible experience and our Manly Dominant Hero recognises that. Or just something other than "please distract me from the horrible experience you just had".
But you know what would be helpful? If he and Bella went and filed a goddamn police report.
And... yes. Totally yes.
Do I need to trigger warning for discussion of rape and victim-blaming, or is that inherent in the post? Well, just in case.
I cynically suspect that, if Edward spent a lot of time in courts during rape trials probing the minds of judges and juries, a lot of the time, his result would be, "Unless I can somehow argue that the victim didn't know the rapist beforehand, and possibly also that she was a virgin, there is nothing I can say that would produce a verdict of Guilty here."
That's from a "if this was the real world" perspective. In the Twilight world, while that wouldn't be a problem because all rapes are stranger (or, in the case of Rosalie's fiance, very nearly stranger) rapes, I don't think it would occur to Stephenie Meyer that four fewer rapists out on the street would lead to any decrease in the number of rapes. The impression I have is that she thinks of rapists as being like background radiation; you adapt to the fact that they exist, you can't actually change that fact.
And yet another scene that actually would have been better if S. Meyer had just thrown the usual cliches on the page and called it a day.
After the part about privilege at the start of the post, it struck me just how childish and selfish this whole fantasy is. The Lord Peter Whimsy stories often go into detail about his expensive hobbies, high-ranking connections, nice furniture, etc, etc, and it's always clear that he's the child of wealth and privilege. Still, the plot of the story is about him being a detective, providing a social service, often for someone who has no resources, and never for any reward. In twilight, it's all about being in love with/being a wealthy, beautiful, privileged, immortal, glamorous vampire, which is an end in and of itself. I think if Edward was the last son of Krypton, he'd never actually DO anything with his powers, he'd just reflect on how having them made him better than anyone else. If he'd been bitten by a radioactive spider instead of a vampire, his credo would probably be "With great power comes great superiority."
The impression I have is that she thinks of rapists as being like background radiation; you adapt to the fact that they exist, you can't actually change that fact.
... and now I'm thinking of Virtual Rapists, a-la virtual particles.
In a sufficiently privileged work, an environment with a high-degree of background danger for the heroine will spontaneously form a rapist/heroic act pairing that mutually annihilate into plot-energy. While neither the rapists nor the act will persist beyond their scene, the resulting exchange influences the rest of the work.
...can I also say that this scene basically shifts from "Bella is being threatened with physical violence from Faceless Mooks" to "Bella is being threatened with physical and mental violence from Edward"? We're not blaming Bella for jumping in the car with someone she knows, whom she believes will help her, and for not bailing from the speeding vehicle once it becomes clear that she's in a hostage situation, not a rescue, but I would have thought a woman just taken out of a bad situation would recognize that the situation has not actually improved, since she's primed for it. Even just an "oh, crap" from Bella before she gets into full-on placation mode so that Edward doesn't turn his rage on her for getting herself in that situation and needing rescue would be nice.
As for Edward Cullen, this seems like inconsistent characterization. He drives up in the car to flashily rescue Bella from her assailants, and then drives like a bat out of hell afterward. If he's got this kind of rage already pent-up, why doesn't Edward just do what he did in the past and kill the would-be rapists? Solves the problem much more permanently, it follows his characterization, and there are more than enough opportunities for the assailants to "disappear" as Bella blindly goes through Port Angeles trying to escape them. Then Edward shows up, quite smugly, references obliquely that the situation is "dealt with", and then gets to lecture her on why Good Girls Don't Go Here as he forcibly escorts her back to the other girls. Situation resolved, but tension heightened, and it gives Bella more reasons to have worries and fears about whether diving in headfirst to a relationship with Edward is a good idea.
And it resolves what would otherwise be the next sane thing to do - discuss whether or not this requires swearing out a warrant against the assailants or talking to a counselor or some other thing to defuse the situation, rather than ramping it up.
"Prattle"?
He told a victim of a rape threat to prattle to him?
I guess that shows us what he thinks of her conversation on a good day.
Also, if he was closing his eyes as she prattled, I hope he had stopped driving?
To be fair, it might be just S. Meyer's tin ear for dialogue and carelessness with keeping track of what her characters are doing.
why doesn't Edward just do what he did in the past
You answered that a moment later:
Situation resolved, but tension heightened
Meyer systematically defuses tension at every turn. She doesn't want Bella to "have worries and fears" about Edward. Edward is perfect and wonderful in every way; his only flaws (as we're supposed to read him, anyway) are "flaws," i.e. things he can angst about -- like his bad temper, or his reluctance to give Bella a downside-free transformation into a vampire -- while everybody else knows it's romantic. Because if Bella had worries and fears, then the audience might have worries and fears, and we might question whether the whole thing is a good idea to begin with.
@Beroli:
there is nothing I can say that would produce a verdict of Guilty here."
This is where you need Cullen teamwork. Edward reads the rapist's mind and finds the right bait, then tells Jasper, who nudges the rapist into an outburst that establishes his guilt. They seek out and encourage police and other authority figures who might be sympathetic to the situation. Maybe get a bit of Alice precognition in there to choose the opportune moment. Etc.
Would it work? Who knows. But they could at least try.
Also, if he was closing his eyes as she prattled, I hope he had stopped driving?
In Chapter 9, he drives them back to Forks without hardly ever looking at the road. Because he's telepathic, you see, he doesn't need to look at the road to drive. Despite them being the only car on the road and his passenger can't be mind-read.
*headdesk*
He's obviously reading the road's mind and staying ten steps ahead of its plan.
I believe Stephenie Meyer's vampires have perfect recall, like Simon Illyan's memory chip in the Vorkosigan books.
So Edward is fine driving with his eyes closed, as long as absolutely nothing has changed about the road since he was last there and he can absolutely count on being able to read the minds of any other drivers (or animals who cross the road...or would that come under "something has changed about the road"?).
Of course, even if any of his powers logically translated to not needing to look to see the road, Bella wouldn't know that. She should find being in a car which is moving (at any speed, never mind the ridiculously high speed Edward favors) with the driver's eyes closed the most terrifying experience she's had--ever.
> Predators are very good framing themselves as romantics.
SO good, in fact, that it can cause clueless guys who want to look romantic to mimic predatory behaviour, with exactly the opposite result.
Sorry, I know that's a bit off-topic, but that sentence just forcibly reminded me of my own late teens. I must have seemed seriously creepy to some girls, because the "romantic" standard of behaviour I tried to live up to was set by Edwardesque creeps. And none of it came at all naturally to me - it was just what I thought was expected. It's just as well I'm a physically unintimidating person; I don't think I ever inspired actual fear. I certainly hope I didn't. I was an idiot, I'm ashamed, and I just felt I had to spill that.
Er, sorry Ana - could you change that last comment's name to "Guest", or failing that, delete it? I didn't mean to post it under my real name.
And now one I specifically DID post as "Guest" has appeared with my name on it. Not sure what's going on now.
Moderator Note
To Guest: Unfortunately, I can't change posting names, but I've deleted your post as you requested and I will reproduce it here on your behalf.
--- POSTED FOR GUEST ---
> Predators are very good framing themselves as romantics.
SO good, in fact, that it can cause clueless guys who want to look romantic to mimic predatory behaviour, with exactly the opposite result.
Sorry, I know that's a bit off-topic, but that sentence just forcibly reminded me of my own late teens. I must have seemed seriously creepy to some girls, because the "romantic" standard of behaviour I tried to live up to was set by Edwardesque creeps. And none of it came at all naturally to me - it was just what I thought was expected. It's just as well I'm a physically unintimidating person; I don't think I ever inspired actual fear. I certainly hope I didn't. I was an idiot, I'm ashamed, and I just felt I had to spill that.
No worries, dear Amarie -- there's a big difference between mourning in private versus what Edward is doing here, which is essentially making a victim frightened and worried for her own safety. Much hugs and lemon bars. :)
"Vigilantism is the last resort of those denied the satisfaction of justice. It's what people turn to when rapists are allowed to get off scot-free because of their privilege, of their connections, of their power and money and influence"
Well, yes and no. Vigilantism of that sort, especially against powerful and privileged people is enormously rare, despite its popularity as a fantasy, from "The Godfather" to "Hothead Paisan". Almost all the examples I can think of are fictional. Actually, all the examples I can think of are fictional. Someone who walks on a rape charge because of 'connections, power, money and influence' tends to stay walked, and have nothing else happen to him.
Vigilantism is actually more often the action of those with power acting against those without. Lynch mobs come to mind. Which leads us back to Edward:
I can think of any number of reasons why Edward doesn't plan to call the cops, some of which don't actually make him look like total scum, but I think I need to know more about this scene, which I have not read. Did these guys ever state their intent to harm Bella? Did any of them put a hand on her? If neither, we are essentially making a police report that goes like this: "My friend was walking on Blah Street when a pair of men began following her in a threatening way, and she thinks they were in cooperation with another pair of men who were waiting for her at the end of the street. No, she doesn't know them. No, they didn't say anything. No idea. We're from out of town. We live in Forks."
The cops in Port Angeles will probably be fairly sympathetic to the nice young man, but finding these guys, no matter how well described, and charging them with anything worth taking to court is not going to seem like a viable option to almost any police station. They'll send a patrol car around. Even if Edward can supply all of their names, and blood types, there's basically nothing here to go on. I would still make the report, since this could be either useful information in an ongoing string of rapes, or, even better, information that might head off a problem before it develops much. But, like Bella, I am a cop's daughter, and this is how I think.
I think that, beyond that, Edward may simply have lived outside the law too long to consider it a useful tool.
Now, there are a bazillion ways he could use his shiny vampire powers to mess these guys up, and I would actually approve of that, depending on what way he chose, and what's roiling around in their muddled little minds...but Edward won't bother. Which seems odd. He justified feeding on humans because they were rapists, but apparently, now that he has an alternative food source...
At Ana:
*squeals and huggles tightly* Thank you so much for understanding, Ana! Lemon bars are love!! Hopefully, I can take some with me when school and work starts on Monday. *secretly terrified of one professor I had to sign up for and needs comfort…* x.X
At Makabit:
If I may, I used to read quite a few fanfictions of Twilight when I was a Twihard. And in a lot of those fanfictions, the writers were absolutely convinced that Edward dropped Bella off at home, turned his car around, and went to eviscerate and eradicate those rapists. For them, it was an absolute guarantee that Edward Cullen killed the men that nearly raped Bella Swan behind the scenes.
And, to be honest…I wouldn’t blame Edward Cullen, either. If we’re going with the, err…assumption that he’s in love with Bella Swan, then it would be hard to judge him for not acting rationally and judiciously. Love can be powerful and the urge to get rid of that which hurt what we love is strong. : /
…But then we have to remember that Twilight is, with all due respect, an allegory to conservatism/Mormonism. By that extension, it is a book that does everything it can to dispel tension and the uncomfortable questions that come with it, as Bekabot said. And I would imagine that Edward actively tracking down and killing those men would completely blow those intentions out of the water.
Now, you’re right that it’s inconsistent…but what *isn’t* inconsistent in the Twilight world? Bella is supposedly mature, intelligent and strong what with having to care for her mother all her life…but she’s so immature that one wonders how she doesn’t see something of a mirror in Jessica. A werewolf is *anything* that the imprintee wants him to be…but the relationship will always turn out sexual/romantic, seemingly against the imprintee’s will. A vampire stays stuck at the age they were turned…but Edward easily switches between being a tweeny brat and a “I Know Best Because I’ve Lived Longer” chauvinist. And so on and so forth. As I see it, the goal isn’t really to do good, consistent, and sensitive story-telling; the goal is simply to make sure the allegory is always strong and present.
Edward specifically states that he's trying not to kill him. The reason that he keeps Bella with him for as long as he does is to give him some time to let the aggression die down so he won't feel the need to kill him, otherwise he would have dropped her off with her friends.
He is using Bella to prevent himself from hurting them because, apparently, he'd rather not hurt them.
So, on the one hand, that tells us that Edward is not planning on killing these people. He's planning on keeping Bella around for as long as it takes him to overcome the urge to kill. On the other hand it tells us that Edward views Bella as a tool, something he uses to prevent himself from doing things he doesn't want to do.
Edward: Doctor, I've got thus irrepressible urge to kill.
Doctor: Well... take a Bella Swan and call me in the morning.
Did these guys ever state their intent to harm Bella? Did any of them put a hand on her? If neither, we are essentially making a police report that goes like this: "My friend was walking on Blah Street when a pair of men began following her in a threatening way, and she thinks they were in cooperation with another pair of men who were waiting for her at the end of the street. No, she doesn't know them. No, they didn't say anything. No idea. We're from out of town. We live in Forks."
No and no, but you don't have the details quite right.
Bella doesn't think they were in cooperation, she knows it because after they got her trapped between them they started talking to each other, then they started to surround her (remember that initially they're just in front and behind leaving the side open) and taunted her when she told them to back off. And then Edward came.
At this point they were far enough into the attempt-to-surround process that one of them had to jump out of the street to avoid being hit by the car. The only reason he was in the street (he started on the sidewalk) was that he was moving to block any attempt on Bella's part to flee sideways, his allies already having forward and back covered.
I understand the Cullens also have super senses. With Daredevil's hearing, driving while blind becomes considerably less risky. Well, it does assuming that he can concentrate on road noises as well as Bella's "prattling."
@Marie Brennan: The story where the Cullens pool their special abilities to bring down legal justice on those who would otherwise escape it? I want to read that story now.
"The Cullens are supposedly trying to be discrete..."
Discreet. Although the way the couples hang on each other, I wish they would try to be discrete!
(Please forgive me, Ana.I know it's a typo and my intent is not to imply ignorance. It's just one of my pet peeves and you're one of my favorite columnists and I want your columns be practically perfect in every way.)
I've always assumed that if they actually cared they'd work in a more preventative fashion. Alice and Edward both ought to be able to identify crimes before they happen. A lot of crimes could be prevented just by having someone unexpectedly show up. Jasper has the ability to make the would-be criminal feel on a visceral level the wrongness of their almost-crime hopefully preventing from repeating the attempt in the future (the Cullens would, of course, follow up so that they don't need to take this on faith.)
"A female science-fiction writer recently wrote a pretty cool book in which a group of genetically-engineered women are mentionedin passing. They're part of the world-building, the background. The women are called "paulines", and they're bred to keep quiet and marketed specifically to evangelical communities. "
Oooh! Which author? Which book? This sounds like something I'd want to check out.
You know, there have been quite a few times where things commented on in these deconstructions have caused me to look back on my own thoughts or behavior and reassess my priorities.
While my experiences with the subject of this post are purely speculatory and hypothetical, I can see here that my projected responses to them are badly prioritised.
I'm not sure if thanking you for that is just another form of appropriation, but I still feel that thanks for providing insights that let my observe my own behaviors to the purpose of becoming a better person are warranted.
So thank you.
And I am sorry for your experiences.
At least they're not trying to be analog! That'd just be WEIRD.
Thank YOU. And for you and anyone else feeling similarly, this is definitely not about making people feel bad. Nobody can react perfectly all the time! (I fail daily, in a variety of social interactions.) It's more about understanding how some people can feel about some reactions and then being aware of that over the course of a relationship.
I.e., if this were the ONLY case of "appropriation" on Edward's part, it'd be understandable as a single failure in a general trend of respect and kindness. But it's NOT.
So, on the one hand, that tells us that Edward is not planning on killing these people. He's planning on keeping Bella around for as long as it takes him to overcome the urge to kill. On the other hand it tells us that Edward views Bella as a tool, something he uses to prevent himself from doing things he doesn't want to do.
And, presumably, being around the Smells Like Teen Spirit Bella doesn't HELP calm Edward's blood lust down. Really, on a number of levels, Edward is being terribly cavalier about everyone's safety. Instead of driving her out of town, he should be heading towards witnesses so that he has more motivation to not Fang Out.
But then, I think the whole courtship between these two should be chaperoned, so what do I know?
By the way, ff anybody is wondering what all this 'Mass Effect 3 ending' stuff is about, I must recommend in the strongest possible terms that you start with this video:
Dude would be the best college professor ever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MlatxLP-xs
Storekeeper: I know nothing about those vampires. I'm the wrong stereotype I'm afraid. Perhaps you should try someone less white.
LOL LOL LOL.
I also completely agree about the sun, but there would probably be some kind of pesky ripple effect of some kind. *sigh*
The book is The Highest Frontier by Joan Slonczewski.
Before I forget, Beroli and Rikalous (I respect your perspective but I have some questions):
1) Granted, Edward's memory is good. Is it good enough that he can remember what the pattern of the light-changes at the intersections should be, based on his experiences with them in the past?
2) Same with Edward's hearing. Granted, it's good. But is it good enough that he can not only hear the "click" when the traffic lights change, but the color they're changing into and the color they're changing from?
3) Edward evidently remembers the roads around Port Angeles as empty at night and this time he's correct. But IMO he's correct due to dumb luck and not to superior vampire awareness. Port Angeles is not crowded even during the daytime but it's a popular tourist destination and after Edward rescues Bella it's still not all that late — night has just recently fallen. If this incident happens during winter and not spring, which I think it does, night would still be falling early. Bella hasn't even had a real chance to skip a meal yet, a missed opportunity which must surely cause her to gnash her teeth in frustration. Edward's chances of running into a moose or an elk are far inferior to his chances of running into another car, or a truck. There are loads of scenarios one could come up with: maybe Edward possesses the skill to avoid a collision through some combination of bat-ears and telepathy and a GPS in his head but I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced that a little steel pill that's been revved of to a certain degree of momentum can turn or stop on a breath, especially when the guy who's driving it is being distracted as per his request, no matter how good the handling on the steel pill is. (And Edward, at this point, is driving a boring old Volvo and not one of his specialtymobiles.) So, my question here would be: is vampire strength mighty enough to overcome physics? Or do vampires, as dark-sided creatures with an iffy relationship to rationality, have the ability to screw with cause and effect? (Which they might be able to do without even realizing they're doing it.) The last possibility is the most attractive one to me because it's backed up by what Bella says: she's impressed by Edward's cavalier attitude and thinks we should be impressed too. She thinks driving without eyesight is an excellent effect. Her attitude is all: "Edward is my Magic Boyfriend!! He's so good around cars that he can drive without looking!! Swoon!! (The bit where Edward's weaving around in the Port Angeles traffic just before he pulls off a Flawless Parallel Park reminds me of the Knight Bus scene in the third Harry Potter movie.
I wonder whether the author, knowing that Port Angeles is a small town and also knowing that she was going to set this scene at night, put together the concepts "night" and "small town" and came up with "deserted". Maybe.
Notice that all four of Bella's pursuers are on foot, as is Bella herself, while Edward has wheels. Once again, the peasantry walks while the nobility rides. Notice also that the nature of this book is such that Bella literally can't get rescued by a pedestrian Robin Hood who happens to be jogging by...no, she needs to be snatched out of her predicament by a guy on a silver steed in a silver Volvo, because in the Twilight universe the distinction between people who walk and people who ride is even more important that the distinction between people who talk up and people who talk down. Bella is proven to be an actual lady, a plebian girl with hidden princess status, when Edward decides to rescue her. One gets the feeling that he wouldn't do that for just anybody.
Last paragraph (more typo hell):
Notice that all four of Bella's pursuers are on foot, as is Bella herself, while Edward has wheels. Once again, the peasantry walks while the nobility rides. Notice also that the nature of this book is such that Bella literally can't get rescued by a pedestrian Robin Hood who happens to be jogging by...no, she needs to be snatched out of her predicament by a guy on a silver steed in a silver Volvo, because in the Twilight universe the distinction between people who walk and people who ride is even more important that the distinction between people who talk up and people who talk down. Bella is proven to be an actual lady, a plebian girl with hidden princess status, when Edward decides to rescue her. One gets the feeling that he wouldn't do that for just anybody.
One more time:
Notice that all four of Bella's pursuers are on foot, as is Bella herself, while Edward has wheels. Once again, the peasantry walks while the nobility rides. Notice also that the nature of this book is such that Bella literally can't get rescued by a pedestrian Robin Hood who happens to be jogging by...no, she needs to be snatched out of her predicament by a guy on a silver steed in a silver Volvo, because in the Twilight universe the distinction between people who walk and people who ride is even more important that the distinction between people who talk up and people who talk down. Bella is proven to be an actual lady, a plebian girl with hidden princess status, when Edward decides to rescue her. One gets the feeling that he wouldn't do that for just anybody.
Oh, thank you Jesus. 'Nuff for now.
Ouch, this wound up in the wrong thread. And I've seen this video, and I enjoyed it immensely.
I also completely agree about the sun, but there would probably be some kind of pesky ripple effect of some kind. *sigh*
Approximately 2.5 degrees Celsius increase in average temperatures on Earth's surface, unless you also make the sun slightly smaller to keep total energy output constant.
On the terrifyingly reckless driving - it makes a certain amount of sense from the super-reflexes character in high school. On the other hand, Edward Cullen has had decades of experience in which to learn otherwise and curb his instincts. That he hasn't can mean only one thing - he doesn't want to.
Now, there are a bazillion ways he could use his shiny vampire powers to mess these guys up, and I would actually approve of that, depending on what way he chose, and what's roiling around in their muddled little minds...but Edward won't bother. Which seems odd. He justified feeding on humans because they were rapists, but apparently, now that he has an alternative food source...
It's been a very long time since I read the first Twilight book, but actually, didn't he stop because he decided that he was wrong to kill humans (even rapists)? So it's not inconsistent that he's unwilling to kill them now.
"On the terrifyingly reckless driving - it makes a certain amount of sense from the super-reflexes character in high school."
Well, sure, Edward can float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, and grin like a piranha. But what can the car do?
IIRC this was one of the problems with Van Physics too.
Well, if he stopped feeding on people before all this for moral reasons, then that also makes sense. I haven't actually read the books, so I'm sort of feeling my way around here.
:( Ooops. Thanks for letting me know.
Raising the Sun’s temperature would also have a political side effect; AGW deniers would claim that global warming is merely a side effect of increased solar output. But it wouldn’t be much of an effect, since they say that anyway.
If you wanted the sun's temperature to be some nice even number, it would be easier to invent a new temperature. Just set 1000 (or some other convenient number) degrees Ramblite or whatever at 5505 degrees degrees Celsius and the proverbial Bob is your proverbial uncle.
@bekabot: Edward only needs to be able to tell what color the traffic light is if he cares about obeying them, and when has he been that interested in following mortal rules? He can sense if there are cops or hittable humans around (and they'll probably know what color the lights are), and if there aren't he has no particular reason not to run a red. Granted, he is running a risk of hitting something that he doesn't sense, but he's undergoing deep! emotional! turmoil! right now, and he hasn't shown that he's an exceptionally good decision-maker in general.
@bekabot -
Doesn't help with Van Physics, but would it be possible to basically strip the vehicle of "unncessary" weight, modify the stock systems with racing/performance parts, and otherwise make it entirely not street legal but not mod it to the point where it stops looking street legal? And would such gains give the car enough maneuverability to partially make it vampire-speed?
One thing I wanted to come back and ask about: you refer to Bella in several places as a "rape victim." Without wanting to wander into the horrible discussions of what constitutes "real rape," or to minimize the trauma of Bella's experience . . . is it appropriate to use that term for her? Victim of attempted rape, certainly, and that is an awful thing, that the story should acknowledge far more than it does; but we don't call the subject of a planned-but-not-executed murder attempt a "murder victim."
I'll admit I haven't studied the topic in detail (though I've sworn a vow that I will, if I ever include it in my fiction). But it feels off-base to me to put that label on Bella, given that the whole point of the scene is that she was saved from rape.
I tried to keep the references to "rape victim" high-level and general as in "do not do X with a rape victim, especially as in this case where Bella etc.", but yeah, I probably wasn't terminologically precise in the post. My apologies.
Part of the problem with terms here is that, were it not for Edward, she would be a rape victim, and if it's rare for women to be raped on the street by strangers at dusk, it's surely vanishingly rare for her acquaintance to drive up at the last second and save her. And, of course, she is deliberately conflated within the narrative with Rosalie -- an actual rape victim -- with the idea being that Bella is Rosalie but for the intervention of Edward. I almost feel we're being asked to treat Bella with some sort of Alternate Universe / Schrodinger glasses: she is pseudo-dead because of the Van Incident, she is pseudo-raped because of Port Angeles.
But, yes, it would be more appropriate to call Bella a "victim of attempted rape" rather than a "rape victim". The wording in the post is an unfortunate combination of me trying to be general, me trying to also talk to Pseudo-Bella, and me trying to also talk to Rosalie.
Thanks! I'm going to check it out.
This section actually didn't bother me the first time I read Twilight. The way I read it, the only down side to being a vampire was the (almost) uncontrollable urge to kill everyone you meet, which would go double if it was someone you wanted to kill anyway. And yes, in this scene Edward acts horribly towards someone he cares about because of the bloodlust - but I assumed that was the point. It's Banner desperately trying not to turn into the Hulk.
These deconstructions are making me doubt if I'm ever supposed to read Edward as bad/lacking in control, but there you have it.
(Similarly, "I could turn you into a superhero, but the downside is that you have 50% odds of killing everyone you know, and I don't want to be responsible for that" is actually a legit reason not to turn someone, and that's how I always read Edward's refusal to turn Bella. I think in many parts of reading this book, my brain just automatically read it in ways to give the story the most possible depth.)
I think the problem with that is that Edward never acts like Banner trying not to to turn into the Hulk. Bella sets him off* so he spends time around Bella. That would be like Banner seeking out high stress situations and saying to everyone he meets, "Make me angry. Please make me angry."
Blood allegedly sets him off, though I'm not convinced there's any evidence of that, so he waltzes into a hospital and hangs around bloody-kid (Tyler) while talking to the one person we know can put him into a rage just by being near him (Bella). So now we're sort of at the point where Bruce Banner has joined and underground boxing ring and specifically seeks out the opponents who fight dirty and generally get on his nerves.
And then there's a question of what Banner's primary concern is. If Banner were in a position of, "I'm already angry and the person in the seat next to me places me at heightened risk of losing control," wouldn't his primary goal be to get her somewhere safe? Sure, without a distraction he might go Hulk smash on the bad guys, but with her influence he might go Hulk Smash on her.
I feel like Banner would have dropped Bella off with with Angela and Jessica, which Edward considered doing but rejected. Yes, Banner wants to avoid hulking out, but I think he'd be more concerned at the immediate threat of killing the innocent person in arm's reach than the more distant possibility of hunting down the bad guys (who are not here right now) maybe eventually.
Edward keeps on telling us that Bella is at risk when she's around him. At the moment he is in a murderous rage. If he actually cared about Bella, he'd be trying to make sure she wasn't around him.
-
All of that said, if Edward actually did read as Banner-Hulk-like, and if it weren't already established that Bella leaves Edward less in control rather than more in control, then you'd be right that there would be a very interesting dynamic going on. An extremely unhealthy one ("You can't leave me or I will kill people," is not what healthy relationships are built on) but one which provides more depth and moral complexity than anything we've actually seen in the book.
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* His reaction to Bella when they first meet is the deepest into anger-rage-hate we've ever seen him.
Well, looks like you beat me to the punch there. Still, I would have put it like this:
So, we've got a vampire who
1. can barely restrain himself anyway
2. is furious
3. has a person in arm's reach, trapped in the car with him
4. who absolutely no one knows is with him, and thus could be devoured without arousing the least suspicion
Good thing the author's forgotten all about the "Bella's his super-delicious irresistible scent" plot point, isn't it?
I mostly wanted to make sure there wasn't some protocol in activist circles that said Bella should be counted as a rape victim because someone intended to rape her. (I would still disagree with that protocol if it existed, because I don't think it's helpful to conflate everything into a single term like that. But I wanted to be sure.)
The rest of the comments about the scene are spot-on.
The Volvo: it might be possible to upgrade a Volvo to Speed Racer standards,
FWIW, I actually don't think it would be possible to mod a Volvo or any other mainstream car to the Speed Racer standards that the Cullens would need if they wanted to stop on a dime from going 100 mph. If I understand correctly, pretty much the first thing to go in a race car is the seats, and the Cullens clearly haven't (and can't) done that because they carpool to school. And, of course, Bella is in the passenger seat. (Am I wrong? Any car-modders here? What would you need to do if you wanted a car that can go from 100 mph to 0 in just a few seconds?)
Later in Chapter 9, Bella will freak out over Edward's driving and he'll belittle her for it and refuse to slow down past 80 mph. And Edward will acknowledge that he can walk away from any crash with the understanding that therefore crashes don't really factor into his driving style, imo.
"FWIW, I actually don't think it would be possible to mod a Volvo or any other mainstream car to the Speed Racer standards that the Cullens would need if they wanted to stop on a dime from going 100 mph."
Well, what I was really saying is that I don't absolutely know that it's not possible, but then (confession time) I don't know anything about cars. I do know something about hiking, so I know that it's taxing to hold a map of a particular piece of territory in your head. It would be easier for a person with a perfect memory, but it would not be effortless. I have a good memory and it's taxing for me. But that's not the major problem. The major problem with relying on mental maps (or on any maps) is that maps are only as good as their last updating. The map doesn't change but the landscape does (rockslides, fallen trees, rising water, etc.). I don't think that driving down a road is any simpler than walking down a trail, which is why I wish Edward would deign to open up his butterscotch eyes and focus already.
BTW, your observation about how Bella counts as virtually dead (b/c of Tyler's van) and virtually raped (b/c of the unpleasantness at Port Angeles) is a fantastic insight. I view this as a piece of genuine foreshadowing which points at Bella's future as a vampire, when she will be technically dead yet active and ambulatory, and physically functional beyond the dreams of most of us as a result of having had her physical integrity violated. For a wonder this is a piece of foreshadowing which comes off well in a book where so much of the foreshadowing is clunky and obvious.
Oh, I completely agree re: maps (and I don't know much about cars myself) -- I was just using your comment as an anchor to toss my opinion onto the pile of car speculation. :D
I've been trying to compose an answer for how I agree with you and Chris, but I wasn't fussed about this when I was reading the book the first time. I've decided it's because I thought I was reading a different kind of book than the Twilight turned out to be, and I thought Edward wasn't supposed to be a superhero yet. At this point he's Peter Parker going into the boxing match, because superpowers must have a personal benefit, right?
I love cheesy romance novels (the kind you can buy at 5 for a dollar at a garage sales, and which have men without shirts on the front cover). There's a number of typical plotlines, and one of them involves a man of wealth and privaledge who is a fairly bad person. He's had something happen in his life which has made it difficult for him to connect with others. When he meets heroine, he tries to connect with her in his terrible ways, which are of course a million times worse than his day-to-day being a bad person because his passion for her is all-consuming and he's not good at thinking of others as human beings. (I'm thinking of one in particular where his parents never loved him, so he tricks the girl into a compromising position so she'll be forced to marry him.) But love is the most powerful force ever, and eventually he reforms so that he can be worthy of her. (I accept that there are a million things wrong with this plotline, and it's probably my least favourite of all the cheesy romance plots. But the books cheer me up when I'm grumpy so I do not care.)
Reading the book the first time, I thought we were in the middle of that plotline. He's met the girl who is his "cocaine", and she's causing him to act out like a crazy, destructive lunatic. (Banner with a cocaine addiction would be bad times.) The problem was that Meyer forgot to redeem Edward. This makes me worry that she thought that he was perfect the whole time - which is not how I read it.
Reading the book the first time, I thought we were in the middle of that plotline. He's met the girl who is his "cocaine", and she's causing him to act out like a crazy, destructive lunatic. (Banner with a cocaine addiction would be bad times.) The problem was that Meyer forgot to redeem Edward. This makes me worry that she thought that he was perfect the whole time - which is not how I read it.
This makes perfect sense, actually. And is, now that I think about it, kind of where I thought the book would go, too. As you say, the issue is when the light goes off that, no, Edward is supposed to be perfect "as is"* and that's when you're all BWUH.
* S. Meyer has sort of played with this trope in interviews, as when people outcried over the Car Sabotage that Edward is in love for the first time and can't help himself. However, I do think Edward is delivered to the reader as perfect "as is" because Jacob really DOES turn out to be dangerous (i.e., Edward is justified by the narrative eventually) and Edward never really changes over the series -- Bella is simply upgraded to Also Perfect.
"Reading the book the first time, I thought we were in the middle of that plotline. He's met the girl who is his 'cocaine', and she's causing him to act out like a crazy, destructive lunatic...The problem was that Meyer forgot to redeem Edward. This makes me worry that she thought that he was perfect the whole time - which is not how I read it."
"Edward never really changes over the series -- Bella is simply upgraded to Also Perfect."
Bella is upgraded to Also Perfect by being married to Edward — physically and in every other way. The whole point of this series is that being married to Edward redeems Bella. In this series Edward does not need to be redeemed b/c he is the means by which redemption is achieved.
I think I've already said this in another thread at some point, by my mother asked me about a bumper sticker that said "Drives like a Cullen" (or something to that effect) and I had to explain that it means "Drives like someone who has no respect for human life and could walk away without a scratch from a collision in which they were driving 90mph into oncoming traffic."
A vampire is a human-shaped SUV.
I think your idea of Edward being Bella's redemption is a brilliant one, though I always saw him as something closer to her reward for being "Good".
Either way, it completely destroys the trope. It's even worse if it's Bella's fault when Edward acts out - e.g. the car incident Ana mentioned. A basic tenant of the trope is that love interest is a bad person in general, and his general badness is amplified because of extreme passion. It sounds like Edward is only a bad person because of Bella in the first place. Love (which is always tied to passion in these books) is supposed to be the salvation, not the problem in the first place.
I still say everything would make so much more sense if Bella were nearly eaten by vampires rather than nearly raped. So much so that I feel like that may have been Meyer's intention.
As for people being angry when they learn about sexual abuse -- I want to say something here and try to be very clear, and not deny your experiences. But there is nothing wrong with feeling anger in that situation (or any situation, because feelings are neutral, it's what you do with them that counts.). It is, in fact, entirely natural for a good person to feel outrage that someone would do something that horrible, and when the victim is someone you care about, it is entirely natural for that rage to be compounded. The problem comes in making it all about you. Rage does not necessarily do that. And all victims are not created equal. Outrage on my behalf for similar circumstances has made me feel entirely good.
There is no one perfect way to respond to a victim telling you their story. There are certainly bad ways, and Edward's abusive driving and demands fall into that category. Abusive driving is always bad, and making demands of someone who has just had a traumatizing experience is also nearly always bad. (Unless you need to make those demands or else more horrible things will happen.) But I do not think anyone who feels and shows outrage when they learn someone close to them has been victimized is wrong. Here's the important thing: keep the victim's feelings uppermost in your thoughts. Ask them what they want from you. Ask them if what you're doing is bothering them. Because we're all different, and what hurts some people will be a balm to others.
I'm just baffled by the 'speeding away' idea. You do not need to speed away from people on foot in a car. (It's especially worrying because they're starting in a _city_. Did he drive 70 down residential streets? Or did this abandoned backstreet somehow lead directly out of town?)
Yes, Edward is barely restraining himself from going back there...so? What does that have to do with anything? Is the plan for him to hopefully get so far away, thanks to his speeding, that he won't turn around and kill people, because then he'd miss the start of Grey's Anatomy?
The logic seems to be 'If he's ten minutes away in a car, he might turn around and kill them, but not if he's fifteen away'. That is, uh, not logical.
That leaves as the only rational seems to be 'He is incredibly angry', which rather screws up the characterization. Vampires do not drive like maniacs for two reasons: 1) it attracts attention, and 2) it can result in them being car accidents, which they really cannot afford (At least not outside of Forks.)
And almost none of Edward's super-powers would seem to help driving a car. Super-strength is completely useless. As is super-speed. And super-senses are not helpful unless he can actually see through things.
As far as I understand it, Edward's telepathy is probably much too short-range to help in a car. And the problem is that accidents are, to put it bluntly, accidents...so he can somehow see if every single person is behaving correctly around him and not about to screw up due to negligence? When they themselves do not know? 'Hey, that guy up there that I can't see is going to pull out in front of this other guy that he doesn't know about...and somehow, despite no one else knowing this, I do.' That's not telepathy, that's super-telepathy.
Super-reflexes are the only thing that's slightly helpful, and that's only as helpful as the car allows. There's nothing there that would let him safely handle taking a turn too fast and finding a log in the road, for example.
Yes, he'd have good enough reflexes that he consciously could decide between smashing into it or flying off the road, unlike people who'd do it automatically...but he's still going to do one of those. The car literally cannot do anything else. Unless he's going to instantly exit the car and leap in front of it...except that would, physics-wise, be even worse for Bella. As would trying to remove her from the car. (Perhaps he could run in front of the car and hurtle it into the air enough to clear the log, and then catch it on the other side...but now we're just getting silly.)
Later in Chapter 9, Bella will freak out over Edward's driving and he'll belittle her for it and refuse to slow down past 80 mph. And Edward will acknowledge that he can walk away from any crash with the understanding that therefore crashes don't really factor into his driving style, imo.
I don't know if we want to touch this yet, since I'm sure you'll mention it again when we get to that part of the chapter, but that was such a humongous what the flying fuck moment for me when I read the book. Edward may be immune to car crashes, but Bella is not, and neither is whoever he might get into an accident with. (Unless it's with another vampire, which brings to mind very bizarre demolition derby/chicken with a car contests...) Edward is basically saying he doesn't give a fuck about human life, including Bella's. How romantic!
Oh, Edward always speeds. It has nothing to do with the current situation. His biggest problem with the truck (...which he will continue to be quite nasty about, in his usual condescending way) is that it can't go at the really insane speeds at which he drives the Cullens' cars.
TW: rape, torture, emotional abuse
Another rape survivor here. Everyone is different, I speak for no one but myself. But in my case, when I told my parents that my cousin had raped me, and my father's first reaction was, "I'm going to kill him!", that gave me an ethical dilemma I really didn't need right then. Because the rape was actually not the worst of my experiences with my cousin, not by a long shot. And so, if I then tell my parents, "wait, there's more!", what might my father say or do as an encore? So, in that horrible moment, I decided I should minimize my own rape and not mention torture and death threats *to protect my cousin from my father*.
My parents refused to *help* me, which was my only reason for telling them. And my cousin never got any help either. I guess it's a victory of sorts that (afaik) my father didn't attack my cousin the next time they saw each other?
TW: childhood sexual abuse, disclosure, emotions there-of
A survivor of long term childhood sexual abuse here. I just wanted to say that everyone's experience and disclosure there-of is indeed different. I kinda wish that some members of my family and certain friends had shown more emotion (anger, sadness, something). I've felt like I was disclosing my horror in a vacumn to some folks, and after my experiences of being numbed out to my own emotions for years, that's a very frightening place to be. Therefore, I didn't mind one boyfriend's reaction of immediate anger and threats to beat up my abuser, as it mirrored the anger I couldn't allow myself to feel at that point, whereas I minded terribly another boyfriend's distant, kindly there-there (he happened to a be a therapist, and he resorted to therapeutic techniques to deal with my disclosure, which actually put a lot of distance between us and ultimately ended in us parting ways.)
By the way, this isn't to disagree with the post. I agree with Ana'a assessment of Edward's behavior in this scene--he's extremely self-centered and self-serving, and if I were Bella, I wouldn't feel supported by his reaction in the slightest.
If Edward (I almost typed "Edwad") hadn't already been established as a Creepy McCreeperson from Creepville, Creepania, then "Talk me down with innocuous topics because I can't go among people like this and I've got to calm down before we go to the police station" might not be creepy.
If, of course, he actually talked about going to the cops.
Oh, hey, if Washington rain country were being used as an actual setting, there would be at least one roll of Ductape in the trunk of that car. If you have to tape something damp--ripped trash bag, whatever--Ductape sticks the best. So:
[quote]Edward stared straight ahead, pedal headed for the floor, as we left the dazed scumbags behind us, Ductaped to a light pole like a surreal bouquet. His eyes were . . . strange . . and the lights were crawling beneath his skin. [In my headcanon sparkly vampires have creepy glowy wormy things under their skin that show up when they emote and/or get a lot of sunshine.] I thought he might be growling, or was that the noise of the engine?
"Edward," I said quietly, "you're speeding."
His face did not change. "Talk me down, Bella," he said tightly. "Tell me about something a million miles away from here. Anything. Please. If you want me to go to the police with you, I have to calm down. I don't--I wanted--you've had a hellish day already and I don't want to make it worse."
So I talked about the squirrels in the tree outside my bedroom window and the stray cat that kept showing up on the porch as the suburban shopping district flicked past us, one big box after another staring over the empty road. I talked about how much I loved the scent of old books, the soft crackle of LP records, cool flannel pillowcases worn thin by years of washing. The car gradually slowed. When the number on the dial matched the number on the sign, I turned on the radio.
"YOU MAY BE RIIIIIGHT," Billy Joel howled. "I MAY BE CRAZY--"
I turned it off.
"No, good idea, you shouldn't have to be my calmative," Edward said. "Can you find some classical?"
I couldn't find any classical, but I did find a quirky public radio station that was doing a show about the swing revival. "Never could dance to that stuff," Edward remarked, but he turned it up anyway. He swung the car around in a smooth curve at the intersection and we jumped, jived, and wailed our way back to the city proper.
He pulled over a couple of blocks from the alley. "So how do you want to do this?" he asked me quietly.[/quote]
*Under the seat of that truck, rather.
Oh, wait, it is the Volvo in this scene.
Scruffy-haired Batman coming out of a Volvo like the vengeance of the night, eyes aglow and Ductape in hand . . .
(Perhaps he could run in front of the car and hurtle it into the air enough to clear the log, and then catch it on the other side...but now we're just getting silly.)
I can't help but be reminded of this, specifically the bit at about 1:12-1:17.
What is the name of the SF novel mentioned at the top of your post? I'd like to read it.
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