Twilight New Moon analysis and themes

Twilight (New Moon)

At the conclusion of the first book of the Twilight saga, Bella had been hospitalized from a vampire attack (Meyer, 2006). In the beginning of the second book, she and Edward and his family celebrate her birthday. She cuts herself accidentally and all the vampires have to leave because of the blood (New Moon, 2008). Edward sees how much danger Bella is being put in by being around them, so he decides he has no choice but to leave her -- which sends her into a terrible depression (Meyer, 2006). The book then moves on to the adventures she has with Jacob, who is a werewolf. They do all kinds of daring things and almost have a romance, but Bella keeps thinking of Edward and just cannot allow herself to share that kind of bond with someone else (Meyer, 2006). New Moon is not as streamlined as the first book was, and is more raw. Many fans will love that and want to read the third book, and others will find the change unsettling and annoying.

Reviews of the book have been mixed. A quick perusal of the Internet indicates everything from 'the best book ever' to 'the biggest piece of garbage on the planet.' There seems to be very little middle ground for people who read these books -- either they love them or they hate them. A few people said the book was 'just ok,' but these people are well into the minority when it comes to the issue. One thing that is certain with the New Moon book is that it is more of the same from Stephenie Meyer. People who loved the first book and are deeply interested in the lives of Bella and Edward will read everything that is included in the series. Those who did not like the first book will probably not pick up the second one. If they do give the book a chance, they probably will not find much value in it.

At around 600 pages, the book is quite long. Unfortunately, it does not seem to really go anywhere. Bella goes from dreamless in the first book to an adrenaline lush because Edward has dumped her (Jennings, 2007; Johnson, 2008). She is almost catatonic at times, and at other times she is doing something dangerous with Jacob. There seems to be little balance to the book. Because Bella's self-worth and self-confidence seem to be entirely tied to the whim of a young man, she sets a poor example for the majority of young girls out there (Johnson, 2008). One of the things that stood out when looking at what others had to say about the book was the fact that Bella is not a good role model (Jennings, 2007; Johnson, 2008). She is teaching young girls -- many of whom are completely infatuated with these books -- to place their entire lives into the hands of a boy in their age group.

The books try to show that this is 'true love,' when, in fact, it is not. Many people can see through this, but young girls do not always realize that their 'first love' is generally just infatuation. The fact that Edward is a vampire is really not even relevant to the story. The story is a romance, not a vampire book -- but one of the main characters just happens to be a vampire. Most young girls do not see that, though. They only see the romance and how committed Bella and Edward seem to be to each other. That commitment actually borders on obsession, and it is a very unhealthy thing for a young person to continually be shown.

If there is a saving grace to the book it is Jacob Black, the werewolf boy that Bella pals around with when she and Edward are broken up (Jennings, 2007). Jacob has hobbies, interests, and what seems to be a 'real' life outside of just being a werewolf or just pining away for someone. He is an interesting and flawed character, much more than Edward or Bella. The interactions he has with Bella seem to be more realistic than the stilted and syrupy dialogue that she seems to continuously share with Edward. Jacob seems more down to earth and grounded, which is a good thing, because none of the other characters appear to have those traits. Putting up with Jacob for the rest of eternity seems much better than putting up with Edward, but Bella does not do anything logic in the books. She just pines and whines.

People who are out of the pre-teen and young-teen age groups, and people who are more jaded or are not really lovers of romance books are not the right people to enjoy New Moon. For people in those age groups and looking for a romance that does not center on any kind of realism, though, anything in the Twilight series might be something they would enjoy (Jennings, 2007; Johnson, 2008). Bella appears co-dependent throughout the book, and Edward cannot really hold the reader's interest (Johnson, 2008). Jacob is an interesting character, but his storyline really does not go anywhere. Bella puts her whole life on hold just because she is without Edward, and it is understandable for a little while. After a few pages of it, though, the reader becomes far less sympathetic to Bella's cause. Instead, it is sad (and annoying) that she cannot seem to have any kind of life without Edward (Johnson, 2008).

It feels as though Bella does not comprehend the idea that there is much more to life than a boy -- especially one who lusts for her blood and glitters in the sunlight. The 'girl power' movement that swept the U.S. several years ago changed a lot of what girls were taught was acceptable and 'normal' behavior for them. That was a very good thing, but apparently Bella missed that movement. She appears to be stuck back in the 1970s and 1980s, before girls and young women were taught that they could be powerful and did not need a man to complete them. She is stuck with the 'stand by your man' mentality -- even when your man leaves you. Of course Bella and Edward will be reunited because it is a love story, but the fact that there is really so little happening while they are apart can get quite boring for the reader.

There are concerns from a lot of people who have read these books and written reviews about them. One of the largest of those concerns is whether Meyer is irresponsible for appearing to show young women that this is how they should be acting (Jennings, 2007; Johnson, 2008). The poorly-worded and obviously forced Romeo and Juliet references are upsetting, and the way Bella leads Jacob on to deal with her own pain is astonishingly selfish. In 'real life' something like this would probably not be tolerated, but it is apparently acceptable in the world that Bella and Edward live in. Bella says that she does not want people to see her or think about her, but yet she goes out of her way to be noticed -- even putting herself well into harm's way just so that she can hear the sound of Edward's voice.

This is not the kind of role model that young girls and young women should be following, and it feels like the book is trying to set women's rights back in time. It is hard to find a lot of good in this book. Of course, there are people who would completely disagree -- most of them in the age group to which the book is being targeted. There are plenty of rave reviews on the Internet, just as there are plenty of bad reviews where it is obvious that the person would rather pull their hair out strand by strand than read anything else that Meyer has written (Jennings, 2007; Johnson, 2008). The personifications of things in the books, the forced ideas and feelings, and the whining from the female lead quickly become frustrating for all but the die-hard Twilight fan. Even some of those who loved the first book in the series wonder if Meyer lost interest in writing the other books or just somehow got lost as to the characters that she was supposed to be writing about (Johnson, 2008).