In her books, Stephenie Meyer raises the question: is it better to be a human or a vampire? But in her final installment, she emotionally answers the question: vampire, hands down. Of course, she framed the question in such a way that this answer was a given. For three books, Bella’s vampire boyfriend/then-husband, Edward, seemed to think that it was better for Bella to be a human being: to grow old, marry, and mother children instead of joining the undead and having a perfect body and a diet of blood.
But in Book Four: Breaking Dawn, after Bella undergoes a rather horrific pregnancy and labor, Edward changes her into a vampire to “save” her life when she begins dying after giving birth to their half-vampire, half-human daughter Nessie. Bella experiences not a shred of regret at losing her humanity; tellingly, she feels more alive as an undead immortal as she battles to save her daughter from the prejudices of other vampires.
What does this mean? It means that in the great scheme of things, unfortunately, Stephenie Meyer doesn’t seem to have anything to add to the great question of what it means to be a human being. And that is very sad. I won’t say tragic, because it’s not clear that Meyer ever intended to tap such depths in her stories–or even that she had the power to do so. But it’s a shame all the same.
Sure, I admit, it was a lot more FUN for Bella to end up as an über-cool vampire in a fantasy world of unlimited materialistic living with a hottie for a husband, and on the side of the angels, as it were, to boot. But this has taken the books definitively out of the world of profound reflections on humanity and into the realm of virtual reality and comic-book values (and that’s almost an insult to comic books).
I realize it’s almost ludicrous to talk about the importance of being human. After all, most people don’t think it’s so cool to be the dominant species and big polluters on our planet. It seems everyone from environmentalists to cartoonists like Bill Watterson (“I’m with you,” Calvin tells Hobbes the tiger at one point in Watterson’s famous comic strip) eagerly chime in their hatred of being human. Whereas in older stories, monsters like the werewolf and Frankenstein longed to join the human race, these days, most fictional non-human characters–animals, angels, extraterrestrials, dragons, monsters–are more than proud that their blood isn’t human.
This is really a shame, and makes me think most of their human creators haven’t really ever pondered the gift and responsibility of being human. Those who call themselves Christians should also consider that demons hate human beings: why should we rush to join the club? Especially if we believe that God Himself became a human to save us. I was hoping that Meyer’s Edward would give Bella, and us, a reason to keep breathing–but no.
Stephenie Meyer took on the question of whether or not it’s worth it to be a human being and answered it with all the logic of a romance novel: not really. Better to be a vampire, with lots of money and designer clothes and a dangerous lifestyle with your soul-mate for eternity. The Twilight saga started out as a fantasy that could have been a novel about real things. It ended up being just another fantasy.
Even more limited than that: a woman’s fantasy. Given that real men and regular guys don’t end up making a great showing (Edward is hopelessly imaginary), I can’t see guys sticking with this series.
What’s more human than pregnancy and birth? Unfortunately Meyer’s depiction of Bella’s pregnancy in Breaking Dawn is troublingly negative (though we see most of it through the hostile lens of Jacob Black, who thinks Bella should abort her child). Obviously, carrying a half-human, half-vampire baby is a extraordinary scenario, but Bella’s experience is so gross-out horrible (when the baby kicks her, for example, Bella’s pelvic bone cracks) that it’s likely the reader is going to carry away some pretty disturbing and unrealistic pictures of what pregnancy is actually like. Kudos to Meyer for showing Bella’s determination to keep the baby at risk of her life, when her glamorous vampire husband and friends pressure her to abort (the moral high point of the book), but the overall picture still is fairly repulsive.
As far as sexuality, Meyer’s characters never rise above remaining virginal without ever really attempting purity. Generally, the Meyer books are an odd bunch when it comes to morality. In a certain sense, I can’t think of a better example of a book that legalistically obeys Christian precepts while their emotional content is almost directly at odds with Christian practice. The characters practice “Christian morality” without being the least bit tainted with any actual Christian virtue.
Alas, although the series attempted some profound reflections on everything from humanity to romantic love to marriage, those reflections were about as deep as a puddle. As to whether it even had anything true to say about romantic love, I’ll save that for another article.
March 13th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Great REview, Regina. Personally, I’m a big fan of the series, but don’t look at them as anything other than fun entertainment, like watching Monk on USA on Fridays. No Religious in/output, but just alot of fun and entertaining.
March 13th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Your review pretty much sums it up, I’m sad to say. I whizzed through all four books in four days–they were fantastic, but I wished Ms. Meyer had left it at Eclipse. Bella becoming a vampire seemed to go against everything the other three books stood for–she was a different character than the Bella I knew. (Her character as a human, at first, struck me as similar to Rose+Blanche, although Blanche would never date a vampire and Rose could take care of herself. I think.) I thought the whole point of perfect vampire Edward loving her was to prove how special her humanity was. Her humanity was part of herself, and when it was gone, I felt she was, too.
It was betrayal. Humanity is the best.
I will definitely reread Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, but I won’t read Breaking Dawn again. It was disturbing. Not on the blood/gore/awful pregnancy level, but on the moral level, the emotional level. The HUMAN level.
Stephenie Meyer is so talented–her characters are some of the most real that I’ve ever known. And her plot is one of the best Romeo and Juliet stories so far. I can’t think of any other outcome than the one she wrote, because she truly created a crazy, amazing plot with so few options. So I guess I’m left wishing that Bella had never come to Forks.
And also really glad she did.
March 17th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Regina, I agree with your thoughts. I too was disappointed that Bella was transformed into a vampire; not that I would have wished for her to die, but that she could have stayed human. I much prefer the first three books, when she still has her humanity.
Also, great point about all this “anti-human” stuff. I’m fed up with being called (as a species) “wicked,” “tainted,” “parasitic.” I firmly maintain that, as we are made in God’s image, humanity, however imperfect and weak, is good at heart. I’m still pondering the mystery about WHY God chose us as humans to receive his greatest gifts; and how he sent His son to save us as a race. It’s a mystery, but one that should make us infinitely proud to be human.
Again, great article. =)
March 21st, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Great review, with many salient points that have been left out of the conversation about this series for most people. Thank you!
March 26th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Thanks for the review. My friends realy like Edward so I think that is weird. Thanks again!!!!
March 29th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I found myself comparing Breaking Dawn to Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, in which the protagonist Winnie, like Bella, must also choose between immortality or eventual death. In a way, Winnie is an anti-Bella, and while Tuck Everlasting isn’t on my list of *absolute favorite* books, it’s nevertheless very thought-provoking.
Anyway, I do recommend Tuck Everlasting to anyone who’s read the Twilight series, just as an interesting comparision.
April 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
I really think the series should have ended with the first book. Bella staying human, but Edward staying with her. However, that sort of story wouldn’t make a book, so that was thrown out the window.
You are right, why should being human be considered inferior? Not just in Twilight, but many books I read nowadays portray humanity as unredeemable. There is some strange obsession with viewing ourselves as horrible creatures that can only hope to become something other than human to escape.
I am an aspiring writer and you have given me food for thought. Why not write a story where the characters acknowledge their faults and shortcomings, but take pride in their humanity. Their potential for good.
April 16th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Ahh, that was very entertaining to read. I never really thought too much about that side of it, as I was a little caught up in all the other irritating things about Breaking Dawn. I quite enjoyed the series until Breaking Dawn - but my liking for Stephenie Meyer’s books was entirely destroyed, to the point where I felt I had wasted my money buying the series.
You may have noticed that everyone got a completely happy ending. Wow. How disgusingly unrealistic. Bella got to be completely perfect, AND have a child. What happened to the sacrifice? Gone, out the window. She knew that by becoming immortal, she would never get to see her parents again. I found that funny, because Meyer said that Bella is “incredibly self-sacrificing for her age.” Really? I would hope young people would choose their parents over perfection any day.
April 24th, 2009 at 10:21 am
I love your review and i tottally agree. Most of all my Catholic friends all fell in love with Edward/Jacob.
I was wondering if you could do a review for me about your thoughts on Jacob Black? Because he plays a fairly strong role in the books and in New Moon i really liked him cause of what he did for Bella.