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An Irreverent Theory about Bella Swan
Nov. 29th, 2009 12:42 pmTwilight's Bella Swan is a much maligned character. While her critics' claim that she has no personality is not quite true, what personality she has is nevertheless stunted. She apparently had no friends in Arizona, and she couldn't care less about her "friends" in Forks. She has no hobbies except cooking, and that doesn't seem to give her any joy. Her time is taken up almost entirely in griping about her miserable lot in life and mooning about Edward - the only thing she does with any real passion.
Can we tie together these seemingly disparate facts?
I submit that we can. I submit that when we meet Miss Swan in Twilight, she is in the throes of a deep depression - and has been for years.
She had no friends in her hometown, which suggests she lacked the energy to meet people. She lacked the energy even to care that she had no friends. In Forks, she is forcibly befriended by a group of high school students, but she never makes the slightest effort to return their affection. (One wonders why said high school students went to such lengths to befriend her. I submit that they realized Bella was struggling and, in a commendable if ultimately useless burst of kindness, banded together to help her.)
She cooks because the momentary release of endorphins caused by eating is one of the few things that makes her feel good.
She hates Forks. She takes no pleasure in anything in her life. She has no plans for the future, and is willing to sacrifice everything and everyone she has ever known in order to be together with her "One True Love": Edward.
At this point, Edward's role in this psychodrama must be obvious to all. His super-special vampire pheromones act on Bella as a marvelously effective anti-depressant - when he's around. The effect evanesces as soon as she is not in his direct presence.
Bella thinks they're in love. We know that she's trapped in the throes of chemical dependency.
Hence the fact that she is not at all concerned by his stalking behavior of climbing into her room at night to watch her sleep.
Hence the fact that, when he kisses her, her heart literally stops: the transfer of bodily fluids ups the effectiveness of the anti-depressant to the point that her system can't take it. Her heart stopped because she OD'ed.
Hence Edward's insistence that they get hitched before they have sex, and the fact that they proceed to argue about it for over a year before the fatal day arrives. He's stalling for time so she gains enough tolerance that having sex with him won't kill her from overdose.
Despite his caution, on their wedding night Bella goes into an ecstatic trance in which she doesn't notice that Edward, despite his attempts to be gentle, has left bruises all over her body. Some of those bruises - although Edward would never tell her this - come from his desperate attempts to awaken her after she went into a drug-induced coma.
Hence, finally, the fact that when Edward abandoned her for a time in New Moon, Bella became nearly catatonic from grief: she was going through withdrawal. Edward was trying to wean her off her chemical dependency on him, but alas for them both, the attempt failed.
So don't let's be too hard on the poor girl. The addictive properties of vampires weren't covered in her anti-drug classes.
Can we tie together these seemingly disparate facts?
I submit that we can. I submit that when we meet Miss Swan in Twilight, she is in the throes of a deep depression - and has been for years.
She had no friends in her hometown, which suggests she lacked the energy to meet people. She lacked the energy even to care that she had no friends. In Forks, she is forcibly befriended by a group of high school students, but she never makes the slightest effort to return their affection. (One wonders why said high school students went to such lengths to befriend her. I submit that they realized Bella was struggling and, in a commendable if ultimately useless burst of kindness, banded together to help her.)
She cooks because the momentary release of endorphins caused by eating is one of the few things that makes her feel good.
She hates Forks. She takes no pleasure in anything in her life. She has no plans for the future, and is willing to sacrifice everything and everyone she has ever known in order to be together with her "One True Love": Edward.
At this point, Edward's role in this psychodrama must be obvious to all. His super-special vampire pheromones act on Bella as a marvelously effective anti-depressant - when he's around. The effect evanesces as soon as she is not in his direct presence.
Bella thinks they're in love. We know that she's trapped in the throes of chemical dependency.
Hence the fact that she is not at all concerned by his stalking behavior of climbing into her room at night to watch her sleep.
Hence the fact that, when he kisses her, her heart literally stops: the transfer of bodily fluids ups the effectiveness of the anti-depressant to the point that her system can't take it. Her heart stopped because she OD'ed.
Hence Edward's insistence that they get hitched before they have sex, and the fact that they proceed to argue about it for over a year before the fatal day arrives. He's stalling for time so she gains enough tolerance that having sex with him won't kill her from overdose.
Despite his caution, on their wedding night Bella goes into an ecstatic trance in which she doesn't notice that Edward, despite his attempts to be gentle, has left bruises all over her body. Some of those bruises - although Edward would never tell her this - come from his desperate attempts to awaken her after she went into a drug-induced coma.
Hence, finally, the fact that when Edward abandoned her for a time in New Moon, Bella became nearly catatonic from grief: she was going through withdrawal. Edward was trying to wean her off her chemical dependency on him, but alas for them both, the attempt failed.
So don't let's be too hard on the poor girl. The addictive properties of vampires weren't covered in her anti-drug classes.
