Babyless Rant

I apologize to those who have not read the books, but surely you are at least aware of the"Twilight" phenomenon? Boy meets girl. Boy turns out to be vampire. Girl loves him anyway, Girl then spends more than 1000 pages trying to get herself turned into a vampire. I haven't read the fourth book yet, so I'm not sure if she succeeds.

I finally figured out what bothers me about these books. It's the utter weakness of the female character. Here we are in a time when teen pregnancy is on the rise again and somewhere around half of marriages end in divorce and the adolescent book craze is about a high school girl who "falls in love" with someone she has barely exchanged three words with and then spends all her energy trying to get him to either a) have sex with her or b) make her one of the undead so she can spend eternity at his side. Preferably a) then b). Furthermore, she does all of this while reiterating to anyone who will listen that there is no way she could ever be good enough to deserve him. And then, when he tells her he will sleep with her . . . after she marries him, she tells him she is not "that girl". You know, the kind who humiliates herself by getting married right out of high school. Eternity of craving human blood? Fine. Marriage? I should say not!

They are "in love" but the shared ideas, principles, goals that their love is based on are conspicuously absent. It's an sophomoric "love at first sight" infatuation. And don't get me wrong. I have no problem with that in principle. I just disagree with setting that as the standard for girls to measure up to when they are deciding who to have sex with or pledge their life to. I don't think she should marry him. I also don't think she should give up her humanity for him. That she wants to give up her humanity for a boy at all, horrifies me.

She does contemplate, for about five pages, spending her life instead with her best friend who makes her feel warm and happy and good about herself. This is someone who she has gotten to know, who understands her and whom she understands in return. (Don't get me started on the fact that he is a werewolf. That stretches credulity beyond the breaking point, in my opinion.) But no, despite the beauty of the future she can see with him, she chooses the one who makes her feel bad, inferior, and usually miserable. Sweet.

I am also rankled by Bella's pitiful lack of self esteem. "He's too good for me," is a chorus that plays in almost every chapter and her desperation to hold on to him despite that belief is demeaning and embarrassing. When they are temporarily, though she thinks permanently, apart, she considers her life basically over and engages in a barrage of escalating risky behaviors designed to "hallucinate" him back into her life. Eventually these behaviors do bring him back. Again, what is the lesson being taught?

Having said all of this, there's no way I could stop reading. They're ridiculously easy to read and addictive in a trashy Harlequin romance kind of way. Plus, I hold out hope that maybe in the end Bella will realize that she is beautiful, smart, and desirable, that half of the high school male population is in love with her, and decide to consider her options and get to know Edward a little better before allowing him to exchange the blood in her veins for ice. Maybe, just maybe, there's a modern girl in there trying to get out and set a real example. but I'm not going to hold my breath.