Monday, April 25, 2011

New Moon by Stephanie Meyer

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen are completely in love. They walk around Forks High School together everyday after Edward picks Bella up in his fancy Volvo, and they spend long nights together after Edward sneaks through her window when her father, Charlie, falls asleep.Everything seems perfect for the couple, they've never been happier. However, disaster strikes at Bella's party at the Cullen's. Edward's brother, Jasper, not quite accustomed to their vampire 'diet' of animal blood instead of human blood. He launches at Bella, almost killing her when she cuts her self unwrapping a birthday present. This scares Edward because he fears by being a vampire, he puts Bella's life at stake. From here, everything begins to go downhill. In a few weeks, Edward leaves and completely removes himself from Bella's life. She goes into a deep state of depression, moving through life like a zombie hardly talking or showing and life in her eyes. She lives this way for quite a long time until she meets up with an old friend, Jacob Black. Jacob acts almost as a light to Bella. He keeps her happy and safe and she quickly becomes dependent on him for happiness. Soon Jacob begins acting strangely and becomes vert sick. He drops communication with Bella and she goes crazy with worry because of the loss of her light. After a few weeks of this strange behavior, Bella discovers her best friends is a werewolf. This news does not bother Bella and she is eager to see Jacob again. She starts to get to know the others in the pack, that are part of a bigger tribe called the Quileuts. Bella continues to see Jacob but the longing for Edward is still inside her and she discovers something wonderful. Any irresponsible act such as riding motorcycles or jumping off cliffs triggers a very realistic hallucination of Edward. To see Edward, Bella decides to go cliff diving when Jacob is not around to protect her and she almost drowns. Edward's sister, Alice, sees this as a vision, but not the outcome of Bella's survival, and Edward eventually finds out. He is driven mad by the 'loss' of Bella and goes to the Volturi to request his death. They refuse so he creates a plan that gives them no choice to kill him: show himself in the sun. It is up to Bella to go and rescue him from this fate by showing Edward she is still alive. She reaches him in Italy just in time and the two are taken to the leaders of the Volturi. A deal is made because Bella knows their secret; she is to be made a vampire herself, and they are safely let home. Upon her return Jacob becomes furious that Bella accepted this deal because the vampires and the werewolves are enemies. Bella loses her best friend but Edward is given back to her.

1). Bella is in so much pain after losing Edward that when she finds Jacob, he is like a source of happiness and light. When she does not have Jacob she returns to the pain and becomes dependent on Jacob, always visiting him to relieve herself of it. However, she leads Jacob on but repeatedly rejects him when he says he loves her. Do you think that is selfish?
2). Do you see a good outcome in Edward's actions in leaving Bella had he stayed away?

10 comments:

AnaleeL7-8 said...

2) I do see a positive outcome in Edward leaving Bella because he is doing it to protect her and when he comes back she is still in love with him.

Sydney M 7-8 said...

1. I think it is selfish of Bella but really it is Edward's fault from the beginning. If he had never left, Bella would not have so much trouble dealing with the abandonment. Since Edward left, she has trouble loving Jacob because she loved Edward. Yes it is selfish to lead Jacob on but she just needs someone in her life.

2. I suppose Edward did it for the best. He didn't give Bella any warning though and it was truly low of him. SHe was so hurt and it was really hard to cope with it. She never got over him.

Sara D. 7-8 said...

1) I don't see Bella as selfish. She thought he was her friend and that's all she wanted out of the relationship. Being her friend, Jacob should have accepted that even if she rejected him. Anyways, didn't he know that she loved Edward?

Morgan O 7-8 said...

1) I think this was extremely selfish of Bella because she knew how Jacob felt about her, yet continuously led him on. I understand that she needed a friend and it would have been fine if she treated him like a friend,but she did not. She spent every moment of her life with him, made it seem like she wanted to be romantically involved with him, and used him for all the attention he was giving her because Bella Swan cannot live without that constant attention whether it comes from Edward or Jacob.

2) I think that considering they are "soul mates" and Bella at least was going insane over their separation it would not have ended well. Had Edward stayed away I believe Bella would have committed suicide considering her previous actions, which would have led Edward to doing the same.

Nicole H. 7-8 said...

1). I agree that is was selfish of Bella to lead Jacob on because she knew she didn't love him and she was just doing it so the pain from Edward leaving wasn't as hard for her.

Nicole H. 7-8 said...

2). I also think that if Edward stayed away because Bella was going insane. If Edward hadn't come back Bella may have killed herself in an attempt to see Edward.

Tyler W 1-2 said...

I believe Edward made a poor decision leaving Bella. Bella was selfish by using Jacob to comfort her but Edward drove her to do that.

Ashley B. 1-2 said...

I agree that is very selfish of her to lead Jacob on but he was her best friend and she really needed him. He kept her safe from harm whenever he could and he made her happy.

Madi Y 7-8 said...

2) I don't see a positive outcome personally. They are still in love with eachother and weird things still happen to Bella while she is gone. She does crazy things just to hear Edwards voice and to see a picture of him in her head. I think Edward might as well have stayed and saved Bella from the pain that she felt.

Rafiq O. 1-2 said...

1.) No, she has a "significant other". I think he should respect her will and "back-the-heck-up". Things like that will get him punched in the face...

2.) No, she'd probably kill herself. She's like head over heels over heels over heels OVER HEELS in love with that guy. No way it'd have turned out good.