Twilight

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2005

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface-Chapter 9

Chapters 10-17

Chapters 18-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Themes

The Agony of Temptation

Both Bella and Edward wrestle with temptation. For Edward, the temptation is to kill the person he’s in love with; for Bella, it’s to love a dangerous creature. The strength of these lures brings them together in a push-pull balance of tension.

As a vampire, Edward’s deepest nature is to hunt people. Human blood offers vampires a perfect kind of satisfaction, one they can’t get elsewhere; consuming any other kind of blood feels like “living on tofu and soy milk” (188). Even worse, Bella’s fragrance is the most lovely and delicious Edward has ever inhaled: It makes him feel both love for her and a desire to kill her for her blood.

Edward’s dilemma is similar to that of an alcoholic or heavy drug user. For addicts, decades of temperance can collapse in a moment of doubt or stress. Like them, Edward knows that a relapse will feel ecstatic in the moment but confer misery thereafter. Making his dilemma worse is his love for Bella: The more he loves her, the more he wants her blood.

The Cullens know well what temptation feels like; for them, bringing a human into the house is like leaving an open bottle of hard liquor on an alcoholic’s kitchen table. Knowing how important Bella is to Edward, though, and feeling much less need for her blood, the rest of Edward’s family does a good job of setting aside their own urges and focusing on their fondness for Bella the person.

Meanwhile, Bella must live in a dreary, cloudy region with little emotional or intellectual stimulation; when she meets Edward, the sheer joy of being with him offers her meaning and satisfaction, but it’s coupled with extreme danger. She realizes the risk, yet she can’t stop herself from pursuing Edward, calling her urge “very stupid” (54).

For both of them, the urge to be together contains two elements, one biological and one spiritual. Edward is enticed by Bella’s intensely attractive fragrance, while Bella is overwhelmed by the physical charms of a classic vampire. Both of them, though, also are drawn together by a much greater sensation, an intense feeling of romantic love. Without that connection, either or both might be able to walk away; with it, they can’t stay apart.

Each thus feels pulled sharply, both toward and away from each other. It’s a perfect tension: Trapped between desire and danger, they must reconcile the temptations that draw them together and the fears that push them apart. Each will find the answer in their love for the other.

Self-Doubt and Commitment

Despite his many talents and his essential goodness, Edward believes he’s a monster. Despite her perceptive intelligence, quiet friendliness, and desire to help others, Bella sees herself as clumsy, unattractive, and unworthy. To find a path toward a successful relationship, both must make commitments that transcend their perceived limitations.

Growing into adolescence with the same group of kids in Phoenix, Bella doesn’t notice that she’s become a strong, smart, and attractive person. When she moves to Forks, she’s surprised to draw the interest of the other boys and girls. To them, she’s a pleasing newcomer; to her, she’s the same old Bella who wonders why everyone suddenly is so interested in her. She simply doesn’t realize that she’s become much more than she thinks she is.

Edward, too, finds her attractive, so much so that he falls hard for her. As a vampire, he also feels a powerful urge to hunt her—which, to him, is simply a sign that he’s an evil monster. He doesn’t realize that his urge for her blood is his body’s way of dealing with his sudden love for her; it’s a misplaced desire that he doesn’t yet know how to channel constructively.

Bella quickly realizes that she’s hopelessly in love with Edward. She knows this is dangerous and even foolish, but she also knows she can’t make it go away by avoiding him. Instead, she chooses a path forward that centers on him: She’ll become Edward’s mate or die trying: “My decision was made, made before I’d ever consciously chosen, and I was committed to seeing it through” (248).

Edward finds that the more he loves Bella, the more he wants to consume her blood. At each turn, though, his choice is to protect her and, by extension, his family. He realizes that her life is far more precious to him than the possible taste of her blood; every temptation gets vetoed by his love for her. When, at last, he must drink some of her blood to extract a poison injected into her from the bite of a predator vampire, he fears once again that he’ll be unable to stop, yet he does cease as soon as the poison is removed. Just as he can’t help being tempted by Bella’s blood, he can’t help protecting her. His commitment to her life reliably overpowers his thirst.

Bella persists in believing she’s inadequate, and Edward continues to think he’s a monster, but their commitment to each other somehow transcends their self-doubt. Knowing they love each other makes other considerations unimportant; it no longer matters what they think of themselves. Their feelings about each other and their dedication to those feelings make their self-doubt moot.

Saved by Family

Both Bella and Edward feel strong commitments to their respective families. That dedication helps see them through the trials they face as a couple and guardians of each other’s lives.

Bella moves to Forks out of a concern for her mother, whose recent marriage to an itinerant ballplayer makes it hard to remain at home and take care of her daughter. By moving to live with her father in a small, gloomy town with few prospects, Bella gives up the warmth and urbanity of Phoenix, along with the time she might spend with her beloved mother; thus, the move is a major sacrifice that Bella makes on behalf of her family.

Edward, a vampire born into a group of supernatural “vegetarians” who refuse to hunt mortal people, dedicates himself to that family and learns to resist the temptation of human blood. He sacrifices his deepest physical urges to belong to a loving family that practices a higher set of values than those of the typical vampire. When he meets Bella, he resists his urge to hunt her, largely to protect his family.

The Cullens themselves feel great devotion to Edward and each other. They want each family member to benefit from a romantic relationship, and when Edward finds true love, they support him, even though the one he loves is a human. Rosalie correctly fears Bella’s presence is a tremendous risk for the family, but she sets aside that fear and, however reluctantly, goes along with the family’s decision.

They welcome Bella into their household; she, in turn, bonds strongly with them and adopts them as an extended family. If they’re in trouble, she’ll go to the same lengths to protect them as she would for her own parents. Bella makes sure that her father is protected while she returns to Phoenix to try to safeguard her mother, and when it becomes clear that the only way to defend everyone she loves is to sacrifice her own life, she does so without hesitation. Her only sadness is that her death would prevent her from continuing to share the love she feels for all of them.

The Cullens, and Edward, respond by defending her from the lethal threat posed by the vampire James. They also protect Bella’s father, Charlie, and she and they work together to cover up the incident so that the family can remain in Forks and Bella can continue to be one of them.

Bella realizes that the best way for her to be safely a member of the family is to become a vampire herself. Edward objects because Bella deserves to enjoy a full human life, but Bella reminds him that he, and the Cullens, have become the major purpose of her life. Though the two disagree, they concur that a loving family is vastly important. After all, it’s a family that saves Bella, even as she works to save that family, and a family that prevents Edward from harming her in the first place.