Monday, December 6, 2010

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer





When Bella Swan moved from Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her dad, she expected the change in weather, but she never expected the strange new people that she would meet. Bella is quiet and klutzy and never thought of herself as fitting the mold of someone from Arizona. She is neither tan nor sporty, and she is especially not excited about getting a bunch of attention because she is the new kid in school. Once she arrives in Forks, her dad gives her a used Chevy truck that he bought from a friend that will unfortunately just call more attention to her.

On Bella's first day at Forks High School, she is bombarded with attention, and everyone wants to introduce themselves to her. But while she is sitting at lunch, one group specifically catches her eye. They all have pale white skin and are beautiful, even the guys. They are as close to perfection as people can get. "I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanely beautiful," explains Bella (19). A girl named Jessica informs her that they are the Cullen's and that they were all adopted by Dr. Cullen and his wife Esme.

After Bella leaves lunch and heads to Biology class, she is still amazed and curious about this family, especially the boy named Edward. Ironically when she arrives to class, there is only one seat left, and it is next to Edward. Edward does not speak to her and seems almost repulsed by her. This bothers Bella even more when Edward does not come to school for days after that.

Edward finally returns and is very friendly to Bella, but Bella is very suspicious of Edward. His skin is very cold and his eyes change from black to a beautiful golden brown. Also, he never seems to eat and keeps very much to himself. But the most astonishing thing that Edward does is save Bella from being crushed by a van with his own two hands. Edward is clearly not human.

Therefore, after hearing myths from the local indian tribe and after much research, Bella realizes that Edward is indeed not human but a vampire. Despite this, she still likes him, and they start spending every waking moment together. Eventually, they fall madly in love, but their love is forbidden and dangerous. "Your number was up the first time I met you," Edward tells Bella (175).

Unfortunately, after a number of killings in the area, Edward may be right. The Cullen family will do anything to stop the people, or creatures, that are out to get her. Bella is now on a race for her life. "Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something" (1).


Questions:

1) How would you feel if you had to pack up and move to a new town your junior year of high school? Would you like having a new start or would you miss those that you left behind?


2) Do you think that true love can withstand anything? What would you do if you loved someone but you knew that the relationship was forbidden or dangerous like Bella and Edward's?


3)If you could be one paranormal creature, what would you be and why?

20 comments:

Kelsey M. 13-14 said...

1. I don't think I would like moving my junior year. I moved after 6th grade and having to change schools and make new friends can be very difficult but then again you can "start over" which could be good for some people.

Kelsey M. 11/12 said...

I agree. Depending on your situation, it may be hard or easy to move away from somewhere. Sometimes, you may have a bad experience or something embarrassing might happen to you. Then, you may want to avoid and get away from the problem by moving. For someone like Bella, I think it was easy for her to move because she was not a very outgoing person, and she really wasn't leaving anything important behind.

JessieW 11-12 said...

1) I would have mixed feelings about moving. For starters I've never moved before. So it would be hard to be able to make new friends and start over new. I know i would miss my "old" life, along with all my friends. On the other hand, once i make friends i would have more confidence in myself. It would get me ready for going off to college too. i don't know i probably wouldn't be able to handle it though.

Rachael B MOds 5-6 said...

If I had to pack up and leave my junior year of high school, I think I would go into a panic. Normally by this point in life, one has set up healthy relationships and grown to love the place that they live in. Suddenly being torn from these attachments and comforts would not only be a shock, but it would be hard to readjust to. Most high schoolers are not very open to new people. It's hard to make new friends at this point. In response to the second question, I do think that true love can withstand anything. It might now always be able to be seen, but I definately think it is still there. For example, I think that when an elderly man loses his wife, the love still goes on, even though he will never see her again. There is dedication, commitment, and adoration that cannot be overcome.

Vanessa D. 13-14 said...

3.) If I could be a paranormal creature, I would want to be a witch (even though their not in Twilight) or a vampire.
I would want to be a witch because they could learn cool spells and I think that would be fun
Being a vampire would be cool too because they can run really fast and have super-human strength.

I feel really lame answering that hahah :)

Kelsey M. 11/12 said...

Jessie & Rachael- I agree. Depending on your personality, it could be harder for some people to go to a new school, especially when everyone there already knows each other. I'm not a very outgoing person myself, so I probably would be very scared. Also, Rachael, I do believe that true love can withstand anything, and I know if you truly love someone that after they die, you will never lose that passion.

Vanessa- Don't feel dumb for answering that question. I'm glad that you did. I think that being a vampire would be kind of depressing sometimes, but Edward becomes so wordly because he has lived for so long.

Leah A 5-6 said...

1. I personally would be excited to move to another place and start a new school. It would make me feel that I am getting the opportunity to start over in life. It would be cool to meet new people, however I would also miss my old friends. But I would try to still find a way to stay connected with my old friends.

Sydney C.13-14 said...

Moving away from my friends would be devastating for me as a junior in high school, but in Bella's situation it seems that she is more quiet and reserved, not having many significant relationships with the people of Arizona. There would certainly be benefits to starting over with a blank slate as well.
I view love as rather situational, so I am not sure it would work out for me. It would be very difficult for two people to be in a forbidden relationship such as Bella and Edward's, but a strong 'true love' relationship can withstand a lot.
I agree with Vanessa in the choice of a with as a paranormal creature. Though you would need to demonstrate responsibility with your powers, it would be no challenge at all compared to the responsibility one must have as a blood-sucking vampire or aggressive transforming werewolf.

Betsy C 1314 said...

3) i would definitely want to be a vampire, but only if i had a special power too. I would be all about creeping on people, so reading their thoughts would be awesome. Or, being able to see the future would be pretty awesome too, much cooler than Bella's lame power of nothing.

Anonymous said...

If I could be any paranormal creature I would be a vampire, especially if I could have an extra power. The vampires are intelligent, beautiful, have immense strength and are pretty much indestructible. To me, that sounds like an easy wife. Especially if I was able to live with the person that I loved forever, I don't think I would pass up that opportunity.

Kristen T. 11-12 said...

To answer question 1, I feel that it would be very difficult to pick up and move to a new town and a new school that late in your high school career. By that point, you have already established yourself at your current high school. You have made friends and likely fit in with a specific group of students. You have done this, as well as everyone else at every other high school. It would be difficult to switch to a new school with new faces and easily be accepted by these new people.

Courtney R 5-6 said...

I think that having to leave your junior year would be very difficult. Maybe at a younger age it wouldn't be so bad, but I think the older you get, the harder it'd be. By the time you're in your junior year, everyone has their friends already. You'd be coming into a new school and a new town where things are already established for people that age. It'd be very hard to jump right in and feel comfortable about it.

Yes, I think that true love can withstand everything. I believe that love is for life, true love that is. A person may be in love, but if they leave you and don't come back, it clearly wasn't meant to be, nor was it true love at all. True love is forever. I'm not sure what I'd do. I know that I'd be scared, but I think that I'd have to go on loving that person because I wouldn't just give up because someone thinks it's wrong.

Kaitlyn S. 13-14 said...

1) I would be mixed on this. I would like to have a new start but at the same time it would be hard to adapt to the new school. I also spent all my years here so I would want to graduate from Mentor. Like others have said, I believe it's situational for people. If things aren't going so great at your current school, moving wouldn't seem like a daunting idea.


2) I really don't know the answer to that. I think you could love someone as much as you want but I think you need a lot more than just love. I believe you would need to be respectful among other things to be able to last.

If the relationship was as dangerous as theirs, probably not. I definitely wouldn't want someone that acted like Edward. Some of the things he does is just creepy.


3) I don't think I would be any sort of creature. I wouldn't mind a special power or ability but I wouldn't want to be an actual creature. Many people said vampire but I can't justify the negative sides of that to actually want to be that. Having to drink blood to survive, not being able to go out in sunlight and living virtually forever does not sound appealing to me.

Bojana Duric said...

1. I would honestly love to move. I've been in Mentor since kindergarten and it's so boring. I'm ready to move on and experience something different. Of course it would be hard to leave my friends behind but I'm going to have to anyway for college. Also, if they're your true friends then you should remain friends, regardless of the distance.

LibbyS5/6 said...

1) I wouldn't like moving in my junior year, because by that time in your high school career you pretty much have a specific group of friends and it may be hard to bond with a new group the way you had with friends at your old school. I wouldn't mind making a drastic change during a transition year of school (junior high to high school or high school to college) as much because then everyone is trying to make new friends.

Ashley A. 11-12 said...

1) i wouldn't like moving my junior year because it would be hard to bong with new people as much as you had with your old friends.

Amanda Z. 11-12 said...

1. I would hate it. I already had friends and a life somewhere else and that would suck to have to compleltely start over somewhere new.
2. I do think true love can withstand anything, just look at all the rom. com. movies and the cutesy endings. Anything can happen.
3. I'd probably want to be a vampire, but not a twi-vamp because sparkling, really? thats basically a blood-sucking pixie. =)

Kara K. 5/6 said...

1. I would miss what i left behind. It is hard to move to a new school and try and fit in with everyone. In the junior year of high school, mostly everyone has found their clicks. It is hard for new people to get into their own click.
2. I feel that true love should be able to withstand anything; however, many people give up on it when it becomes dangerous.
3. I would be a vampire because they seem very smart. Also, they have many different powers.

Kali D. 13-14 said...

I think it would be very hard to pick up and move to a new town. In your junior year of high school you know where you fit in and you have a close group of friends so moving to a new place would be hard to make new friends and haveing to start over.

Mrs. Sherwood said...

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