Before I begin, I’d like to set one thing straight: I’m not against Twilight fans. I respect you and your opinions. I just have different ones. These reasons are opinion and fact mixed together. Please don't disrespect me for my opinions. Also, warning: This will be long.
After completely the Harry Potter series, I looked for the next “big thing.” Being in middle school, the next “big thing” was the Twilight Saga. Sure, why not. I read them through once. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. It was just another book. I never laughed, or cried. It never pulled any emotion out of me in the way Harry Potter did.
After a little break, I decided to reread the books. Maybe this time I would cry when Edward left Bella. Maybe I would laugh when she broke her fist punching Jacob. Maybe I would really think that it was just as good as Harry Potter.
Rereading the books, I did laugh. I wanted to cry. Because I had realized what a literary failure this was. I had realized just why Hermione is so much better than Bella, discovered the reasons that Harry Potter was so much better. I realized the absence of a plot and the fact that characters are all static and unlovable.
And I decided that I really, really hated Bella Swan.
As a whole, the Twilight Saga is just a pesky fad. I don’t particularly loathe or hate it. It’s a book I read that I thought that it was badly written, the plot nonexistent, and the characters poorly constructed. The one thing I hated about the series, that I really couldn’t stand, was Bella.
The main reason I couldn’t stand her was because of her complete and utter crap role model, as well as a very poor character. Here are some of the many, many reasons.
1.) Her first day of school. I have also been a new girl in a small town (yes, just as small as Forks) and trust me, you don’t have guys falling over to help you, trying to get your attention, and you absolutely don’t have friends on the first day of school. (I will admit, however, that it’s not only Twilight that has this problem. Many books series unrealistically have new-girl heroines with instant friends. Not true!)
2.) Oh, my life just stinks! I have a boyfriend who’s obsessed with me, loving parents, friends who I completely ignore, and oh, woe-is-me! Bella is constantly whining about everything she can’t have, when she already has so much! “I love Edward! Edward won’t let me kiss him! I love Edward! Edward won’t let me see Jacob! I love Edward! Oh my gosh, I love Jacob but I love Edward more! I love Edward!” That, my friends, is the summary of four books.
3.) Bella is completely and utterly male-dependent. Oh my life just stinks, oh wait, there’s a hot guy! All better! The hot guy left me? Here’s another one! All better! Uh-oh, now I have to choose! When she doesn’t have Edward or Jacob by her side, she is a zombie. She is never shown as fighting or being strong, only hiding in the background while Jacob and Edward do her work for her.
4.) The Break-Up. How pathetic can you get? This is where the role-model part comes in. If you’ll forgive me, I’m going to do a little Bella-Hermione comparison. Bella: “Okay girls, if your boyfriend leaves you, you are nothing. Go jump off a cliff.” Hermione: “Okay girls, if your boyfriend leaves you, it’s okay to cry for a while, but you have to pull yourself together and keep on going.”
5.) The Shield. Mary Sue alert! Of course they wouldn’t have won the battle without Bella! Her shield is oh so super important! One of the main signs of a Mary Sue is that the “good guys” couldn’t win the battle against the “bad guys” without the Mary Sue. Hmm. Sound familiar? Breaking Dawn, page 742, “So, it was a combination of things there at the end, but what it really boiled down to was…Bella.”
6.) Skipping the newborn bloodthirstiness. Another Mary Sue alert! Bella is too perfect to go through the bloodthirstiness of being a newborn, of course. Incredibly annoying and unrealistic.
7.) Bella is a terrible friend. She has friends, and then completely ignores them to spend all her time with her boyfriend. When her boyfriend is gone, she expects her friends to love and hug her and accept her back! If they don’t, they are the terrible friends. But oh, when Edward gets back, good-bye amigos. She completely uses her friends, barely paying attention to them when Edward is around.
8.) Despite the fact that Bella is a personality devoid, whiny brat, everybody adores her. Mary Sue much? If you don’t adore Bella, you are portrayed as a shallow bitch or an enemy.
9.) Bella just isn’t very intelligent. Sure, she reads classics and gets good grades so that she seems smart, but when she finds out that a guy has been watching her sleep for two months, oh, it’s just so gosh darn romantic! I’d bet that if he hadn’t been an incredibly hot vampire, she would have screamed and called for her dad. Shallow much?
10.) All she cares about is Edward’s looks. The only thing she can do is moon on about his eyes, his hair, those eyes. And how perfect he is. The piano? Expert. Smart? Of course! The relationship doesn’t move beyond Edward’s looks and his supposed perfection. Does she care that he controls who she sees, who her friends are, and follows her (or has Alice follow her) wherever she goes, the exact traits of an abusive boyfriend? Nope, because he has those gorgeous eyes…
All in all, Bella is a Mary Sue self insertion, similar to those found in fan fiction by 14 year olds. I apologize if I got my facts wrong or exaggerated. Please let me know if I made a technical error and/or a mistake. No, telling me, “Bella does have personality!” is not a mistake I made. It is your opinion. I have mine, and you have yours.
Thanks for reading!
After completely the Harry Potter series, I looked for the next “big thing.” Being in middle school, the next “big thing” was the Twilight Saga. Sure, why not. I read them through once. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it. It was just another book. I never laughed, or cried. It never pulled any emotion out of me in the way Harry Potter did.
After a little break, I decided to reread the books. Maybe this time I would cry when Edward left Bella. Maybe I would laugh when she broke her fist punching Jacob. Maybe I would really think that it was just as good as Harry Potter.
Rereading the books, I did laugh. I wanted to cry. Because I had realized what a literary failure this was. I had realized just why Hermione is so much better than Bella, discovered the reasons that Harry Potter was so much better. I realized the absence of a plot and the fact that characters are all static and unlovable.
And I decided that I really, really hated Bella Swan.
As a whole, the Twilight Saga is just a pesky fad. I don’t particularly loathe or hate it. It’s a book I read that I thought that it was badly written, the plot nonexistent, and the characters poorly constructed. The one thing I hated about the series, that I really couldn’t stand, was Bella.
The main reason I couldn’t stand her was because of her complete and utter crap role model, as well as a very poor character. Here are some of the many, many reasons.
1.) Her first day of school. I have also been a new girl in a small town (yes, just as small as Forks) and trust me, you don’t have guys falling over to help you, trying to get your attention, and you absolutely don’t have friends on the first day of school. (I will admit, however, that it’s not only Twilight that has this problem. Many books series unrealistically have new-girl heroines with instant friends. Not true!)
2.) Oh, my life just stinks! I have a boyfriend who’s obsessed with me, loving parents, friends who I completely ignore, and oh, woe-is-me! Bella is constantly whining about everything she can’t have, when she already has so much! “I love Edward! Edward won’t let me kiss him! I love Edward! Edward won’t let me see Jacob! I love Edward! Oh my gosh, I love Jacob but I love Edward more! I love Edward!” That, my friends, is the summary of four books.
3.) Bella is completely and utterly male-dependent. Oh my life just stinks, oh wait, there’s a hot guy! All better! The hot guy left me? Here’s another one! All better! Uh-oh, now I have to choose! When she doesn’t have Edward or Jacob by her side, she is a zombie. She is never shown as fighting or being strong, only hiding in the background while Jacob and Edward do her work for her.
4.) The Break-Up. How pathetic can you get? This is where the role-model part comes in. If you’ll forgive me, I’m going to do a little Bella-Hermione comparison. Bella: “Okay girls, if your boyfriend leaves you, you are nothing. Go jump off a cliff.” Hermione: “Okay girls, if your boyfriend leaves you, it’s okay to cry for a while, but you have to pull yourself together and keep on going.”
5.) The Shield. Mary Sue alert! Of course they wouldn’t have won the battle without Bella! Her shield is oh so super important! One of the main signs of a Mary Sue is that the “good guys” couldn’t win the battle against the “bad guys” without the Mary Sue. Hmm. Sound familiar? Breaking Dawn, page 742, “So, it was a combination of things there at the end, but what it really boiled down to was…Bella.”
6.) Skipping the newborn bloodthirstiness. Another Mary Sue alert! Bella is too perfect to go through the bloodthirstiness of being a newborn, of course. Incredibly annoying and unrealistic.
7.) Bella is a terrible friend. She has friends, and then completely ignores them to spend all her time with her boyfriend. When her boyfriend is gone, she expects her friends to love and hug her and accept her back! If they don’t, they are the terrible friends. But oh, when Edward gets back, good-bye amigos. She completely uses her friends, barely paying attention to them when Edward is around.
8.) Despite the fact that Bella is a personality devoid, whiny brat, everybody adores her. Mary Sue much? If you don’t adore Bella, you are portrayed as a shallow bitch or an enemy.
9.) Bella just isn’t very intelligent. Sure, she reads classics and gets good grades so that she seems smart, but when she finds out that a guy has been watching her sleep for two months, oh, it’s just so gosh darn romantic! I’d bet that if he hadn’t been an incredibly hot vampire, she would have screamed and called for her dad. Shallow much?
10.) All she cares about is Edward’s looks. The only thing she can do is moon on about his eyes, his hair, those eyes. And how perfect he is. The piano? Expert. Smart? Of course! The relationship doesn’t move beyond Edward’s looks and his supposed perfection. Does she care that he controls who she sees, who her friends are, and follows her (or has Alice follow her) wherever she goes, the exact traits of an abusive boyfriend? Nope, because he has those gorgeous eyes…
All in all, Bella is a Mary Sue self insertion, similar to those found in fan fiction by 14 year olds. I apologize if I got my facts wrong or exaggerated. Please let me know if I made a technical error and/or a mistake. No, telling me, “Bella does have personality!” is not a mistake I made. It is your opinion. I have mine, and you have yours.
Thanks for reading!
