Stephenie Meyer's New Moon Book Review
The Second Twilight Book Sends Messages of Abuse to Readers
Aug 31, 2009
With the release of the movie New Moon right around the corner, fans are counting down the days until they can see Bella, Edward and Jacob on the big screen again. The popular Twilight series has cornered the market on vampires, or so it would seem, and people across the world are anxiously awaiting the release of the second installment in the series.
New Moon and Abuse
New Moon, like the rest of the Twilight series, isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Far from a romantic tale of separation, loss and redemption, New Moon more closely follows some of the darker stages of an abusive relationship. New Moon supposedly refers to the darkest time in Bella (played by Kristen Stewart) and Edward’s budding romance – a romance that is more than a little on the creepy side.
Edward (played by Robert Pattinson) decides that being with Bella is too dangerous for her after Jasper almost attacks her following another episode of clumsiness on Bella’s part. Instead of discussing with her the peril he feels she is in, he dumps her, convinces the Cullens to move away from Forks and leaves a distraught Bella behind to pick up the pieces of her emotional life.
Bella and Edward’s Abusive Relationship
The relationship between Edward and Bella was always one-sided; Bella regards Edward as being a near god throughout the series, constantly doting on his attractiveness and comparing herself unfavorably to almost everyone around her. Edward, on the other hand, takes the relationship he has with Bella to a frightening level of controlling behaviors and abuse.
In New Moon specifically, Edward is not physically present for much of the novel. However, in order for Meyer to maintain the control Edward has over Bella’s actions and inadvertently present the perfect image of an abused woman seeking to regain her abuser, Bella begins acting in ways that she knows would get Edward’s attention. Cliff jumping, driving a motorcycle and similarly dangerous-seeming activities allow Bella to hear Edward scolding her in her mind. This reinforcement of male control is presented as being a romantic image, and Bella’s only connection to her abuser.
Bella and Jacob in New Moon
Whenever Edward feels Bella is putting herself in harm’s way, he either removes her from the situation or prevents her from getting into it. In a healthy relationship between consenting adults or near-adults (or the undead, as it goes in fiction), dangerous or unpleasant situations are discussed and avoided as a pair. Instead of trusting Bella to be capable of making her own choices, Edward decides that the best way to show his love for her is by physically preventing her from doing what he deems unsafe. This includes visiting her best friend (and, conveniently, Edward’s rival), Jacob.
This lopsided relationship is only made more twisted when Jacob Black (played by Taylor Lautner) begins pursuing Bella and reveals that he is a werewolf. His behavior towards Bella is scarcely less abusive than Edward’s; although Jacob cannot exert the same control over Bella, it certainly doesn’t prevent him from trying.
The Twilight Series
Throughout the story, readers are presented with negative images of relationships. Bella is constantly made subordinate to the men in her life, sometimes by choice and sometimes by the force of their actions. The message this sends to young readers about what it means to show love or be involved in a romantic partnership is unhealthy and incredibly sexist.
New Moon is only the second installment of the Twilight series. Readers who hope that Bella, Edward and Jacob will mature and learn to conduct their relationships in a more rational and less blatantly sexist, abusive manner will be sorely disappointed by the rest of the books.
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