Crystal methamphetamine addiction.
Let us begin by examining the first book, Twilight. It starts off in some obscure yet actually real town called Forks, Washington. There, a girl named Bella Swan goes about her life in high school, along with living with her father. Then Bella "meets" Edward Cullen. Actually, curious little Bella decided to try crystal meth, and was given it by one of her peers. Now, Edward Cullen is secretly a "vampire". And as you should know, crystal meth can cause hallucinations, and all the vampires in this novel consist of hallucinations Bella is having. Bella instantly finds him to be incredibly beautiful, and they talk and go about there little adventures. Somewhere along the line, Bella meets Jacob Black, who is a Native American. Jacob Black plays a very big role in the second book and beyond. Then there is the fight between the other vampires and the Cullens. This is actually a metaphor for the fighting drug dealers and addicts have to face in order to obtain their drugs of choice. James uses Bella's mother as a temptation to lead her further into addiction and into other drugs, such as heroin, LSD, and crack cocaine. However, after the fight, Bella is taken by Carlise Cullen to be "healed". This is actually symbolic of how Bella's life is slowly falling apart and how her father and the authorities at Forks are going to deal with her.
Jump up to the second book, New Moon. A little bit more romance for some boring amount of chapters and then... Edward decides that he's too dangerous for Bella, which is representative of the authorities of Forks putting Bella into rehabilitation and her dropping of meth, only to be rekindled again. She hallucinates that Edward's there when he's not because she is still dependent on meth for her essential well-being. This is where Jacob Black comes in. Jacob is the rehab that Bella goes through for a while. The actual rehab building Bella's in has staff that is nice to her, which is the rest of the werewolves that Jacob hangs out with. When the relevation of Jacob Black being a werewolf is revealed, this is when Bella realizes that rehab is actually taking her away from the meth she once loved, Edward. So then she jumps off the cliff, which is a metaphor for her becoming addicted to meth again. She also has an adventure in Italy, where she meets the Volturi, who are actually the drug dealers in Bella's life. She winds up with Edward again, which is the deepening of her meth addiction.
Breif pause to discuss how Edward and the Cullens represent meth. They are perfect in nearly every way, which is how meth users often feel when they are high. Also, the way Edward is described as marble, and the sparkling scene, that is how crystal meth looks. The romance between Bella and Edward is the pleasure factor from her using the meth, and because of this, she lets Edward abuse her as he pleases, because meth has highly addictive properties.
Onward to the third book, Eclispe. There is a new vampire, which is symbolic of yet another meth addict, which is what Edward thinks. Bella actually perceives this as threat to her addiction to meth, and therefore projects her insecurity on Edward. Also, Edward starts to worry for Bella's "safety" when she's around Jacob, who is the rehab. Bella doesn't want to lose the false sense of security she has when she's high on meth, so Edward has her convinced that rehab is actually going to harm her. As she becomes further and further addicted into meth, Victoria comes back with an army of newborn vampires, who are actually more meth addicts threatening the very supply of meth that gives Bella her "Edward". Then along the line, Bella decides to give rehab a try again, symbolized by the kiss she shares with Jacob. Soon though, he catches wind of Bella and Edward's engagement, which is actually a simile for the rehab center's utter failure to save Bella from becoming a member of society again. Instead, the future marriage between Edward and Bella is a foreshadowing to what will become of Bella in the real world as her hallucinations have become so rampant in her life.
And finally, there's the forth book Breaking Dawn. There are three parts to this book, two from Bella and one from Jacob. It starts off as a seemingly perfect wedding between Bella and Edward. The two are even more romantic then ever now, and Bella becomes pregnant. That is basically the first part. The second part consists of Jacob, who is rehab, and his perspective. Jacob and his pack plan on destroying the baby Bella is going to have, in the real world, they plan on doing a highly experimental procedure to try and permanently eliminate Bella's addiction. Jacob, hoever, objects to these experiments, to which his role shifts from being the rehab to being what Charlie was once to Bella, her father figure. Not soon after, Bella gives birth to her baby, which actually is the implications of a meth overdose. Edward immediately turns her into a vampire to save her, thereby making all her flaws "disappear". By this time, the real Bella has fallen into a deep coma, and has become vegetative due to the brain damage she has given herself because of her meth addiction. Jacob winds up imprinting on the baby, but as her father figure, is actually worried about the fact that his precious Bella may never wake up. Then, the third part of this book deals with what is going on within Bella's comatose mind. First is Irena, who accidentally thinks Bella's child is a bad kind of vampire, and convinces the Volturi to go after the Cullens. The Volturi's role has changed significantly as they now represent a host of repressed feelings Bella has deep within her subconscious. Irena is the trigger that Bella has pulled on herself as she has slowly repressing every problem she has had since she started doing meth, which has caused her life to spiral down and the traumas of having been taken off meth twice. However, then the Cullens manage to scrape up hundreds of other vampires to convinve the Voturi they're wrong about Bella's child, which is her subconscious trying to keep her forever trapped in this fantasy world. It appears at first that Bella is going to escape and possibly wake up, until it is proven that the child is not what the Volturi first thought it was. This is Bella coming face to face with her problems, and dealing with them in a non-painful way. However, she has not completely removed her problems, she has only shifted them around, as evidenced by the doubt the Volturi still have about Bella's child. Then comes Nahuel, which represents the decision made to cut Bella off her life support for good. They decide to remove the life support due to evidence that Bella will never awake from her coma. As Nahuel proves to them that crossbreed vampires pose no threats to their way of life, Bella's psychological problems seem to slowly slip away as her life is. The end has Bella, Edward, and their child walk off to their home peacefully. In reality, Bella has died a slow and agonizing death, but her mind was at peace and the doctors quickly gave her sedatives to keep down the physical pain during her final moments.
- Mood:
Enjoying The Show
Muffins: The Joy
Content
Isolated
Neglect
Defeated
