Twilight Lexicon Discussion Forums

It did seem pretty weird that he didn't respond like a normal parent would have, but then again Bella never responded normally to Edward when he told her about all the vampire things.

so you can kinda see where she would get it from. it must run in the family. lol.

kenzie♥cullen wrote:It did seem pretty weird that he didn't respond like a normal parent would have, but then again Bella never responded normally to Edward when he told her about all the vampire things.

so you can kinda see where she would get it from. it must run in the family. lol.

that actually makes sense! yea, probably the genetic thing. and after all, Bella is more like Charlie than Rene anyways.

At first I thought Charlie's reaction didn't fit with his character as I have come to know him over the previous three books. I mean, look how he reacted to every other controversial choice Bella made- the running off to "talk to Edward in Cal." after Alice shows up in New Moon, finding out about the cliff diving and Bella nearly killing herself, finding out about the motorcycle- he was very angry at Bella.
But then I thought about the difference in situations-was Bella being not human a bigger deal than everything else put together?...yes But, the consequences of Charlie's reactions are very different this time as well. Before Charlie could be angry at Bella, ground her, and put restrictions on her, and at the end of the day she's still his daughter and he's still her father.
I think Jake made it very clear to Charlie that his reaction to this new situation would determine whether or not he ever saw his only daughter ever again.
I think he reacted to the situation the way he did because he understood the gravity of the consquences if he did freaked out. Because Bella is the most important thing to him no matter what- As a mother I can totally see myself making the same decision if put in his place.

I wondered why he didn't do more to find out what was going on, and this is how I made sense out of it:

Everyone has ways that they deal with the realities of living. Charlie has always understood the world to be a certain way, and when he's suddenly confronted with a completely different reality, he doesn't have any way of making sense of it. There's nowhere to put what he saw Jacob do, no way to understand what happened to Bella, what she became, or how she had a child so quickly. For him, it's either change how he sees the world, or pretend it didn't happen.

Edward summarized it well: "Charlie is happier when he pretends to swallow your stories. He'd rather lie to himself than look too closely." (Eclipse, pg. 454)

Well everyone deals with things differently you never know he could spend his nights crying.

I'm really in the middle about this. I like how it worked out, because I really wanted him to still be a part of Bella's life and it made the perfect happy ending what it was. I also feel he would have accepted whatever crazy situation because he wanted Bella to still be a part of his life and was afraid of losing her. However, I would have liked him to fight back a little bit before the acceptance. Particularly, when she was "sick" and couldn't see her, I felt like Charlie would have insisted on seeing her anyway, driven to the Cullen's house, etc. I think his police experience and stubborness would have shown through here. I get that he knew something was up all along (as Edward indicates in Eclipse) and chose to ignore it- I think a lot of parents do that- but I think it got to the point where I was a little disappointed in Charlie's character. After Jacob's phasing, I was really torn on Charlie's reaction as part of me thought Charlie would have demanded at least some answers, but I guess once he got to the Cullens' he knew he was in way over his head and maybe it was too much for him to fully grasp. I always thought of Charlie in relation to my own father, and I don't think I would mind my father to be a little more protective under the circumstances.

I think Charlie was descensitized (sp?) over the few months after the wedding when Bella was "sick," so the fact that he even got to see her was great for him ya know? I mean, he thought she was seriously ill ...so to learn she was happy and healthy must have been a huge relief. Also, I'm sure he was in a bit of shock from Jacob's transformation and just learning that Bella was going to be "different". So, yeah a lot of things to consider.

Otherwise I'm sure his reaction would have been a lot different.

i wonder if i have underestimated Charlie.

He is a bright guy. Bella knew from the first moment she looked at Edward that he was something "more" than a human. I wonder if Charlie ever had the same kind of thoughts. I am sure at some point he has come in contact with either edward or alice's skin so he knows they are cold. he has never seen them eat, even though i am sure the opportunity has been there dozens of times.

He may not have guessed "vampire" but i would bet he knows something is going on and i wonder if he has always just assumed that whatever made the Cullen's like they are would eventually catch up to Bella.

By trying to keep in the dark it may be the same thing as knowing your married daughter isn't a virgin yet you don't want to hear it either.... you can ignore it as long as you haven't heard the words.

I thought it was funny how charlie expected Bella's mom to be the "bad guy" in the marriage situation and when she wasn't he was a moody mess. lol

Charlie is just the average single dad raising his daughter. He has no idea what Bella got into, and he always knew somewhere inside that she was changing when Edward came around.