Bella Swan Cullen

[leahroselover]

^Not to mention no one ever brings them up.

[Lioness Rampant]

I think that while she was a bit silly in the beginning, she realized it, and she was strong. ish. but once edward left her, that was it. she never EVER got any strength back. and the mark of a strong person is one who can deal with tragedy.

something that irritates me about bella is that she recognizes her faults but never makes any attempt to correct them.

I really do agree. And to speak with perfect honesty, I cannot relate to Bella.
I find that I really can't relate to a lot of the characters, when you put all, if any, superhuman traits behind them.

Not that I dislike any of the main characters, but my interests in men are obviously very different from Bella's. Thats okay, though, because everyone looks for different things in different people.
I don't think that Bella is as mature as she was made out to be, and she is the epitome of victimization. This is accentuated by the fact that she is surrounded by, quite simply, extraordinarily strong predators- and I mean all of the different predators she encounters, not just the one that she falls in love with... But not only is she prey by the supernatural nature that we are introduce to in the series, but Bella herself is prey by human standards.

One quality that I don't underderstand people in life, and especially in Bella, is the incredibly overdeveloped sense of dependency. Bella is bound by her immense lack of autonomy. (and not just because she is merely mortal in contrast to other characters) Even after transformation, Bella maintains this quality that, frankly, I do not understand.

Her character evolves in strange directions and she evaluates choices in ways that make me take an extra moment to identify with- to be au fait with.

[Amethyst1]

lioness rampant - i love your insight and i absolutely agree.

Sometimes I wonder about Bella's physiological consistency, too. Her colossal dependency on Edward stands in a stark contrast with others surrounding her. It's a very odd thing and like lioness I do not understand the dependency on people to live. If her dependency wasn't such a serious thing it would have been humorous.

I don't think Bella is emotionally strong either, i thought her actions and extreme dependency on Edward and Jacob in new moon were unnecessary. The way she coped with her "loss" was ludicrous. I never actually gave this much thought untill recently. For one, Edward left her, or to word it perfectly--he broke up with her and she went in catatonic mode. She lost her non-existent or what little she had of autonomy and she started to develop tight metal coils with the next person she found, to live.

[dazzlingdynamite]

I do sorta agree with the critics, surrounding the series, don't get me wrong I love it but they are right that Edward is overly byronic and Bella is just another damsel in distress, and that her appeal is based on the supernatural magic surrounding her, she shouldn't really be the sort of person a twenty-first centuary woman should look up to.

Would it have really been that hard to make Bella a little more independant? Not in the sense of cooking, looking after her mother, sort of way, more in the sense of being able to go on without a man in her life.

[twilight1909]

I tend to have a love/hate relationship with Bella.

I don't fault her for a "dependency" with Edward. I think that's unavoidable; their love is so strong it literally drives them together. I would fall into depression just like she did if my soul mate abandoned me. He didn't just leave, he told her he didn't love her anymore and tried to erase himself from her memory. How can that not wreck havoc on your heart? Her pain was so real...it's painful to read. I experienced it along with her. I would have been really bothered if she didn't act that way. Edward became her life, but that doesn't mean she's weak. It happens even to the strongest of us. Or I would say the luckiest. You also have to look at the other side of the coin. Edward was just as dependent on Bella. Hello, "you are my life now." He was so completely enraptured by her that he resolved to take his life as soon as Bella's ended. Now THAT is dependency. He only found the strength to leave her because of the extreme circumstances. He depended on Bella's life so entirely that he removed himself from it strictly for her benefit. It was Edward's biggest mistake, and it tortured both of them in serious ways. The bottom line is that they both depended on each other. If Bella was dependent from Edward and didn't rely on him so heavily, or vice versa, it would have detracted from their love which is essential to the story. It IS the story.

I totally disagree that Bella is immature because she fell in love within a few months time. That says nothing about maturity. It says everything about true love.

Things do get under my skin about her. She's unnecessarily rude and antisocial in the beginning. I can understand being introverted and uncomfortable in new surroundings, but I really wanted to slap her out of it. Then again, there's a reason for why she didn't connect with humans. She connected with another kind... Anyway, I definitely think she suffers from narcolepsy. My friend and I joke about that. She's ALWAYS tired! Physically, she is weak. Her clumsiness is no secret. It's a BIT over the top. Oh, and her decisions with Jacob p!ssed me off. Why did she hold his hand in La Push?? Why did she make out with him?! UGHH. Those questions are rhetorical by the way. I know why, but it boiled my blood. She put Edward through endless turmoil. I was beyond relieved when she became a vampire. Like, finally.

[leahroselover]

So you really think that you can decide who your true love is in a matter of a few months?

[twilight1909]

Did I not just answer that question? It's happened to me, and I'm still with him.

You seem cynical about true love. Whatever your take is about it, this is a fictional love story about impossible circumstances. Take it for what it is.

[leahroselover]

Did I not just answer that question? It's happened to me, and I'm still with him.

You seem cynical about true love. Whatever your take is about it, this is a fictional love story about impossible circumstances. Take it for what it is.

I don't believe in it, but I understand the concept. True love = Beauty and the Beast
Bella and Edward...not even close

I don't see why just because someone says "its true love" it means that it is so.

[RussetRose♥]

People can believe what they want to believe. I personally don't have an opinion on true love. I think that it's something that people believe in, although I don't know if I believe in it fully. But, I do think that there is someone out there for everyone.

[dazzlingdynamite]

Did I not just answer that question? It's happened to me, and I'm still with him.

You seem cynical about true love. Whatever your take is about it, this is a fictional love story about impossible circumstances. Take it for what it is.

I don't believe in it, but I understand the concept. True love = Beauty and the Beast
Bella and Edward...not even close

I don't see why just because someone says "its true love" it means that it is so.

It is supposed to be fiction . . . but I do get where your coming from.
True love shouldn't really need to be said. It should be felt from both parties . . . maybe this isn't what your thinking of, but it is what I'm thinking of.
Sometimes it does feel like E+B haven't had that transition, that development, like SM (like most writers do) has just decided that they will fall in love and it's happened . . . it's not really grown.