Edward Cullen

[Kachiti]

Sorry! I can re-post this in the Bella thread if you'd like.

No I mean thank you for your help.

[moon sidhe]

No I mean thank you for your help.

Oh! haha. Any time.

[pubesy]

I remember a great passage where he called Bella 'a martyr who did not want witnesses to her suffering', because she moved away of her own free will and (oh my) put up with the rain!

Edward called her a martyr because
a) He was infatuated with her - and from the word go, held Bella in he highest possible regard (just like bella did with edward)
b) Bella had volunteered to move away from her home and the mother that she loved (when she would have really preferred to stay) WITHOUT complaint, to live with her emotionally distant father (who she hardly knew) in a state she hated, in order to make her mother (and father) happy.
C) this decision to move to forks was a completely SELFLESS decision.
d) even though she complained a bit in her own mind about the move...she never voiced these opinions aloud (except to edward....because he was perceptive) Rather she claimed to be fine with the move.

this is why Edward saw the decision as a martyred move.


Bella WAS a selfless character. She never did anything that was purely for her own benefit. she was always worried about someone else. sure, some of her actions can be interpreted as selfish actions, but they were done with the best selfless intentions.

and since WHEN does bella have to be the perfectly selfless character?

[JoanneMaria]

okay people who think that twilight is making every teen girl go crazy about finding "mr. perfect" your wrong! okay maybe some girls are, but most of us are not that retarded! we know that its just a story and there isnt really any guy in the world thats like edward! gosh. sorry im just mad that every adult on the lex is thinking us teens are going crazy!!!

Sadly, sometimes adults do under estimate young adults.
I am an old adult and I totally agree with you. Young girls, as well as young guys need to be given more credit than they sometimes get.

[Amivera]

But i really don't think lust was involved.

Lust was most definitely involved, I think we can all agree on that.

Lol i don't know. i think i just see lust as "i am ready to jump in your pants here and now" lol.

I see Bella's and Edward's relationship beging with attraction and curiosity.

Even if lust was not the biggest part of their attraction to each other, it was definitely there.
Lust (noun): a passionate desire for something.

And if you remember after their first date, Bella asked about having sex. She was most definitely lusting for him. If you remember all those times in Eclipse where she kept trying to take her clothes off and force herself onto him, that was lust. A large part of their relationship has been defined by their lust for each other. SMeyer made a point of it, too.

[Auctorita]

We are told to believe that Bella is a selfless person but she has shown herself to be quite selfish as well and thus, the contradiction.

Is anyone ever completely selfless? I think it's an interesting question. Short of being Mother Theresa I believe that not many are. Bella commits both selfless and selfish acts. I think on the whole, she's a more selfless person than not. But that's a discussion for another thread.

Yes, she is both selfless and selfish, but the point was that the reader is told that Bella is such a selfless person yet we're shown that she can be quite selfish as well. What Meyer tells us is contradicted with what is shown. She isn't completely selfish either but when you are told that a character is selfless it tells you that they rarely do something for selfish reasons. Bella however, has shown a good amount of selfishness to counter her selfless acts. What would have made sense with what is shown would be to tell the reader something like "Bella has been quite selfless about taking care of her Dad" instead of "she is selfless" because what is shown actually supports this statement.

Sorry, this is getting off topic.

[urcoolcarrie]

i love it that this edward thread is so close to needing a new one.

anyway, i have no idea where anyone is on here anymore. everyone's posts are about different things. its driving me insane!

okay people who think that twilight is making every teen girl go crazy about finding "mr. perfect" your wrong! okay maybe some girls are, but most of us are not that retarded! we know that its just a story and there isnt really any guy in the world thats like edward! gosh. sorry im just mad that every adult on the lex is thinking us teens are going crazy!!!

Sadly, sometimes adults do under estimate young adults.
I am an old adult and I totally agree with you. Young girls, as well as young guys need to be given more credit than they sometimes get.

oh yes!! i swear, i think that teens are better than what some adults see us as. we aren't stupid. we can tell the difference between something thats real and something thats not.

[holdingoutforjacob]

I remember a great passage where he called Bella 'a martyr who did not want witnesses to her suffering', because she moved away of her own free will and (oh my) put up with the rain!

Edward called her a martyr because
a) He was infatuated with her - and from the word go, held Bella in he highest possible regard (just like bella did with edward)
b) Bella had volunteered to move away from her home and the mother that she loved (when she would have really preferred to stay) WITHOUT complaint, to live with her emotionally distant father (who she hardly knew) in a state she hated, in order to make her mother (and father) happy.
C) this decision to move to forks was a completely SELFLESS decision.
d) even though she complained a bit in her own mind about the move...she never voiced these opinions aloud (except to edward....because he was perceptive) Rather she claimed to be fine with the move.

this is why Edward saw the decision as a martyred move.


Bella WAS a selfless character. She never did anything that was purely for her own benefit. she was always worried about someone else. sure, some of her actions can be interpreted as selfish actions, but they were done with the best selfless intentions.

and since WHEN does bella have to be the perfectly selfless character?

i know this is the edward thread, but i wanted to respond to this. i think you have a point here. i think bella is quite self-centered, but i wouldn't call her selfish. she DOES care about other people and such, but a lot of it is all about HER, which is the definition of self-centered. i think that that's a better word to describe her, because self-centeredness doesn't make you a bad person, as i feel selfishness does. i mean, we all have MOMENTS of selfishness, but you can be primarily self-centered and selfless at the same time, which is what i think bella is. i hope that makes sense.

as for lust vs. love, i think that most relationships contain at least a small amount of lust, and a lot of them start out that way. i think that while bella and edward started out as lust, and a lot of their relationship centered on the physical and superficial, i think that there was a lot of love in that relationship as well.

[moon sidhe]

Yes, she is both selfless and selfish, but the point was that the reader is told that Bella is such a selfless person yet we're shown that she can be quite selfish as well. What Meyer tells us is contradicted with what is shown. She isn't completely selfish either but when you are told that a character is selfless it tells you that they rarely do something for selfish reasons. Bella however, has shown a good amount of selfishness to counter her selfless acts. What would have made sense with what is shown would be to tell the reader something like "Bella has been quite selfless about taking care of her Dad" instead of "she is selfless" because what is shown actually supports this statement.

Sorry, this is getting off topic.

I'll respond to this in the Bella thread.

[twilight813]

i love it that this edward thread is so close to needing a new one.

anyway, i have no idea where anyone is on here anymore. everyone's posts are about different things. its driving me insane!

okay people who think that twilight is making every teen girl go crazy about finding "mr. perfect" your wrong! okay maybe some girls are, but most of us are not that retarded! we know that its just a story and there isnt really any guy in the world thats like edward! gosh. sorry im just mad that every adult on the lex is thinking us teens are going crazy!!!

Sadly, sometimes adults do under estimate young adults.
I am an old adult and I totally agree with you. Young girls, as well as young guys need to be given more credit than they sometimes get.

oh yes!! i swear, i think that teens are better than what some adults see us as. we aren't stupid. we can tell the difference between something thats real and something thats not.

you know im an adult .. well older twenties but still and i dont think every young girl is crazy about finding "mr.right" hell when i read these books i told my boyfriend to turn into a vampire. he thought i was utterly crazy.. but its ok to dream and wish that there was such as thing as Edward Cullen and vampires and werewolves... i know i secretly do.

back to Edward. I just finished reading "New Moon" again and Im slighty mad over the face that Edward left in the first place. I know he wanted Bella to be human and have a regular human life, but even if he just checked in for one moment and realized that she was rolling with the werewolves maybe he would have been like "well since she isnt living a normal human life, maybe I should go back" but NOOo of course not, he had to try and almost kill himself. Im just ranting but when i first read all the books I read so fast just to see what was going to happen next and I never really focused on all of the parts and now that i am reading it slower im beginning to have a love/hate thing going on with Edward.. idk?