Twilight Lexicon Discussion Forums

Alphie wrote:1. We get our first glimpse of "real" vampires in this chapter. What was your impression of them as a group and as individuals? Did you connect the fact that their red eyes had to do with the type of blood they drank?

Didn't Alice say, at one point, that they were just curious? I thought at first they would be Bella's first introduction to vampires who fed off human blood, and their sole purpose in the story would be to serve as a reminder to her, and to the readers, of the true nature of most vampires. I did believe that they would think the Cullen's "vegetarian" lifestyle was curious, and at first I expected them to move on and be mostly forgotten by the characters and the readers. Good thing I didn't write this story, right? I never thought for a moment, at my first impression, that this meeting was the event that would drive the rest of the series.

2. To me, the book takes on a second sort of plot right here with the emergence of Bella being hunted and put in danger by someone other than Edward. Up until know, the book had a much different feel and rhythm. Do you get the same impression or did you feel something different?

I did feel the change- a sense of urgency. I read through the rest of the book faster, because of that urgency.

3. On page 383, Alice says that there is another option than just running away, which angers Edward into saying, "There-is-no-other-option." What's your take on this moment and what do you think that other option is?

I did think Alice was suggesting they turn Bella. Edward was furious that Alice would even think such a thing. His words warned her and the rest of his family that he would never allow it.

4. Do you think that Bella had the best plan? Do you think things would have worked out better had they gone with Edward's plan? Considering how things worked out, do you have suggestions over what they should have done differently at this point?

I don't remember Edward's plan- was it just to run away and hide Bella somewhere? Bella was right that that would leave Charlie vulnerable, and then, if for some reason James dropped the hunt, hurt when he realized his daughter was missing. So I guess her plan was better than Edward's. But, they should have at least taken the time to consider both plans, plus come up with more options. Bella is always more concerned about Charlie's safety than her own, but I don't remember her thinking of the sacrifices the Cullens were making to protect her, or that the Cullens might be hurt too.

I did think of something they could have done differently: to be better prepared for this meeting, or any other meeting, to go sour. Alice did give the Cullens advance notice of their visit so they should have had a contingency plan, knowing that her visions aren't always accurate. A situation like this was bound to happen eventually anyway. Once they realized James' intent on killing Bella, they could have just lied. They could have just told them that Bella "belonged" to Edward and that he was going to turn her himself soon. It may have broken James's desire to hunt her immediately and maybe give them time to think of another way to protect Bella and her parents. But then the story would not have been as much fun, would it?

Alphie wrote:1. We get our first glimpse of "real" vampires in this chapter. What was your impression of them as a group and as individuals? Did you connect the fact that their red eyes had to do with the type of blood they drank? As a group I had to say that I was shocked by their size. I would have imagined a much bigger group, though there has to be tons more nomads out there. Laurent to me, didn't really seem like the bad guy type, James was the main problem here, he was the BAD GUY. And Victoria just seemed like a quiet little follower. The red eyes didn't shock me, I mean, hello, they are vamires right?

2. To me, the book takes on a second sort of plot right here with the emergence of Bella being hunted and put in danger by someone other than Edward. Up until know, the book had a much different feel and rhythm. Do you get the same impression or did you feel something different? Yesh! You can totally sense that we have another plot starting here. Now it's Bella's life on the line, and Edward of course protects her, but I totally had that new plot feeling in me.

3. On page 383, Alice says that there is another option than just running away, which angers Edward into saying, "There-is-no-other-option." What's your take on this moment and what do you think that other option is? I think Alice meant that they can just turn Bella into a vampire, so James stops wanting to kill her, but of course at this point Edward is not even 50% convinced or positive he was going to end up doing that in Breaking Dawn....

4. Do you think that Bella had the best plan? Do you think things would have worked out better had they gone with Edward's plan? Considering how things worked out, do you have suggestions over what they should have done differently at this point? Probably not, I think Bella's plan was pretty good.

Alphie wrote:1. We get our first glimpse of "real" vampires in this chapter. What was your impression of them as a group and as individuals? Did you connect the fact that their red eyes had to do with the type of blood they drank?

It was nothing more than I expected, the red eyes I mean. To me, James seemed like a typical vampire, the ones who you hear about all the time, I actually thought he was pretty cool... But creepy at the same time. Victotia is just like the follower, I have to agree. She seemed like the type of person who would do anything for someone like James and I guess I don't really have an opinion on Laurent, it was nice what he did I guess by warning them but uhm... yeah.

2. To me, the book takes on a second sort of plot right here with the emergence of Bella being hunted and put in danger by someone other than Edward. Up until know, the book had a much different feel and rhythm. Do you get the same impression or did you feel something different?

Totally, Uptil then it was all about the worry of Edward killing Bella, then upon reaching this chapter it took on a new perspective of what Edward would be like when some else wanted to kill Bella.

3. On page 383, Alice says that there is another option than just running away, which angers Edward into saying, "There-is-no-other-option." What's your take on this moment and what do you think that other option is?

I think that the only other option that there could have been would be turning Bella into one of them, hence why it angers Edward so much.

4. Do you think that Bella had the best plan? Do you think things would have worked out better had they gone with Edward's plan? Considering how things worked out, do you have suggestions over what they should have done differently at this point?

James was a tracker so I think whatever the plan was it would have turned out in a similar way. I think they would have been better off looking for James and killing him like they had planned instead of trying to get James far away from Bella as possible and then killing him, James wasn't stupid (as we see) so overall I think Bella's plan was due to luck and chance...