In Which We Get A Sexual Assault
Was I right? Yep. Jake's love lingers in the air and Bella dodges it.
"He was right. If I wasn't mean... I would walk away".
Kind of an ultimatum from Jake, take him as a boor and a lovestruck sidekick with constant need for attention or bail. I'd be jumping out of this relationship, but I'm feeling rational and so forth.
So they debate the nature of their relationship for a bit until Jake grabs Bella by the face and kisses her. Using his monster strength, he holds Bella's head still so he can assault her for a few seconds. She tries to fight but can't, so she waits him out and then punches him. I rather liked this exchange. Add to it the fact that Edward should be along to break Jake's arm, let it heal and break it again and it means something might actually happen. True, it's not the central plot, but it's something.
Bella's hand is broken or something and she starts to walk home. Jacob tries to give her a ride and apparently can't understand why she'd bu upset with his third degree sexual assault.
For some reason, Bella accepts his ride and they argue about it. Jake takes the logical position that he's better for her, which would be a solid foundation if he hadn't just assaulted her. Bella fights him with words, but they don't work. So it's at this point that Jake falls of the very short "characters I like" list.
When they get home, Charlie is amused by Bella's injury.
"Why did she hit you?"
"Because I kissed her".
"Good for you kid".
WHAT? Really, what? Seriously?
Edward comes and get's her, there's a growling contest in the foyer with Charlie keeping peace and Bella starts to leave. Jacob follows.
Here, Edward does the normal thing and threatens to kill Jacob. I would have preferred some actual action from our patient boyfriend of stone, but instead we get a flat threat. When Jacob asks what Edward will do if Bella wants the next kiss, Edward essentially gives him permission. Then, they essentially spar over Bella, fighting for her like some kind of prize. I'm not sure why Bella is idly sitting by while they write "first prize" on her forehead, but I'm not an eighteen year old girl.
Carlisle puts her hand in a brace and Bella worries about killing people when she's a newborn.
SumUp F-
I'm not going to rage about Jacob kissing Bella. The act itself is wrong, but this is supposed to be dramatic. The situation presented is Jacob being teased by Bella time and time again, led along to believe he means more than she's saying. That doesn't excuse the kiss, it's assault and unwanted and wrong, but it does provide a framework and is in character. Her first reaction is believable, Edward's first reaction is believable and right up to the point where Bella gets home I was in a forgiving mood.
I'm not sure when Charlie stopped being Bella's father and became her pimp, though. I must have missed that chapter. I don't have any daughters, but if someone told me my son forced a kiss out of a girl, I'd be livid. I can't imagine if a kid walked into my house and admitted assaulting my daughter. I guarantee my reaction wouldn't have been to high-five him, instead his safety would be in question. So add that to my list of disgusting concepts Meyer has inflicted upon me.
As for Edward, I don't understand him at all. Why is he competing for Bella? Why is this even a question? She's not up for trade. She's not a prize. She's not dating Jacob and Edward at the same time and now they're trying to out-do each other. What possible motivation could he have for this idiocy? Grow a spine! Why are you even allowing this?
But I know why, because Edward isn't real. Edward isn't human (and I don't mean he's a vampire). Edward is a character in a romance novel and this is Meyer's trying to drag this relationship down so she can build it back up at some point. The fact that it doesn't make sense for Edward to cuckold himself doesn't matter to her. The fact that it all but forgives Jacob is irrelevant to her plan to have a repeat of the big romantic reunion, this time after some manufactured emotional division. Instead of building tension it ends the illusion that these are real people and you're suddenly aware that you're reading a book about people who are doing things not because they want to but because Meyer insists that they're doing them. It's bad writing, period.
No comments:
Post a Comment