61 pages • 2 hours read
Stephenie MeyerA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
Both Bella and Edward wrestle with temptation. For Edward, the temptation is to kill the person he’s in love with; for Bella, it’s to love a dangerous creature. The strength of these lures brings them together in a push-pull balance of tension.
As a vampire, Edward’s deepest nature is to hunt people. Human blood offers vampires a perfect kind of satisfaction, one they can’t get elsewhere; consuming any other kind of blood feels like “living on tofu and soy milk” (188). Even worse, Bella’s fragrance is the most lovely and delicious Edward has ever inhaled: It makes him feel both love for her and a desire to kill her for her blood.
Edward’s dilemma is similar to that of an alcoholic or heavy drug user. For addicts, decades of temperance can collapse in a moment of doubt or stress. Like them, Edward knows that a relapse will feel ecstatic in the moment but confer misery thereafter. Making his dilemma worse is his love for Bella: The more he loves her, the more he wants her blood.
The Cullens know well what temptation feels like; for them, bringing a human into the house is like leaving an open bottle of hard liquor on an alcoholic’s kitchen table.
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