I am also, like most girls of the nation totally obsessed with Twilight. In fact, I had a huge life changing moment when I saw New Moon and switched from Team Edward to Team Jacob…I know, I know it is huge.
As much as I love Twilight, I have started rereading the books and realized there are a few lessons I really do NOT want teen girls to take away from the books. I love that they wait until Marriage, I love that there is no cussing, I love that they are not obsessed with texting or Facebook and I love that there are no drugs or partying…I don’t know how realistic it is, but I like the message. However, there are a few messages that Twilight sends that I am not a huge fan of. Of course, I think and hope teen girls are smart enough to see the negatives of this behavior, but I point them out for parents to discuss with their Twihard teenagers nonetheless.
1. Bella Never Eats
When Bella is human she is never hungry. She never eats and is always saying that her stomach is just too filled with ‘butterflies’ to eat. There is more than one scene in the cafeteria where she either has a coke for lunch and apple or nothing. Love makes you hungry, that is a good thing! She also does not like to eat around Edward because he doesn’t eat. Men like a girl who can have a nice meal (I am sure Edward would agree.)
2. Sleep Watching
OK, I’l admit it I swooned a little when Edward admits to Bella that he watches her sleep when she did not know it. Then I put the book down, went to grab a snack and was like…whoa…maybe that’s a little creepy. It is a little creepy.
3. Jacob is a Bit Extreme
The whole “kiss me or I’ll kill myself thing” or the “I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you myself! I’ll do it now!” quote in Breaking Dawn Chapter 4 is a bit much and I didn’t like how extreme his emotions get to the point of suicide or murder.
4. Bruises
Bella is clumsy but Edward also unwittingly hurts her when he is intimate with her. This is a fine line to tread, it makes sense for the story line, but I think it plants a false notion in the readers head that “if he didn’t mean to then it is ok that Bella got hurt.” With the rise of teen relationship abuse it makes me a bit nervous.
5. Lying Never Seems to Go Punished
Bella lies to her parents a lot, and there is not many consequences, even when she is grounded she gets around the rules and Edward sneaks upstairs. I am not saying that Bella should be grounded for the whole book, but lying should not go unpunished.
6. Having Boys Over Secretly
Bella’s bedroom window might as well be the front door. Jacob comes in, Edward comes in, Alice comes in…I do not like that Bella is using her window as the front door when it is not the safest, Charlie doesn’t know and I think it sends a wrong message.
I love Twilight and love its overall feeling, I just wanted to point out a few issues that bother me for parents to discuss with their kids reading the novels.
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Other than it being creepy when Edward watches Bella sleep, I didn’t notice these themes! Thanks for pointing them out and making these issues open for discussion!
Reading this artical, I found I have a few peoblems with it.
If a teenage girl has read the twilight books, she will know that Bella does eat, she is constantly cooking for her father and joining him in eating the meal.
The sleep wathing thing? That is not creepy..im sure, if you have boyfriend yourself, as I do, then you will know that when they fall asleep and you are still awake you might find yourself looking at them and just thinking..also, Bella finds comfort in sleeping in edwards arms, he does not sleep..so really, what do you expect him to do?
You think that Jacob is a bit extreme? Well, you probably already know, but have just forgotten, Jacob said he would kill himself purley to make kiss him and Bella see that he loves her and she loves him, and clearly told her afterwards that he would not have killed himself.
he also said he would kill her because he has anger problems, and you will also know that because it is one of the affects of being a wolf.
As for the problem you have with Edward hurting Bella, you should know that that is the one thing he has done his best to prevent, and when id did happen, I think you will agree Edward could not have been more sorry. He never wanted to become intimate with Bella purley because he did not want that to happen, and when they did become intimate, Bella knew perfectly, and in detail the risks of what could happen and still went ahead with it.
Your right that lying should not go unpunished, but Bella has been grounded when her father has found out. Enough said.
First of all, the window is most definatly NOT unsafe for these people for obvious reasons.
And as for the fact that Bella has boys stay over ( actually only Edward) she is not doing anything intimate with him, he is just there because she enjoys his company and she feels safe. I do not think that there is anything wrong with that. If it was a female friend, there would not be anything said.
So basically i do not agree with this artical, I have enjoyed the other ones though.
And i will just finish off with I am most definatly Team Edward, beacuse they love eachother unconditioally, and really that is all that matters. Also, Jacob imprints with renesmee, so osbviously he loves her, but nowhere near as much as Edward does.
And i do think Jacob is a good guy, but Edward is a much better guy that always has Bellas best interests at heart.
Thank you.
If this is called five lessons, why are there six? & why are they simply dot points about things that upset the writer of this article, rather than actual lessons to learn?