This story is mostly narrated from the POV of an ordinary teenager named Isabella, a.k.a. Bella Swan, who moves from Phoenix to live with her father in Forks to allow her mother to travel with her new husband, a minor baseball player. In the wet and sleepy town of Forks, her life takes an extraordinary turn when she falls in love with an incredibly suave and meritorious vampire, Edward Cullen, and befriends a shape shifter, Jacob Black, a big, jolly fellow, who believes himself to be a werewolf. Soon her life becomes a whirlwind of drama and emotions as the ancient boundaries between myths and realities begin to blur, and before long, she finds herself at the crossroads where she not only has to make an impossible choice between mortality and immortality but also an even tougher one: between love and friendship.
According to Meyer, each book in the series was inspired by a different literary classic: Twilight by Pride and Prejudice, New Moon by Romeo and Juliet, Eclipse by Wuthering Heights, and Breaking Dawn by A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Since Bella, the main narrator, happens to be a booklover, she also becomes a device through which the classics’ events and characters are smoothly interwoven into the current plot.
In fact, the plot never thickens much and is often predictable. Dialogues are fairly regular, witty and humorous. Most importantly, there is something really enticing about the writing style that keeps the readers glued to the books. It may be the intensity of feelings that the characters exhibit or the meticulous descriptions, but the magic of words definitely works here.
Among the major characters, the one that holds the maximum appeal is the mysterious vampire and mind reader, Edward. His looks are often compared to that of the Greek God Adonis, and he possesses certain Victorian charms in his sophisticated speech and classy mannerisms. Unlike other vampires, he and his adopted family lead a lavish yet disciplined life, feeding on animal blood instead of human blood, and call themselves “vegetarians.”
Their archenemy is the Quileute tribe of shape shifters – humans who can turn into wolves. Jacob is a member of this pack and it is only an old truce between Edward’s father, Carlisle Cullen, and Jacob’s ancestor Ephraim Black, which prevents the two clans from fighting. Apart from this natural hostility, Edward and Jacob share another, much powerful resentment – they are both in love with Bella.
Bella is a controversial and pivotal character. She is rather pretty and intelligent without actually being aware of it. She is also clumsy and stubborn with a very private mind. First, she falls for the 104-year-old vampire, Edward, who thirsts for her blood yet returns her love. Then she pines for him when he deserts her for her own protection, innocently seeking refuge in the shape shifter Jacob, who also falls in love with her. Next, she becomes the reason behind the bonding between the two enemy clans against a third adversary. Finally, she marries Edward, has a daughter Renesmee (who later becomes Jacob’s soul mate) with him and chooses to become an immortal, non-aging vampire.
However, she has been criticized as a “flat” and “obsessive” character who spends most of her time gushing over the perfect Edward and then throws her life and identity away for him. She has even been labeled as being “self depreciating” during her human life and “insufferably vain” when she becomes a vampire. Moreover, some critics find it “horrifying” that she consumes donated human blood for the welfare of the fetus during her life-threatening pregnancy.
But Meyer claims that the saga is also the journey of Bella, and that the books’ covers symbolize her transformations. The forbidden apple in Twilight is the symbol of her prohibited love for Edward. The fragile, blood-soaked flower in New Moon represents her wounded soul when Edward leaves her for a time. The almost broken ribbon in Eclipse illustrates her unbroken ties with human life, and her torn affections for both Edward and Jacob. Lastly, the pawn and the queen on the chessboard in Breaking Dawn epitomize her development from a defenseless human to the most powerful vampire of all who shields her family from a grave peril. So Bella is portrayed as someone who makes things happen without intending to, has the ability to deal with them, and to go ahead and grab what she wants from life.
Apart from the battle between life and death, and undying love and true friendship, life as an individual’s choice is also a main theme of the sagas. It favors the idea that there is a Dr. Jekyll and a Mr. Hyde within everybody, and an individual should always pick one out of the two. For once, the vampires are shown without fangs, coffins and cobwebs. The hunger for power and domination is depicted in the form of the Volturi, the ruling authorities of the vampire world.
Furthermore, both Edward and Bella are selflessly devoted to each other, considering the other to be a far better person than oneself. The story’s allure lies in their love affair which moves parallel to Jacob’s deep friendship with Bella. Other characters, like Edward’s eccentric psychic sister Alice, the evil yet polite Volturi leader Aro, the other vampires, the Quileutes and even the normal humans, all simultaneously add up to the flow of the story.
A companion book to The Twilight Saga, Midnight Sun, is still under production. Overall, the books have opened the door to a whole new world of reading, not just for youngsters but for fiction lovers in general. The phenomenal sale of Meyer’s books and the queues at the ticket counters of the movies based on them demonstrate the success of this vampire romance. Moreover, the fairytale ending completes the picture as Bella puts it in this way, “Edward had always thought that he belonged to the world of horror stories.… It was obvious that he belonged here. In a fairytale. And now I was in the story with him.”
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