BOOK REPORT * TWILIGHT * By: Stephenie Meyer * * *

Kathrina I. Batac
IV – Perseverance
ENGLISH IV * * * * I. INTRODUCTION * 1. OVERVIEW * Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to live with her father in Washington to * * allow her mother to travel with her new husband, a minor league baseball player. After * * moving to Forks, Bella finds herself involuntarily drawn to a mysterious, handsome * * boy, Edward Cullen. She eventually learns that he is a member of a vampire family who * * drinks animal blood rather than human blood. Edward and Bella fall in love, while * * James, a sadistic vampire from another coven, is drawn to hunt down Bella. Edward * * and the other Cullens defend Bella. She escapes to Phoenix, Arizona, where she is * * tricked into confronting James, who tries to kill her. She is seriously wounded, but * * Edward rescues her and they return to Forks. * * 1.1 SETTING or CONTEXT * * Most of the story takes place in Forks, Washington, and its surrounding areas. * * According to Bella, Forks claims the highest rainfall per year in the United States. To put * * it bluntly, it's dreary and gray 99% of the time. The cloudy, rainy climate is one of the * * reasons the Cullens have chosen to live in Forks – because it's rarely sunny, they can * * go out in the daylight without having the sun sparkling off their glittery skin. If Forks is * * the land of the dark, Phoenix is the land of the light. When Bella hops on her plane to * * depart from Phoenix, it's 75 degrees and sunny. Bella, therefore, is a child of the light; * * she readily admits she prefers dry, warm climates. The forest is an interesting setting * for a number of scenes. Commonly in literature, the forest represents a wilderness * * where evil and/or mystery may reside. A secluded meadow in the middle of the forest * * hosts Bella's first sight of Edward's skin when exposed to the sun. Bella describes the * * meadow almost like we'd imagine the Garden of Eden. These are the set of the story. * 2.2 CHARACTER * * MAJOR CHARACTERS:
Isabella "Bella" Swan
The narrator of the story, a human girl who moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her father.
Renee Dwyer
The mother of Isabella, who lives in Phoenix, Arizona and recently married a minor league athlete.
Charlie Swan
The father of Isabella and Police Chief of Forks, Washington.
Billy Black
A Quileute Native American tribal elder who sells his truck to Charlie Swan, which becomes a gift to Bella.
Edward Cullen
A vampire in the Cullen family who possesses the ability to read most minds, but not Bella's. He is attracted to Bella in a predatory manner, but also falls in love with her.
Emmett Cullen
A vampire in the Cullen family who possess unusual strength.
Alice Cullen
A vampire in the Cullen family who takes a strong liking to Bella and possesses precognitive powers.
Rosalie Hale
A vampire in the Cullen family who takes a strong dislike to Bella and is Emmett's mate.
Jasper Hale
A vampire in the Cullen family who possesses the ability to influence people's emotions.
Carlisle Cullen
The adoptive father of the Cullen and Hale children.
Esme Cullen
The wife of Dr. Cullen, adoptive mother of the Cullen and Hale children.
Jacob Black
The fifteen-year-old son of Billy Black, who tells Bella about the Quileute legends about werewolves and vampires.
James
A vampire who visits the Cullens and hunts down Bella.
Victoria
A vampire who visits the Cullens and works with James.
Laurent
A vampire who visits the Cullens with James and Victoria.

2. AUTHOR
Stephenie Meyer was born on December 24, 1973 in Connecticut. She grew up in
Phoenix, Arizona and attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. She married in
1994 and has three sons, and is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. The inspiration for Twilight came to her after a dream on June 2, 2003, that involved a human girl and a sparkling vampire sitting in a meadow. (This would become
Chapter 13 of Twilight.) She wrote what would be Twilight - which originally was titled Forks - and signed a three-book deal with Little, Brown and
Company. Twilight was published in 2005 to great success and critical acclaim. The second book in the Twilight series was 2006's New Moon, followed byEclipse in 2007.
The last book in the series, Breaking Dawn, is set for 2008, as is a companion novel Midnight Sun, which tells the story of the first book Twilight from the perspective of Edward Cullen. The Twilight series has earned a strong and dedicated fan following, and a movie adaptation of the first book is set to be released in 2008. Meyer has also published a science fiction romance, The Host, in 2008. II. BODY 1. CHARACTER ANALYSIS Bella Swan
Bella Swan's main development as a character is her movement through adolescence to emotional and sexual maturity by finding her first - and perfect - love,
Edward Cullen. Nevertheless, she blossoms immediately as she attracts the attention of several boys before the bond with Edward is cemented. That her first love is someone as beautiful and unusual as Edward is key to the fantasy of Twilight - first love is a common rite of passage, but one that has added weight here because her choice turns out to be a century-old vampire, with all the romance and danger and exoticism it carries. Her interactions with Edward help embolden her in unexpected way: she goes matchmaking to fend off the attention of Mike and Eric, and even flirts with Jacob Black to gain some much-needed information about the Cullen family. Bella is a strongly emotional character, as seen by the tears she cannot control. However, she also has a strong intellectual side - she enjoys literature and also takes on great determination when she reaches a specific decision in her life. EDWARD CULLEN Edward Cullen is as complex a figure in Twilight as Bella, but this is due to his history more than his development over the course of the novel. His growth comes from the same root as Bella's: their mutual love, as unlikely as it is. By falling in love with a human - further, a human who appeals greatly to his predatory vampire instincts - he must regain touch with his humanity. If he hews too close to his vampire being, he would kill Bella by feasting on her blood - as he says time and again, it takes great effort to resist such urges. However, it is worth that his upbringing is rooted in a non-traditional vampire family which has already sworn off preying on humans.
Therefore, his ability to love Bella is as much a result of good upbringing as it is from personal, individual emotion. In some ways, this romance is a tribute to the Cullen family as much as to Edward's force of will. JACOB BLACK Jacob Black develops physically in this first novel more than emotionally: he gains a great deal of height over the course of the book, going from shorter to Bella to considerably taller by the end. Beyond that, however, his main role is expository: he passes crucial information along to Bella in two instances - at the beach and at the prom - but in neither case believes what he is saying. In that sense, he remains a child in Twilight - blissfully ignorant, still in need of knowledge. This will change in future volumes of the series. As this is the first volume in a planned supernatural romance series, the remaining major characters in the novel don't develop a great deal so much as reveal themselves over the course of the story. That is, the focus on character development is the main characters in the love triangle, and many of the other major characters do not so much develop due to the events in the story but react to the developments that go on in that triangle.

2. PLOT (CONFLICT)
Protagonist
Bella Swan, a human teenager who moves to Forks, Washington.
Antagonist
For most of the novel, Edward Cullen is the antagonist, as they both come to terms with the powerful attraction they feel for each other. However, the tracker vampire
James becomes the antagonist in the last third of the novel, as he hunts down Bella to kill her and provoke Edward.
Climax
James tricks Bella into coming to him in order to save her mother.
Outcome
Bella is saved by Edward and his family, though Edward refuses to turn her into a vampire as she wishes.
SHORT SUMMARY (Synopsis) Isabella "Bella" Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her father Charlie. While unhappy with this decision, it is one she makes on her own as she wants to give her mother Renee the chance to follow her new husband Phil, a minor league baseball player, to Florida. Bella adjusts well to her new high school in
Forks, but notices the five Cullen siblings: Edward, Emmett, Alice, Jasper Hale, and
Rosalie Hale. They are all adopted by the young doctor Carlisle Cullen and his wife
Esme, are unbelievably beautiful, and tend to keep to themselves. Bella is shocked when she finds that she has to share her Biology class table with Edward, and even more surprised when it seems that Edward takes an instant dislike for Bella without even speaking to her. Edward disappears from school for several days and when he returns tries to be friendly with Bella, which confuses her. The next morning, she is almost run over by a van and only saved by the unnatural strength and speed of
Edward, who swoops in to rescue her from sure death. He asks her to keep quiet about what she had witnessed about him, and she abides by his request. She tries to be friendly with Edward in the aftermath, but he does not acknowledge her existence for the next six weeks.
As the girls' choice dance approaches, Bella is asked by several boys to take them to the event. She refuses them all, but Edward starts speaking to her again, asking if she would go with him to Seattle instead, which was the excuse she gave for not attending the dance. Edward starts to show unusual attention to Bella, which others notice.
However, he does not go with Bella when she invites him to come along to a beach outing planned by Mike Newton, one of the boys who's interested in her. She goes on this outing to La Push and meets the Quileute Native American teen Jacob Black –
Jacob's father Billy Black sold Charlie the truck that he gave to Bella as a gift. Through
Jacob, she finds out that the Cullens are "cold ones" - vampires - and struck a peace agreement many years ago with the Quileute, who legend states possess werewolves among their number.
A few days later, Bella goes to Port Angeles with two of her friends, who want to go dress shopping for the dance. Alone, Bella is trapped by four men, but is saved by
Edward in his car. They wind up having dinner together and begin to discuss what exactly he is. They take turns asking each other questions: Bella interrogates Edward on being a vampire, on his abilities, and his family; Edward interrogates Bella about the details of her own life and personal history. Edward convinces Bella not to go Seattle on the day of the dance, as he has other plans for her. However, complications arrive one evening when Billy Black sees Edward and Bella together, and he unsuccessfully tries to convince Bella to stay away from the vampire.
On the morning of the dance, Edward instead takes Bella on a long hike and she sees why vampires avoid sunlight: their skin glistens diamond-like when exposed directly to the sun. The two admit their love to each other during this idyll. The following morning,
Edward takes Bella to meet his family at their home and tells the story of how Carlisle became a vampire and assembled the Cullen family as they now stand. That evening,
Edward takes Bella to watch a baseball game played by his family, which due to their strength and speed must be hidden by a thunderstorm. The game attracts a pack of nomad vampires, however, and one of those vampires is a tracker names James. James decides to hunt Bella after discovering she is a human, but the Cullens protect her:
Alice and Jasper take Bella back to Phoenix, Arizona to hide, while Edward, Emmett, and Carlisle try to chase James and ambush him. However, James flees to Phoenix and tricks Bella into thinking he's holding her mother hostage. She goes to James willingly only to find her mother is not with him; further, James plans to record his killing of
Bella so that Edward would try to avenge her. Bella is attacked by James but saved by the Cullens: Edward pulls James off Bella, Emmett and Jasper kill James, while Carlisle and Alice care for Bella's broken body. They discover Bella was bitten by James, and
Edward sucks out the venom so that she won't become a vampire.
Bella survives and is hospitalized, and a cover story is fabricated to hide the truth of what happened. Edward stays with Bella while she recovers at the hospital and Bella asks why he didn't let the venom change her into a vampire. He refuses to do so, as she doesn't want her to become a monster. She finds out that Alice, who has precognition, had a vision where Bella becomes a vampire; however, Edward points out that she also saw Bella die and that didn't come true. Bella and Edward repeatedly profess their love for each other, but Bella still wants to be transformed so she can be with Edward forever. Weeks later, back in Forks, Bella is surprised when Edward takes her to the prom; Jacob Black is also in attendance, with a message that his father still wants her to break up with Edward and that they'll be watching. Bella confesses to
Edward that she was hoping he would turn her into a vampire this evening but he continues to refuse. For the time being, their love for each other is enough. 3. THEME AND SYMBOLISM
The theme of Love and Romance Love and Romance is the first major theme of the book, as the main action hinges on Bella and Edward uniting and the adventures resulting from this union. Bella and
Edward are the ideal couple in some ways - thematically, they represent a balance between vampiric passion and human intellect --but also fatally flawed in that they can also be predator and prey, which would happen if the balance is lost. The vampire- human bond brings out an image of the victim being ravished - that is, being taken in hungrily by the predatory nature of the vampire. However, that ravishing is also balanced in order to preserve the love, as Edward reins in his instinct constantly and
Bella - in her kisses and forward behavior - gives in to her own instinct and becomes quite passionate and even aggressive with Edward.
The theme of Change and Risk Change and Risk is related to the theme of Love and Romance, as falling in love is often a case of seizing an opportunity and hoping it works out for the best. However, there are many other choices that involved change - and in change, the plentiful risks that accompany a different situation, a new set of circumstances. The book starts with a major change, as Bella moves to Forks from Phoenix. At the end of the novel, she is ready for another major change, as she wants to become a vampire out of love for
Edward. So in this sense, change begets further change - major decisions change the situation enough that new opportunities can be seized.
The theme of Humanity and Mortality Humanity and Mortality is the next major theme of the novel, which encompasses the motif of vampirism since vampires as a species are traditionally positioned as being both "above" and "against" humans by being immortal and preying on human blood.
In Twilight humans in general represent intellect and reason, but also a limited perspective on the world due to both limited senses and a limited lifespan. Vampires defy mortality, and in doing so they are gifted with a wider perspective - much sharper senses, heightened physical abilities, and a very different sense of time. However, the price they pay for this is the inhuman desire - the taste for human blood based on instincts. Thus, vampires preying on humans is not only fatal in the literal sense of taking a life, but is also a draining of the vampire's humanity by performing an act of murder and cannibalism.
The theme of Family Family is the last major theme of the book. It's worth noting right off the bat the three major families in the novel - the Swans / Dwyers, the Blacks, and the Cullens – are not typical "nuclear" families. Bella's parents divorced and her mother remarried;
Billy Black is a widower; and the Cullen children are "adopted" through vampirism.
Thus, thematically we already see that the definition of family is expanded to include non-traditional models, but all are based on love and commonly-shared obligations for each member of that family. Rifts threaten each family: Bella has the secret about the
Cullens that she holds back from her parents; Renee in turn has her long-ago break from Charlie; Jacob doesn't believe the legends that his father Billy knows are truths; and Edward wants to bring a human, Bella, into the Cullen household. None of these are fully resolved by the end of the novel: Charlie remains uninformed, Jacob remains willfully ignorant, and Rosalie continues to feel hostile towards Bella.
The theme of Popularity Popularity is a minor theme in the book, explored through intertwining subplots:
Bella is the new girl at Forks High School, earning the attention of several boys who wish to date her; meanwhile, the Cullen children are a clique unto themselves, beautiful but aloof from the rest of the school. Bella does not like the popularity she experiences, not having stood out in Forks, and manages to even out her popularity by becoming a part of the Cullen clique. At the end of the novel, she attends the prom with the Cullen clique, but feels herself perfectly at home among the humans as well. Popularity is thus developed as something not worth pursuing - that it is actually a source of weakness in bringing undue attention to oneself.
The theme of Beauty Beauty is another minor theme, and actually tied intimately with the theme of
Popularity. There are two aspects that the novel develops. First, beauty is fatal: that is, the beauty that vampires possess is part of how they lure in their prey. This is a biological beauty, based on what attracts creatures to a predator, and Alice even makes the comparison to a carnivorous flower. Further, there is an attraction between Edward and Bella because her essence is the most enticing that Edward has ever faced as a vampire; here, beauty works against the couple, it would force Edward to give in to instinct and kill Bella. Second, beauty can have a spiritual component: Edward is able to resist his vampiric instinct to attack his perfect meal, Bella, because he learns to love her. He also compares Bella to the beautiful Rosalie, but not feeling the same attraction for her that he feels for Bella. Edward shows he still has some human impulses, and so beauty becomes a form of redemption for him.

SYMBOLISM Vampirism is the most obvious motif and symbol in the story. It is not a theme in itself, but is used to flesh out all the themes to varying extent. Given the genres embodied by Twilight, the vampire represents the unleashed id, the release of intellect to a more pure, animal passion. The desire and romance that comes with the vampire romance is the notion of passion or love as an insatiable hunger that requires the very essence of the loved one. Of course, passion can also be quite dangerous, and a hunger must know limits or will threaten everyone involved - this is shown by the appearance of James late in the book. Edward knows best the importance of curbing his vampire appetite, as it comes in direct conflict with his romantic desire for Bella.
Vampires can also stir great passion in those they touch: Sam Uley and Billy Black are repulsed by them, even with the Quileute agreement; the Cullens are all admired for their great beauty by those who encounter them. Perhaps most striking of all, Bella is a human whose close interaction with Edward makes her more passionate and hungry for her new love, as seen by the kisses where she becomes more aggressive than Edward, forcing him to back off. Thus, her decision at the end of the novel to eventually become a vampire not only reflects her love for Edward, but her decision to embrace the passionate side of herself as well. Time - or rather, one's sense of time - is used to reflect the experiences of characters, telling readers the importance of what they're going through and how they feel about it. For example, Bella notes how time in Forks is a blur, except for the times with Edward when every second is sharply remembered. Cars are an important symbol in the book, reflecting their owner in some manner. Bella's red truck is her first solid adjustment to Forks, paving the way for what follows. Further, the clumsiness and slowness of her vehicle reflects her own human failings, especially compared to the faster and more exotic Volvo possessed by Edward. III. CONCLUSION
This novel is a blockbuster. It’s extraordinary even if it is a fiction, still, you can imagine that you are living in the story with them. You can imagine that you are one of them. Especially the part when Edward and Bella finally met. You can feel as you read the story how they act, or how they talk. That is why I felt happy when they made a movie of the book, but somehow felt a little bit sad because some part of the book weren’t in the movie. I really admire how the characters interact with each other and I admire the flow of the story. And one of the most wonderful parts of the story was the time when Edward saved Bella from James and from Mike’s Car when they’re in their school the first time they met. I don’t really know what pursues me to make a book report about this novel. Because before I finalized everything about my book report, I was thinking of love stories before. But what made me realized to use this book instead of common love stories? I think it’s because I remembered that I’ve already read a book about vampires long ago. I think I’ve read this book four years ago, but still, I didn’t forget about the book. It’s like my all-time favorite. That’s why this book for me is really extraordinary even the other series of Twilight.

* * *