Breaking Dawn: Chapter 16 - Too-Much-Information-Alert

[zelda_queen]

Projection Room Voices: Care to continue?

ZeldaQueen: Do I have a choice? Oh well, this is the third-to-last chapter in this section. I can make it!

Projection Rom Voices: Playing Media in 3...2...1...

---

Chapter 16: Too-Much-Information-Alert

ZeldaQueen: Can't wait to see what this is about.

Well, Bella has gotten too warm from being up against Jacob, so he swaps places with Edward. Hmm, perhaps there's a more practical reason why Bella married the ice-cold dude while still stringing along the burning hot one. Jacob goes outside and turns into a wolf and begins doing that incredibly boring perimeter run with Seth and Leah. Leah is still grumpy about helping out the vampires, but perks up when they decide to see how fast they can run. As they go, Jacob tells Leah to keep her nose to the ground since this "This isn't a race, it's a reconnaissance mission". Leah is again awesome as heck by replying "I can do both and still kick your butt". Jacob actually agrees with this. Woot!

Leah runs alongside of Jacob and the two begin to have what could pass as civil conversation, noting how both have changed recently. Well yeah Leah, if by "recently" you mean "around the middle of New Moon". They also set off to go hunting. Jacob tries to give her a pep talk because he knows she doesn't like raw food, but Leah tells him to knock it off - she doesn't like it, but she'll do it.

Once more, let us compare her to Miss Bella Swan, who forced her father to meet her in California, just because Forks was too cloudy for her.

As they set off, Leah thanks Jacob for not kicking her out of the pack. I'm...not really sure how he could have done that, but whatever. And then - ugh - she thinks "You've been nicer than I had any right to expect, Jacob". *desperate* LEAH! DON'T SELL YOURSELF SHORT! YOU FREAKING WELL DESERVE FAR BETTER THAN ANY OF THIS!

The two banter a little, but it's more playful and once again it sounds more like teenagers goofing around than angsty runaways, so it's cool. Leah comments that Jacob is a good Alpha in his own way and is "worth following". Erm...yeah. I like that Jacob's not hating on Leah, but it really grates me that she's being turned into a Sue/Stu groupie.

Leah then drops a bombshell onto Jacob - when this is all over, she wants to stay in a pack with him, rather than returning to Sam's pack. Once more, go her! She insists that she won't follow him around or anything and he won't even be connected to her unless they're transformed, which she has plans to learn to stop doing. Seth chimes in that he wants to stay in Jacob's pack as well, and Jacob tries to dissuade him. "You're a good kid. You're the kind of person who always has a crusade. And there's no way you're leaving La Push now. You're going to graduate from high school and do something with your life. You're going to take care of Sue. My issues are not going to mess up your future." Erm, what about college? And what if Seth wants to leave La Push? And according to Jake, Sue got along just fine with Billy and Old Quil *snarls*

Leah comments that she has no intention of staying in La Push. Instead, she is going to take some classes in a community college and take up yoga to help with her anger. Once more Meyer, why am I supposed to like Bella more than Leah? We have here a female character with clear goals beyond being arm candy, one who is taking clear steps towards getting over her problems besides just going "Woe is me, I'm screwed up but I simply can't work up the willpower to do anything about it!"

Oh, and apparently Jacob plans to "go wolf" after this is all over. Because since he lost Bella, there's absolutely no chance of him meeting a different girl or getting a job or doing something useful with his life.

Anyway, they go off and eat a deer and the conversation swings to Jacob's pain over Bella. And we get this quotes from Leah:

I know it's worse for you. At least Sam is happy. At least he's alive and well. I love him enough that I want that. I want him to have what's best for him. She sighed. I just don't want to stick around to watch.

ZeldaQueen: Leah, stop it! There is no way that Jacob's had it worse! Bella never really loved him, she left him of her own free will, and Jacob proceeded to moon after her and make no effort to move on! Sam really loved you, you lost him through no fault but some stupid genetic process, and were forced to listen to his romantic thoughts on Emily and the thoughts of the other wolves on how bitter you were!

She and Jacob start sharing some memories and bond a bit. We get some scene were they both bash Rosalie and she gives him some new blond jokes - MEYER WILL YOU KNOCK IT OFF WITH THAT? In the midst of all of this, Leah mildly comments that she sympathizes a little bit with Rosalie and Jacob gets all furious and implies that he'd attack her (Leah) if she had been within lunging distance. What a sweet guy!

Leah quickly goes to clarifies, and then we start into a rage-worthy topic with one sentence: "I'm talking about being a genetic dead end, Jacob"

Yes, it appears that after Leah had transformed, she mysteriously stopped menstruating. Doesn't sound so awful to me, but it also turns out that she can't have children. And Jacob goes into the implications of this:

"The horror–what was she now? Had her body changed because she'd become a werewolf? Or had she become a werewolf because her body was wrong? The only female werewolf in the history of forever. Was that because she wasn't as female as she should be?"

ZeldaQueen: *takes deep breath*



ZeldaQueen: MEYER YOU IDIOT! DO YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHAT YOU'RE IMPLYING IN THAT? THERE ARE WOMEN IN THE WORLD - HUMAN WOMEN - WHO HAVE MEDICAL PROBLEMS WHICH SCREW WITH THEIR MENSTRUAL CYCLE AND THEIR REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS AND LEAVE THEM UNABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN! THIS HAPPENS TO EVERY WOMAN WHO HAS EVER GONE THROUGH MENOPAUSE! AND YOU'RE SUGGESTING THAT THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH A WOMAN WHO HAS THESE PROBLEMS? YOU'RE SUGGESTING THAT THEY'RE SOMEHOW "WRONG" AND "NOT AS FEMALE"? WOULD YOU SAY THAT A MAN IS "NOT AS MALE" IF HE WERE IMPOTENT AND UNABLE TO FATHER CHILDREN? HMMMMMM? SHUT UP AND STOP PUTTING SUCH SEXIST AND BACKWARDS PROPAGANDA IN YOUR LITERATURE, THANK YOU AND DIE!!!!

ZeldaQueen: *panting furiously* Jacob mentions that all of the male wolves had no idea what to make of all of this and thus just opted not to deal with it. "Obviously, it wasn't like we could empathize". *snarls* So of course you didn't even try!

Leah then moves on to the hated topic of imprinting. She insists that if she were any good for having babies and continuing a bloodline, Sam would have imprinted on her. Thus, she sees this as proof that she is menopausal at age twenty. *screams* And I - oh man I hate this - she also says "So I become a freak–the girlie-wolf–good for nothing else"

GOOD FOR NOTHING ELSE?!? EXCUSE ME MEYER, BUT I BELIEVE THAT "HAVE BABIES" AND "BE A WOLF-GIRL" ARE NOT THE ONLY OPTIONS IN A WOMAN'S LIFE!!!!!

ZeldaQueen: Okay, okay. So Jacob starts angsting about how he doesn't want to be having this conversation - suck it boy, Leah put up with you whining about Bella - and tries to assure her that her system will go back on track if she stops shapeshifting. Leah doesn't believe this to be the case, since it still ought to mean that she'd have the ability to have children and thus ought to have been imprinted on. She goes on to mention that if Jacob weren't around, Seth would probably have had the best claim to being Alpha through blood and adds that no one would have ever considered her for the position. I know Leah, you're female and it sucks. *hugs* Care to escape to Harry Potter? I promise you'd be loved and appreciated.

Jacob goes off on a tirade against imprinting -

"You really want to imprint, or be imprinted on, or whichever? I demanded. What's wrong with going out and falling in love like a normal person, Leah? Imprinting is just another way of getting your choices taken away from you."

ZeldaQueen: I completely agree with that statement, except that I'm still taking bets that it gets shot to heck by this novel's end.

Leah reminds Jake that if he were to imprint, he'd forget all about how he feels about Bella. She adds that if she could, she'd choose to forget how she feels about Sam. Jacob sighs and thinks how "She was in a healthier place than I was" Hi Jacob, welcome to Earth! Plan on staying at all?

Moving back to her original point, Leah explains that she knows what it's like to never children and adds that she'd like to think that if it were her or Rosalie in Bella's position, Bella would help them out. Yeah right, Bella only ever furthers her own goals.

Jacob has had about enough of this conversation and turns human. As he runs off to get his clothes, he decides that he doesn't want Leah in the pack when this is over and will give an Alpha command to force her to return to Sam.

YOU WORTHLESS DICK!!!!

So Jacob goes back in the house just in time to find out that the fetus has broken Bella's pelvis. This is really starting to just get ridiculous. Alice comments that Edward is about ready to tear up Rosalie. Jake offers to hold off Emmett so that he can.

Jake finds Rosalie and makes some more bad blond jokes, these ones she's never heard. Bella tells him to knock it off and then freaks out when he asks if she wants him to leave. As they all sit there, Edward suddenly hears someone talking. Everyone is surprised because no one said a word, and they start wondering what it was. Well guess what? Edward is reading the fetus's thoughts! Isn't that freaky? Really. He says that the fetus is happy and likes hearing Bella's voice.

Bella gets all emotional and maternal at this and refers to it as "EJ". It turns out that should the baby be a boy (which she is expecting), she will name it Edward Jacob Cullen. Because it's such good form to name your child after a guy you strung along/the dude who had romantic feelings for allegedly. Rosalie asks what the plan is if the baby's a girl. What do we get?

"Bella wiped the back of her hand under her wet eyes. “I kicked a few things around. Playing with Renée and Esme. I was thinking… Ruh-nez-may.”

'Ruhnezmay?'

'R-e-n-e-s-m-e-e. Too weird?'

'No, I like it,' Rosalie assured her. Their heads were close together, gold and mahogany. 'It's beautiful. And one of a kind, so that fits.'"

ZeldaQueen: So if it's a boy she's going to name it after her husband and boyfriend but if it's a girl she's naming it after her mother and mother-in-law. Huh. And "one of a kind"? Oh that's certainly not a Mary Sue warning sign. And you know it's true, because about naming Renesmee, Meyer said this:

"Well, I couldn't call her Jennifer or Ashley. What do you name the most unique baby in the world? I looked through a lot of baby name websites. Eventually I realized that there was no human name that was going to work for me, so I surrendered to necessity and made up my own. I don't approve of such shenanigans in real life, I don't even believe in getting creative with spellings for real kids! But this was fantasy, and no human name fit, so I did the best I could."

ZeldaQueen: Right. Anyway, Edward drops another bombshell - the baby already loves Bella. This really puts Jacob out in the cold and he starts to spaz out. Edward notices and tosses him a set of keys for a joyride to unwind.

---

ZeldaQueen: Ah well, at least something happened here. And only two chapters left until this section is done. *crosses fingers*

Onward to: Chapter 17: What Do I Look Like? The Wizard Of Oz? You Need a Brain? You Need A Heart? Go Ahead. Take Mine. Take Everything I Have.

Back to: Chapter 15: You Know Things Are Bad When You Feel Guilty For Being Rude To Vampires

Return to: Table of Contents

Comments

[darkslover.livejournal.com]

Only two chapters and they are the worst. Jacob as a child predator and the imprint on Renesfail. Hip-hip hooray.

As monstrous as it sounds I was with Edward and Jacob that time. Just KILL the damn thing and close Bella in a clinic! Then, you both can go die in each other's arms after hot mansex...

... and to think I despise out-of-the-blue smut. HOW have these series done this to me...? :'(

It is a pity that the chapter where glimpses of the old Jacob appear, we get Meyer's transphobia... Yes, any woman who cannot be a baby machine is not woman enough, a freak of nature. Kiss me where I cannot reach, Meyer. Though, I would accept it, if Leah was pictured as a young woman who wanted children from the beginning and that dream was taken away from her. But now...

Even Leah has fallen victim to Meyer's sucky writing. Meyer has made her to admire and appreciate Jacob, because even if he's not Bella's chosen is still soooooo awesome that even a filthy bitch like Leah cannot help but surrender to his awesomeness.

And then she makes Jacob thinking kicking her out of the pack, because, hey, she IS a bitch. No chance for sympathy. Meyer wants Leah to be PATHETIC and she's managed the opposite. FAIL.

The message I get from here, is: "Free choice is too damn much work! It is dangerous, because falling in love requires *gasp* effort! Don't do that! Sit back and enjoy the soulmate thingy, you'll love her despite you wanted to KILL her at first and she will HAVE to love you back! So, don't struggle, surrender to your fate! It's safer!"

God, I HATE Belmeyer! Despite his asshole-ness Jacob was still the personification of free will and choice. Of course, he was an asshole exactly because he personified these things, since Meyer is so in love with the "soulmate" thingy. And then she comes and tells me she's pro-choice. BITCH.

I enjoyed the rage. Have strength, my friend!

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

"Only two chapters and they are the worst. Jacob as a child predator and the imprint on Renesfail. Hip-hip hooray."

And the God-awful birthing scene. >_<

"It is a pity that the chapter where glimpses of the old Jacob appear, we get Meyer's transphobia... Yes, any woman who cannot be a baby machine is not woman enough, a freak of nature. Kiss me where I cannot reach, Meyer. Though, I would accept it, if Leah was pictured as a young woman who wanted children from the beginning and that dream was taken away from her. But now..."

That's true. Or Meyer could have done it that Leah was freaked out that she was going through menopause at twenty, which could screw with the concept of how old she really is. Instead...yeah.

"ven Leah has fallen victim to Meyer's sucky writing. Meyer has made her to admire and appreciate Jacob, because even if he's not Bella's chosen is still soooooo awesome that even a filthy bitch like Leah cannot help but surrender to his awesomeness."

That's the worst. No Leah, Jacob has NOT had it worse than you! Jacob, get over it!

"And then she makes Jacob thinking kicking her out of the pack, because, hey, she IS a bitch. No chance for sympathy. Meyer wants Leah to be PATHETIC and she's managed the opposite. FAIL."

And because Jacob's like Bella and just can't stand to have his flaws pointed out to him.

"The message I get from here, is: "Free choice is too damn much work! It is dangerous, because falling in love requires *gasp* effort! Don't do that! Sit back and enjoy the soulmate thingy, you'll love her despite you wanted to KILL her at first and she will HAVE to love you back! So, don't struggle, surrender to your fate! It's safer!""

Oh yeah, and we get more of that in the next chapter. Blah.

Thank you! And thanks for reading! :)

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/LEAH! DON'T SELL YOURSELF SHORT! YOU FREAKING WELL DESERVE FAR BETTER THAN ANY OF THIS!/

Noooo! What happened to your self-respect, Leah? Jacob hasn't been nice to you; he's only been throwing you scraps of decency. The fact that you've joined his pack and have tried to help him with his issues has shown that YOU have been nicer than HE has any right to expect, especially since he's been nothing but nasty to you and has had the nerve to taunt you about Sam, even though that was not your fault and he knows that it's a sore spot for you. Don't feed his ego!

/In the midst of all of this, Leah mildly comments that she sympathizes a little bit with Rosalie and Jacob gets all furious and implies that he'd attack her (Leah) if she had been within lunging distance./

Oh, yes, this Jacob is prime leader material. He views everything in black and white, flies into rages whenever his point of view has been challenged, and threatens his subordinates whenever they disagree with him. Yep, he's definitely the perfect guy to be Alpha. Meanwhile, Sun Tzu and Niccolo Machiavelli would run circles around him and spank him like the sniveling little brat he is.

/ZeldaQueen: MEYER YOU IDIOT! DO YOU HAVE THE SLIGHTEST IDEA WHAT YOU'RE IMPLYING IN THAT? THERE ARE WOMEN IN THE WORLD - HUMAN WOMEN - WHO HAVE MEDICAL PROBLEMS WHICH SCREW WITH THEIR MENSTRUAL CYCLE AND THEIR REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS AND LEAVE THEM UNABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN! THIS HAPPENS TO EVERY WOMAN WHO HAS EVER GONE THROUGH MENOPAUSE! AND YOU'RE SUGGESTING THAT THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH A WOMAN WHO HAS THESE PROBLEMS? YOU'RE SUGGESTING THAT THEY'RE SOMEHOW "WRONG" AND "NOT AS FEMALE"? WOULD YOU SAY THAT A MAN IS "NOT AS MALE" IF HE WERE IMPOTENT AND UNABLE TO FATHER CHILDREN? HMMMMMM? SHUT UP AND STOP PUTTING SUCH SEXIST AND BACKWARDS PROPAGANDA IN YOUR LITERATURE, THANK YOU AND DIE!!!! /

*applauds*

I'd also like to remind Meyer that there are indeed women in this world who may or may not be able to bear children, but who CHOOSE not have kids, anyway. Are they "less female" too? *snarls*

/GOOD FOR NOTHING ELSE?!? EXCUSE ME MEYER, BUT I BELIEVE THAT "HAVE BABIES" AND "BE A WOLF-GIRL" ARE NOT THE ONLY OPTIONS IN A WOMAN'S LIFE!/

And this is right after Leah has said that she wants to go to college and take up yoga. Unbelievable.

Leah, just because your tribe is horribly sexist and doesn't even consider the notion of adoption because they're only concerned with maintaining the bloodline doesn't mean that YOU have to share the same views! They have destroyed your life with their selfish, inhumane ways. You have every right to forgo their traditions which have caused you so much misery. And who says that Sam would not have imprinted on Emily if Leah were fertile? Quil imprinted on a TODDLER, for crying out loud. You CANNOT tell me that she was any more fertile than the hundreds of grown women out there!

/So Jacob starts angsting about how he doesn't want to be having this conversation - suck it boy, Leah put up with you whining about Bella/

You know what, just shut it, Jerkface. I have had it up to here with your heartless hypocrisy.

/As he runs off to get his clothes, he decides that he doesn't want Leah in the pack when this is over and will give an Alpha command to force her to return to Sam./

Didn't I just tell you to shut up?! Oh, yes, you're so much nicer than Leah has any right to expect, so nice that you want to send her back to the very same people who have been making her life miserable just because you can't deal with hearing about HER problems! No, it's got to be all about YOU, about YOUR pain! Other people have problems, too! It's a fact of life! Get over it, you selfish, worthless Bella-wannabe!

/Because it's such good form to name your child after a guy you strung along/the dude who had romantic feelings for allegedly./

And this is just the slimy icing on the rotten cake. Oh, yes, Bella. Of COURSE your baby should be a boy. *rolls eyes* And yes, I'm sure that the fact that your hypothetical son being named after two guys who hate each other and constantly compete for your affections wouldn't cause ANY kind of resentment or rift between the four of you. What a selfish, thoughtless, STUPID hag.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

"Noooo! What happened to your self-respect, Leah? Jacob hasn't been nice to you; he's only been throwing you scraps of decency. The fact that you've joined his pack and have tried to help him with his issues has shown that YOU have been nicer than HE has any right to expect, especially since he's been nothing but nasty to you and has had the nerve to taunt you about Sam, even though that was not your fault and he knows that it's a sore spot for you. Don't feed his ego!"

Unfortunately, Leah has begun to turn into a Reformed Scary Sue. It sucks.

"I'd also like to remind Meyer that there are indeed women in this world who may or may not be able to bear children, but who CHOOSE not have kids, anyway. Are they "less female" too? *snarls*"

Ohhh very good point there!

"Oh, yes, you're so much nicer than Leah has any right to expect, so nice that you want to send her back to the very same people who have been making her life miserable just because you can't deal with hearing about HER problems! No, it's got to be all about YOU, about YOUR pain! Other people have problems, too! It's a fact of life! Get over it, you selfish, worthless Bella-wannabe!"

There's something very backwards about what Meyer thinks a "good" person is...

"And this is just the slimy icing on the rotten cake. Oh, yes, Bella. Of COURSE your baby should be a boy. *rolls eyes* And yes, I'm sure that the fact that your hypothetical son being named after two guys who hate each other and constantly compete for your affections wouldn't cause ANY kind of resentment or rift between the four of you. What a selfish, thoughtless, STUPID hag."

Especially after that junk in Bella's section, when she goes on about how she hopes the baby looks exactly like Edward and not at all like her. WTF!?!?

And yeah, so nice of her to throw some salt in those wounds.

[southerngaelic.livejournal.com]

Goddamnit.

GODDAMNIT.

GODDAMNIT ALL TO HELL!

BITCH, YOU DARE. MEYER, YOU FUCKING DARE. GET FUCKED UP THE ARSE BY A BALROG, BITCH.

*seethes with FURY*

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Well said! *plays Taps on a trumpet for Leah, who has gone to Scary Sue Redemption*

[southerngaelic.livejournal.com]

Leah, we hardly knew thee ;-;

GET BENT, MEYER. THERE ARE PLENTY OF WOMEN WHO DON'T WANT BABIES. OR ARE THEY AS FREAKISH AS THE WOMEN WHO CAN'T?

FUCK YOU VERY MUCH WITH A LIT STICK OF TNT.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

"FUCK YOU VERY MUCH WITH A LIT STICK OF TNT."

XD That imagery made my afternoon.

I mean seriously Meyer, would it have killed you to have a strong, independant character who WASN'T shrewis and bitter for being unable to have children?

[kawaiicow.livejournal.com]

I have little else to say other than "I HATE YOU MEYER" and that's about as sensible as I can get right now. This woman is a bitch for using Leah as a mouthpiece, but I still love the girl. Why isn't there a book about her?

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Meyer did say that if she did any sort of follow-up books to this series, it would be written from either Renesmee's or Leah's POV. I really wouldn't trust Meyer to write a book about Leah though. Look at what happened when she did Jacob. =_=

[madamchaos.livejournal.com]

One of the ludicrous, standout things that I absolutely cannot stand about this series -- among a grand range of things that make me RAEG! -- is Meyer's take on women that don't have babies.

Rosalie? Bitter about not being able to make babies.
Leah? Bitter about not being able to make babies.
Esme? Suicidal because her baby died; possibly bitter or jealous about not being able to make more babies.
Bella? Raised on a pedestal because she made a baby. This is something most women do normally, but she's even more special because she one of the only monster-women to have a baby. And everybody is jealous about it.

Look, Meyer. Me? I have literally no interest in hitching with somebody and having babies. Does this make me less of a woman because I don't want anything to do with reproduction? Am I less of a woman because I don't want a baby? Am I less of a woman because I don't want a big strong man that I can cling to? Why do you seem to feel that we as women can only be completed by having a man and then having a baby? I got my own dreams; none of them involve men or babies.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

I agree! It just goes really far.

Like, I could understand Esme's case. Her baby was actually born and died. But then with Rosalie and Leah, all of their bitterness and anger is implied to stem from the idea that they are unable to have children. It's like not being able to have children makes you angry all of the time.

And you're right, Meyer basically neutered two mythical species to make Bella seem more special. The male vampires and werewolves can father children, but the women can't. What's up with that? It's stupid and has some rather nasty implications.

And well said! I'm not sure yet if I'll ever have children or not, but I know that not having any will not make me a shrewish harpy who hates the world.

[chibi-regalli.livejournal.com]

Rosalie, at least, explicitly stated she always wanted a child. So that one DOES make sense.

Leah? Only if you think her thought process is something like "I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted kids in the first place, but dammit, I don't want that option taken from me against my will!"

That said, I can think of plenty of good reasons for a female werewolf's period to temporarily stop while she's phasing. After all, the threat's SUPPOSED to be temporary, and imagine what would happen if a woman got pregnant and phased soon after. Who knows what havoc that'd wreak on a fetus that early?

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know about Rosalie. It's just unfortunate implications and all. And like you said about Leah, it's never determined if she would get back the ability to have kids if she stopped shapeshifting. No one ever really brings that up, and her angsting about it only happens when she talks about how she's not a "complete" woman for it.

[lurkythespork.livejournal.com]

More extreme sects of LDS put a huge premium on a woman's ability to procreate; apparently, her afterlife is spent--assuming her husband decides she is worthy of it--doing absolutely nothing but producing babies to populate her husband's own personal world.

Those two tidbits, now that I think of it, explain quite a lot about Meyer's attitudes as expressed in these books. I'd be curious to know exactly what form of Mormonism she follows...

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, figures. I've heard (though I honestly don't know if it's true) that Utah Mormons are more hardcore, and Meyer did go to college in Salt Lake City.

Actually, it makes a lot of sense now. Bella isn't turned all perfect and Mormon until she has a baby and proves her worth. And she wants her husband to do it - to decide she's worthy.

[lurkythespork.livejournal.com]

And correct me if I'm mistaken, but aren't all the "good" vamps created by men, and all the ones created by women "bad"?

I may have to count 'em up...

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

Hmm, let's see.

All of the Perfect, Pristine Cullens - made by Carlisle

The Denali sisters are supposed to be good and were made by a woman, but she also made that stupid "immortal child", which got her ass fried and nearly got her daughters killed.

Maria the Hispanic Vampire made her army newborns to do her dirty work, as did Victoria the Cheap Knock-off

That Latino vampire chick whose sister had the half-human baby was turned into a vampire by said baby boy.

Yep, you're right. The track record isn't looking very good at all.

[often-partisan.livejournal.com]

"Bella gets all emotional and maternal at this and refers to it as "EJ"."

I thought it was going to be Edward Junior when she said that that would have at least been a bit more sensible...

[mibamonster.livejournal.com]

'Or had she become a werewolf because her body was wrong? The only female werewolf in the history of forever. Was that because she wasn't as female as she should be?"'
Oh, Meyer, how do you always know what to say to piss me off?

'As he runs off to get his clothes, he decides that he doesn't want Leah in the pack when this is over and will give an Alpha command to force her to return to Sam.'
MEYER YOU WHORE! How is this the male semi-protagonist? He is such. an. Arse. Imagine he is your boyfriend. 'You're hurt? Shit. Please go away, I have no time for this. You're annoying. Stop whining.' STOP IT MEYER!
As for the unique name: There are PLENTY of non-made-up-names that could actually have a meaning for this book. Dive into literature, vampire literature, love, whatever. Name her after another dhampyr (AND YES THEY EXIST FOR FUCK'S SAKE! DON'T YOU WATCH ANGEL?!) or, God, I don't know, 'Elizabeth', after your 'favourite literary heroine', or GOD!
Unique. Names. Aren't. Funny.

[(Anonymous)]

O.O Dear god... the amount of logic bombs in this chapter is astonding. (also note: I am not knowledgable about the Twilight verse, so I'm sorry if I missed some things.)

I admit I know very, very, very little about anything medical, I'm partially sure Bella would be dead by now. Not just from the baby's rapid growth, but the fact that she keeps breaking bones! Seriously! I'm not normally for abortion but my god Bella's life is in danger!! Do something instead of just standing around you idoits!

Also, I have no clue the youngest a gal can go through menopause, but what how old is Leah again? Nineteen? Twenty? That is wayyyy young! Unless it's some sort of weird werewolf rapid-agind thing… but wait, if no other werewolf woman went through menopause after becoming werewolfs… and assuming they age normally… then how can there NOT have been a werewolf woman who went through menopause?! Or am I missing something and werewolves in this don't age normally and yet… this still makes no sense!

And I agree with your point about Meyer's weirdly mygonistic view on her own gender. (And hell, I want to get married, have a family too! But I also want to write and have a career, damnit!) Sometimes I wonder if she has some sort of envy of women who actually have children. (Assuming she's unmarried and/or childless… I'm really not sure.)

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

I think most people agreed that Bella should have aborted the baby. Or heck, I don't know if you've read das_mervin's more recent sporking of this book, but she points out how Bella ought to be far enough in the pregnancy where an emergency C-section should be administered. For some reason, even though Bella's health and life are suffering and she sees far enough along that the baby could survive outside of the womb, everyone insists on waiting for the equivalent of nine months.

From what I've seen, menopause occurring before 40 is considered early and the ways it happens are either related to medical practices (chemotherapy and the like) or things like genetic makeup or an autoimmune disease. There's no mention of Leah having any of that.

As far as we ever see, Leah is the only female werewolf EVER. Thus, it's supposed to be ambiguous if her whole menopause thing is what would happen to all other female werewolves or if it's just her. Given how it's been going though, Meyer probably would have handwaved it that being a werewolf makes the reproduction system for women temporarily shut down since the act of shapeshifting runs the risk of harming the fetus. Which, if that were the case, makes one wonder why Leah never thinks that she can just give up shapeshifting and get her periods back.

Meyer's views are...weird. Mervin again goes into it a little more carefully in her sporking, but it seems less like she hates all women and more like she wants to glorify her self-insert. Meyer does have several kids of her own, and... well, again, I recommend Mervin's sporkings of quotes directly from Meyer to get an idea of what goes on THERE.

[torako-tiger.livejournal.com]

the entire reason bella didn't have an abortion was because she didn't WANT one and asked rosalie to help her protect the baby (i say baby because "protect the fetus" sounds weird to me). edward and jacob consider forcing an abortion on her, but they decide against it mostly because rosalie, esme, emmett, and carlisle are protecting her at this point... not to mention that that's completely fucked up, but that is apparently not relevant.

there are no other werewolf women, but the wolves in general rapidly age to somewhere in their early 20s and then stop aging until they don't phase for a large amount of time, at which point they begin aging normally again. so really, that's an argument for leah NOT being menopausal, since for all anyone knows, her cycle might start again when she stops phasing.

and... yeah, i hate to bring up people's religions, but keeping in mind that meyer is mormon really does explain a LOT.

[zelda-queen.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you read Mervin's BD sporking yet, but she actually did a very nice discussion on how strange the abortion issue is, particularly how it really never fits in with the usual arguments (namely, Bella just wants THIS kid in particular and never shows any opinions on abortion in general).

Meyer never does answer any of those questions about Leah. That Leah herself thinks it's the reason and never considers otherwise is kind of... eh. :/

Weirdly, as folks have noted, Mormonism really doesn't even explain the whole "Bella won't abort" thing, since Mormonism DOES allow abortion in cases where the mother's life is in danger (the idea being that if the mother dies, the baby probably will as well). Mervin noted that Meyer just seemed to want to show Bella as the Ultimate Mother Figure.

[torako-tiger.livejournal.com]

yeah, i read mervin's sporking before this one, actually. i used to be a twilight fan (i don't know whyyy) and i have a weirdly good memory for canon (for a few universes, as you may have noticed from some of my other comments..) so yeah, i know that the questions about leah are never answered. i guess i was just noting the facts, not that meyer really cares about those.

sorry, i should have been more clear, i wasn't referring to the abortion thing when i was talking about mormonism, i was talking about the weird glorification of motherhood without bella actually being interested in her kid. XP