The Realm of Literacy

ZeldaQueen: Sweet! Anything has to be better than the boring dreck I’ve been getting.

ZeldaQueen: Like the entirety of the characters in this series. They’re really unwelcome in my life.

Okay, for those of you joining us, Jacob’s still angsting, Bella is still pregnant and dying, and Edward still won’t shut up about it. Jacob and Seth have formed a pack of their own to protect the Cullens from a wolf attack - yeah, I know - and I’m sure it would all be really interesting if something ever actually came of it.

Well, right off the bat this chapter seems determined to push my buttons: Leah shows up. Now normally I’d be pleased as punch since Leah’s one of my favorite characters and easily the most sensible one of the bunch, except that she is also Meyer’s female character punching bag, which means that we get ridiculous double standard bull spewed whenever she’s around.

And sure enough, she shows up and both of the wolves instantly start whining. Seth included. “Oh, man! Go away, Leah! Seth groaned.” *snarls* Dang it Seth, that is your sister! Your sister who has been looking out for you and probably showed up in the first place to make sure you were safe! And you tell her to go away? Augh!!!

Anyway, Leah announces that she’s joining up with Jake’s crew and he orders her to leave before he “[Rips] out one of [her] hamstrings” And yes, I know he also ordered Seth to leave him alone, but he never threatened the kid with bodily harm or was so insistent. What’s the matter Jacob? Do you need a “Y” chromosome for membership to your little club?

Jacob sends Seth off to tell the Cullens about the arrival of Leah. “Seth, go let the Cullens know that it's just your stupid sister–I thought the words as harshly as possible. I'll deal with this."

I just…*withers and dies and rises from the grave* Gah, worms. Best get through this before I have an outburst. Leah insists that she’s not going anywhere, since she hates the Cullens and refuses to let Seth hang around them unprotected. Jacob doesn’t warm up too kindly to this idea. Dude! You spent most of this section being suspicious and angry towards the Cullens and were making elaborate plans to kill them all. You spent most of the series certain that Edward was going to be nomming on Bella! Do not knock on Leah for wanting to keep an eye on her little brother while he’s around the vampires! Or is it only alright to hate and distrust vampires when it concerns your loved ones? HMMM?

Jerk.

And we get several more lovely lines from Jake, who seems determined to make me furious. He tells Leah “I'm pretty sure [Seth’d] rather they took him out than spend another minute with you” and “Seth doesn't want or need your protection. In fact, no one wants you here”.

First, Jacob? Don’t speak for someone who isn’t here. Although since family ties seem to mean squat in this screwed-up universe, he’s probably right and Seth would be happy to see his sister gone. Second, Leah? Don’t listen to him. I want you here and I’m sure most of the viewers agree.

And here we have an example of Leah being fantastic. She simply shrugs off the insults and snarks right back at Jake. Let us compare this to Miss Bella “He’s So Mean To Me, It’s Not Fair” Swan.

Leah points out that she needs to be in some sort of a pack and doesn’t want to leave Seth. He gets all annoyed and asks “What’s with you Clearwaters?” and then feels bad that he offended Seth. And then - oh Mother of God…

You haven't made too much a nuisance of yourself, kid, but if you and Leah are a package deal–if the only way to get rid of her is for you to go home.… Well, can you blame me for wanting you gone?

Ugh, Leah, you ruin everything!

Yeah, I know, she told him, and the thought was loaded with the heaviness of her despair. I felt the pain in the three little words, and it was more than I would've guessed. I didn't want to feel that. I didn't want to feel bad for her. Sure, the pack was rough on her, but she brought it all on herself with the bitterness that tainted her every thought and made being in her head a nightmare.

ZeldaQueen: Yes Jacob. Leah brought all of her misery on herself. It was her fault that Sam left her and imprinted on Emily. It was her fault that she turned into a werewolf. It was her fault that she was forced to mind-link with Sam and continually listen to him thinking romantic thoughts about her cousin and hear the rest of the pack think about how much they hate her. It’s all her fault that she’s a weak, pathetic female.

Folks I…I really can’t think of something good enough to scream at that. It’s just nasty and idiotic and a terrible double standard. Everyone walks around on eggshells when Jake is being mopey and miserable over Bella who never even loved him in the first place, but Leah is treated like a wuss for daring to still be in love with Sam and being miserable about it.

And Seth, for God’s sake she’s your sister. She’s been looking out for you and she’s your only family besides your mom, who you apparently have dumped like a hot potato. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? Are you so desperate to join in the boy’s club that you’re going to bash your own sister who obviously cares about you? And no, I refuse to believe that it’s just sibling rivalry or something. My brother and I fight like cats and dogs, but he’d tell off his friends if they insulted me to my face. But again, family apparently means absolutely nothing. Every single significant interaction is based solely on romance. And Meyer expects us to believe that her books are clever for dealing with different kinds of love. Meyer, I do not believe that. It is not true. JK Rowling dealt with different kinds of love. She had the characters worry about their parents and stand up for their siblings and fight for their friends. All interaction wasn’t based on who they wanted to bang. That is different kinds of love. To sum this all up?

ZeldaQueen: Right. Well, we then find out there’s a second reason for Leah joining up with Jake.

ZeldaQueen: Once again Meyer, were we not supposed to like Leah? Because if that’s the case, you screwed up royally. Her reaction to losing her True Love is a thousand times healthier and more useful than any Bella has had. Leah has lost Sam and knows that he’s not coming back. She’s constantly being hurt while linked to his head. And when she’s offered the opportunity to walk away from all of that pain, she takes it. She says goodbye to Sam more or less and moves on in her life. She doesn’t hang around and continue to stare at him and listen to his voice just to cling to him that much more.

Once more, let’s compare to Bella, especially how she acted in New Moon. So far as she knows, the Cullens are gone forever and Edward doesn’t love her anymore (we all know it’s not true, but she’s an idiot and thinks it’s true) She goes catatonic for several months. During this time, her father decides to send her to Florida which probably was a wise move since everything in Forks was a painful reminder of Edward. What does she do? She pitches a fit and stays behind, even though every single thing she sees makes her break down. Because she’s pathetically clinging to the hope that Edward would show up. And yes he does, but there’s no evidence that he will at the time. It’s not like he went off on a trip and would come back when he was able, he told her he was leaving forever. Bella then spends the rest of the book engaging in dangerous activities to hear Edward’s voice, only after she gets used to the idea that he’s never coming back. In other words, she basically goes on a masochistic emotional train wreck over a guy who, so far as she knew, was out of her life forever. No effort to move on, no effort to get over it.

Meyer, I don’t care what you consider to be “romantic”. Leah’s reaction is healthier and sets a far better example for people who lost loved ones.

ZeldaQueen: Jacob is still disgusted with Leah’s behavior (OH, HE’S GOT ROOM TO TALK!) but asks her what happened after he left. She tells him that everyone basically freaked out and decided to form a new plan. It was about this point when she began considering bailing ship and managed to slip off under the guise of telling her mom all that happened. And Seth freaks out at the idea of Leah telling their mother everything. *rubs head* Yes Seth, it would have been out of line for her to tell your mother about all of this. It’s not like her husband died recently and you two seem to be all of the family she has left and you’re pretty young and she’d surely be worried when you didn’t show up. For cripes sake, what is it in this series with characters not wanting to tell their parents about dangerous stuff?

Well anyway, Jake orders Leah to take a nap even though they’ve had the same amount of sleep (GOD!!!) and she opts to go on some rounds before crashing.

Leah and Seth run off and Carlisle comes out to thank Jake for helping out his family. Jacob asks why Carlisle is letting Bella die for the baby if she is already a “beloved daughter” to him and he explains that he cannot ignore her choices. THANK YOU! Bella’s still on the emergency vampiring plan and it turns out that the fetus is not “compatible” with her body, rejecting all forms of nutrition and not letting her absorb anything from an intravenous tube. Um…viewers? I’m not too knowledgeable about how nutrition and fetuses work, but am I the only one who thinks that sounds like a load of pseudoscientific bull?

Speaking of which, we also get some random info about how vampires have twenty five chromosomes while humans only have twenty three. *blinks* Um Meyer? Please stop trying to apply science to your story. Because while it technically is possible for interspecies breeding with larger chromosomal differences, the male has to have the smaller number. Seriously, look it
up. Edward apparently has twenty five chromosomes to Bella’s twenty three.

ZeldaQueen: And also apparently the wolves have twenty four chromosomes. I don’t care, I don’t think anything really comes of all of this. Oh yeah, and during this entire conversation, Jake thinks about how the fetus is a monster who wants to eat Bella’s blood to survive. Edward overhears this and has a fantastic idea - perhaps the fetus is thirsty and that’s what it needs! Blood!

Woah, woah, woah! Hold up! Like I said, I’m not the most knowledgeable person about the biology of pregnancy. As far as I know though, the fetus doesn’t get the food directly. Instead, the mother eats the food, the food is digested normally, and the nutrients flow through the bloodstream and into the fetus. Now it’s possible that the half-vampire fetus would reject human nutrition, fine. But even if Bella drank blood, shouldn’t it only get the nutrients and not the blood itself? Is it that the fetus needs to absorb a lot of iron or some nutrients found in blood? If that’s the case, then shouldn’t eating hamburger meat or something similar work? Augh!

So they pitch the idea to Bella, who’s willing to give it a try. Oh, and apparently the fetus is craving human blood and not animal blood. Why? Is there a difference between the two kinds? Like I said, isn’t it just the nutrients that get to the fetus? And Carlisle says that they’ve got some human blood stored away in preparation for Bella being vampired up.

??????????????

Isn’t the entire point of the Cullens family that they don’t drink human blood? Why would they set aside human blood for Bella to drink? Wouldn’t they want to start her on animal blood as soon as possible? And where did this human blood come from? No matter where, someone had to give it up. Did Carlisle take it from the hospital? If so, that’s nice to find out where our transfusions are going!

Right. Well, the chapter’s over and I’m grumpy and can think of only one thing to say.

ZeldaQueen: Shall things be picking up? We’ll just have to wait and find out. I suspect the answer is “no”, however.