The post in which I talk about Twilight

Twilight. The book. Not the thing that happens before it gets dark.

Yes, I read it. Shocking. We have a "Teacher's Library Time" at school and teachers are required to read in the library for one 30 minute period a week. Apparently most teachers don't read unless required. Weird, but anyway. The head librarian always gives the rules and guidelines for TLT. It changes every year. The first year I was here, we had to read 3 from assigned categories. We had to make a book review for one of the books. The second year we had to do the same thing but we only had to read 2. We also have book buddies as incentives because if we both finish within a certain time period, we get a prize. This year we were given about 5 categories to choose from and instead of a book report, we had to answer some reflection questions (to cut down on "accidental" plagiarism apparently). The librarian challenged the teachers to read something different this year and mentioned Twilight as an example. A number of my kids have read that book and I generally try to keep up on what they read so I can argue and discuss intelligently with the kids when we talk about reading. I took the challenge and read Twilight. I looked up the other 3 books on Wikipedia because I didn't feel the need to waste any more of my time or lower my IQ anymore. Anyway, here are the reflection questions and my answers (except for #2 because the question was weird).They are personal opinion based only, so don't jump on me if I didn't examine it with any intelligent literary depth (but it's Twilight anyway...what depth?).

**Revised version**

The Bible says that we should fill our minds with things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Take a look at the Young Adult shelf in any bookstore. The covers alone usually don't present anything that looks remotely pure, admirable or excellent to name a few. I am an English teacher and most definitely a bibliophile. I love books. My chief entertainment growing up has been books. I acted out the books I read too. As a teacher, I am also very interested in the lives of my students and one such interest is in the books they read. I stayed away from Twilight for a while just because I knew it would be a cheesy, sappy love story, but I was challenged by a teacher to read it. So many kids -- even 11 year olds -- read these books! These are a far cry from the books I read as a child. So without further ado, what do I think of Twilight?

Did I enjoy the book? I found the writing cheap and the story frivolous and shallow, but “enjoyable” in the sense that I was not bored to tears. It is written in a way that really doesn’t involve a lot of mental capacity, the vocabulary does not require a dictionary, and the adjectives and verbs are vivid enough to make the story easy to visualize. However, I did not enjoy it in the way I enjoy books that give me a mental workout and make me think and ponder over for days on end. After all, that's what good books should do. We shouldn't be mindless readers, or we end up merely amused, or "not thinking".

The plot was pretty basic. I got to page 300 and realized that it could have been summed up in one sentence: Edward and Bella were obsessed with each other. Up until page 300-something, it was just about how obsessed they were with each other. I can’t tell you how many times the author thought it was necessary to mention him stroking her face or jaw.

The plot was very description-centered. The author knew how to keep you interested by making Edward give pieces of information about vampires slowly. Between the descriptions of their obsession (and how many times Bella nearly faints or has heart-stopping moments), the vampire history keeps the reader interested. The story really only started moving somewhere when another vampire, James, came into the scene and started hunting Bella. Then the story became very action-packed with the Cullen family trying to throw off the tracker vampire as well as protect those Bella loved. There was no time to insert the slow-motion, twitterpated moments that are in abundance in the beginning of the book.

As an aside, I found it very interesting that the story was so far removed from romance books from at almost a hundred years ago. The values of the day are evidenced in the book. After finishing Twilight, I had to recover, so I read Anne’s House of Dreams again. I realized that the romance in the Anne books does not have to revolve around how much the  characters touch each other. The author does not go into great length drawing out their physical contact and heart palpitations. Instead, the romance is bound up in theircommunication with each other. What they say to each other is where the romance lies. But now, words are cheap. They have lost the value that they used to have. Instead, contemporary authors go into great lengths to describe what the characters do with each other but cheapen the words that they say to each other. In my opinion, sparkling vampires cannot compare to Gilbert Blythe. Remember, books shape us. Like it or not, they form our thinking about life and ideas, including romance. What kind of men do these authors want young girls to look for? Cheap men who just look good on the inside and can't control their selfish desires? Or men who pursue constantly and faithfully like Giilbert?

The book’s main theme, in my opinion, is that in the end, nothing really matters as long as you love the person. And after all, isn’t that the message today? Gay marriage shouldn’t be judged because after all, it’s love? If you do it in the name of love, then how can you stop or it really say it’s wrong? Ridiculous. Love is seeking the highest good of its object, even at cost to self.

The very first page of the book quotes Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” I wondered why that verse was quoted, but as the story progressed, I realized that it was really a picture of the fall. Eve fell into sin because she wanted the forbidden. Bella and Edward knew it was wrong, but they craved their forbidden love. They not only craved it; they were obsessed with it. Edward knew it was wrong for him to be with Bella. He even says so: “I wrestled all night, while watching you sleep, with the chasm between what I knew was right, moral, ethical, and what I wanted.” (p. 303) Isn’t that a very human struggle? When tempted, we know what is right, but we must fight against what our sinful nature wants. Edward’s typically depraved solution was to try to see how far he could go without killing her. Just like we often do, if but for the grace of God, he dulled his conscience by trying little doses of the forbidden. The more he did it, the easier it became to be with Bella. I appreciated that he struggled with the morality of it, but then he gave up. After all, he loved her, so, according to the message of the book, how could we not sympathize with him?

Bella, on the other hand, didn’t even try to curb her desires. She found him irresistible.  “About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him – and I didn’t know how potent that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.” (p. 195) She didn’t even care about losing her own life because all she could think of was being with him. Selfish obsession is an understatement. Her heart rate was forever speeding up or just stopping when he so much as touched her. It’s amazing she didn’t die from a heart attack before the author could finish the other three books!

In reading the book, I began thinking about how I treat my darling sins. Bella and Edward are a perfect picture of humanity at its most selfish, depraved state, wanting the forbidden and wanting to silence our consciences so we can enjoy our sin in peace. But sin is dangerous. The deeper Bella and Edward get involved with each other, the more dangerous things start to him. How I ought to be on my guard against the sinful desires of my heart! “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Do I recommend this book?

I would only recommend this book to a mature Christian adult can evaluate it through the lens of Scripture. As I said before, it’s a picture of the sinful heart of man and it’s a reminder of how we must constantly be on our guard against sin. As it says at the very end of John Bunyan’s The Holy War, “Remember, therefore, O my Mansoul, that thou art beloved of me. As I have, therefore, taught thee to watch, to fight, to pray, and to make war against my foes, so now I command thee to believe that my love is constant to thee. O my Mansoul, how I have set my heart, my love upon thee! Watch. Behold I lay none other burden upon thee than what thou hast already. Hold fast, till I come.”

I'm not saying that every book we read should have the gospel in it. I'm saying that we have to be careful. We should read to muse, not merly to amuse. And in all things, we should examine our choices of entertainment through the lens of Scripture.