Twilight Book Discussion: Scary Stories
TODAY, IN CLASS, I WROTE “MRS ROBERT PATTINSON” ON MY LEFT HAND. 
I ended the last “N” in his surname with a very high stroke upwards, and because I was using a brown pen, I decided to add in branches and draw a green patch around it. Random little thing I decided to share with you guys.
So, I profusely apologize for the absence of punctuality for this new book discussion entry. I was tied down recently with so much new commitments at school. >:[ I don’t like it! But, oh well. Anyway it’s Saturday and I’m here, already, so let’s move on to Chapter 6: Scary Stories! Hi there Jacob.
“They didn’t hunt the way others of their kind did – they weren’t supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. So my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they would promise to stay off our lands, we wouldn’t expose them to the pale-faces.” He winked at me.
“If they weren’t dangerous, then why…?” I tried to understand, struggling not to let him see how seriously I was considering his ghost story.
“There’s always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones, even if they’re civilized like this clan was. You never know when they might get too hungry to resist.” He deliberately worked a tick edge of menace into his tone.
“What do you mean, ‘civilized’?”
“They claimed that they didn’t hunt humans. They supposedly were somehow able to prey on animals instead.”
I tried to keep my voice casual. “So how does it fit in with the Cullens? Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?”
“No.” He paused dramatically. “They are the same ones.”
He must have thought the expression on my face was fear inspired by his story. He smiled, pleased, and continued.
“There are more of them now, a new female and a new male, but the rest are the same. In my great-grandfather’s time they already knew of the leader, Carlisle. He’d been here and gone before your people had even arrived.” He was fighting a smile.
“And what are they?” I finally asked. “What are the cold ones?”
He smiled darkly.
I have no idea if I should continue and end the excerpt the way you guys are probably wanting it to, but if you do want me to add in the ending just for the sake of the drama, go ahead and tell me all right. If not, I’ll just begin with the questions!
Q1: Lauren was mean to Bella, but only because Tyler was planning to ask Bella to prom. With this main point and other clues you can find, discuss Lauren’s personality.
Q2: Although Lauren and most other girls had already decided to stay on the beach, why do you think Bella wanted to wait till Tyler and Eric had committed to staying before she got up to join the pro-hiking group?
Q3: When Jacob asked whether Bella knew where he could get a master cylinder for his car, why do you think that Bella didn’t tell him immediately that she didn’t know what it was?
Q4: Jacob: So, is Forks driving you insane yet?
Bella: Oh, I’d say that’s an understatement.
Following that, Bella noted that Jacob “grinned understandingly”. Do you think that the word “understandingly” in this case was being used in the case of Bella’s opinion, or as a factual case?
Q5: “He must have thought the expression on my face was fear inspired by his story.” We all know it wasn’t – but what was Bella afraid of, then?
Q6: “It was nice to see you again.” How do you think Mike felt in response to that statement by Jacob at that moment?
Also, from this onwards, I’ll now officially reply to the book discussion myself too! Try to write your own opinion first before looking at mine and then arguing with me, okay? Happy discussing!
Q1: Lauren was mean to Bella, but only because Tyler was planning to ask Bella to prom.
To be honest, I feel that that is the only logical reason I can accept for Lauren’s hostile behaviour towards Bella. However, I’m quite sure that Stephenie meant for Lauren to be a typical bubblegum-blowing high school mean queen, minus the cheerleader factor, so her malice towards Bella was pretty much uncalled for. Unlike Jessica, Lauren was jealous of Bella’s popularity in school just because she was new.
For example, Lauren sneered at Bella for having talked to Edward, and that was actually pretty wrong, since it was obvious that Bella was Mike’s friend and this goes to show that she didn’t respect Mike’s choice of social circle. Therefore, her selfishness is solely personal.
Q2: I think it wasn’t that she’d wanted to wait to see whether Tyler and Eric wanted to stay, or not. I mean, if Lauren was staying I think one way or another Bella would still go hiking. Bella wanted to just know whether Tyler and Eric were going or not, but since they decided to stay, she had no more reason left to be at the beach anymore.
Q3: In my personal opinion I think it was actually more of that Bella just couldn’t be bothered to tell Jacob she didn’t know. She felt so comfortable and easygoing with him that she just simply said that she’ll keep an eye out for him for a master cylinder. She went with the flow of the conversation because she felt very at ease.
Q4: Bella probably meant it factually. At that moment, Bella’s source of craziness was trying to uncover Edward’s true identity, but Jacob’s grin was implying only that he empathized with Bella’s situation of having to switch from sunny Phoenix to rainy Forks, that’s all. And Bella knew it.
Okay, I have to run. I’ll answer the rest when I return!
January 31, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Awww, nobody responded D: Haha, I’ll do mine now
Q1. Lauren was probably jealous of the fact that even though she had been in the school longer, Bella, who was new, was the main attraction of the school.
Q2: It could’ve been because she knew they liked her, and if she had stayed at the beach, they probably would’ve clung onto her and kept talking to her. If Tyler had done that, Lauren would probably have gotten more angry with Bella. Sigh, Selfless Bella.
Q3. Maybe it was because she knew that Jacob was joking, and decided to return the favour.LOL.
I’ll answer the rest later! xD
Bessy, you must be excelling in Literature.
February 2, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Q1:
Lauren is the classic high school queen bee of popularity, or she wants to be, or she tries to be. She is jealous, vain, mean and crazily vicious, therefore inviting all readers to hate her with a combined passion. She revels in taunting other people. She enjoys sneering at Bella and I think Angela as well.
I do think that Lauren was mean to Bella because Tyler was planning to ask Bella to prom, but I don’t think that’s the absolute one reason. Pre-Bella, Lauren probably commanded the attention of almost everyone in their social group. Jessica (I think) is hinted at being a close associate of hers. When Bella arrives, suddenly all the attention swings to the new girl. The loss of attention from her clique and of course the males (especially dear Tyler) probably enraged her.
Jessica turns not to the queen of buzz but to Bella. The conversation is centred around Bella. The guys all want Bella. It’s all about Bella. And, as the final straw, TYLER wants to ask Bella to prom. Therefore, Lauren, tired of the Bella-ness of everyone’s thoughts, turns on the one source of her pique. Which is our female protagonist. Hence, she sneers and jeers at Bella’s actions, trying to regain a sense of control over the Bella-ness (I am amused by this word) of the situation. She probably wanted to show that she was Alpha Female, but I think that the bulk of it was that the wonderful Lauren just wanted to make Bella’s life completely miserable. Revenge!
Q2:
By then, Bella would have been utterly fed up with the constant attention fostered onto her by Tyler and Eric. She would also have been painfully aware that Lauren hated her like a crazy witch – if not, she would have been obscenely obtuse. Therefore, waiting for that commitment to stay at the beach was a relief for Bella. She wouldn’t have to face another draining episode of Let’s Impress Bella and also face the insane wrath of Lauren, who would probably pinch her to death or something. Seriously, it was a lose-lose situation. She wanted to make sure that she had some private space of her own as well as make certain that Lauren would be temporarily happy with Tyler by her side.
Q3:
She was enjoying his company, and didn’t want to spoil the flow of conversation. It would have been slightly awkward if she had burst out her ignorance of car parts (which is something I am afflicted with, un-sadly) and that whole friendly peaceful vibe would have been disrupted.
She also wanted to get to the main point of the conversation: the Cullens and the Quileutes. If she had said that she had no blinking idea what a master cylinder was, it would have sparked a frenzy of explanations that would just confuse her further and lead her nowhere near the Cullens and the Quileutes. By saying that she’d keep a look out for one, she was cutting short the topic of cars and steering the conversation to the topic that she wanted to discuss about.
Q4:
If we take it as it was being used in the case of Bella’s opinion, I tend to think that it shows how close Bella felt to Jacob, as if he understood her emotions perfectly. This may actually subtly highlight a change in their relationship from mere friends to something deeper – I may be reading too much into it, but who cares. It might hint at Bella’s underlying feelings for Jacob which fully manifested in New Moon and Eclipse later on. Of course, it can be said that “understandingly” was simply used to show how Bella thought Jacob truly knew what she was feeling and showed how much they were friends. (At this point in time, if my answers seem weird, it is because I am semi-comatose.)
If we take it as it was being used as a factual case, in that nothing else was meant by it, it is simply literal. Jacob understands that the moving from Phoenix to Forks is a challenging one. And I’d have to agree that Bella was thinking along the lines of the Cullens rather than the move when she said that it was “an understatement”.
Q5:
Afraid that what Jacob was telling her about the Cullens were true? I’d guess that she was trying to reconcile the Cullens with the idea of horrible blood-sucking beasts and part of her refused to acknowledged the possibility. Part of her also knew that it was true, hence her expression after Jacob said that the Cullens were the same ones – Edward had had the manners of an age gone by, after all.
Q6:
Mike may have felt strangely belittled by that statement. Jacob hadn’t spent that much time (as compared to Mike) with Bella and yet he can talk like that – almost claiming Bella actually. His tone emphasises the closeness he felt with Bella and Mike most probably felt irritated and jealous by it.
Trivia: This was answered by me over a period of three days!
February 3, 2009 at 8:33 pm