Eclipse: Chapter 24 (Snap Decision)

No puedo evitarlo, siento auténtica debilidad/necesidad/compulsión de cubrir cualquier tema robsten, pero después, mi conciencia se resiente por: a)participar de alguna manera del acoso paparazzi y b)dejar de lado lo realmente twilight. Es la dicotomía robstenlover-twilighter.

Como de momento no hay ninguna noticia sobre new moon, ni he visto ningún vídeo en YouTube que me deje ojiplática, he recurrido a un valor seguro: twilightguy y sus entradas sobre los capítulos que ha ido leyendo.

Os pongo éste, que es de la etapa más delicada de Eclipse. No dejéis de visitar la página, Kaleb es genial.

Reading Eclipse: Chapter 24 (Snap Decision)

Anyhow, I had a feeling that Jacob was simply trying to manipulate Bella again in the previous chapter; it didn’t take Edward’s mind-reading and quick analysis to tell me that either. There’s desperation at work here. Jacob’s ready to do anything possible to convince Bella that he’s worth keeping: either as a lover or as a friend. I’m sure he prefers the former, but he would rather have one than neither. At least it gives him a certain amount of hope.

Edward is one of eternal patience: perhaps foolhardy, in that aspect. He just watched his girlfriend kiss another guy, who could very easily be his archenemy if not for her intervention. What even prompts him to remain so composed? I speak often of Bella hurting herself by keeping Jacob around, but one could very easily point to Edward: he keeps taking Bella back with no regard whatsoever to how she is treating him. Love is blind, they say. But perhaps Edward’s isn’t such a blind love, but rather he believes that it is his just punishment for leaving Bella:

“But…when I left you, Bella, I left you bleeding. Jacob was the one to stitch you back up again [...] I may gain forgiveness, but that doesn’t let me escape the consequences.”

People have written to me before, saying that this is the reason Edward allows Bella to spend so much time with Jacob, despite the fact that it must pain him to see them together. Edward blames himself for it, since Jacob was the one to pick Bella back up after Edward left in New Moon. And it is true — Edward was the one who left, and Jacob simply stepped in, expecting to finally have his chance now that Edward was gone. It might even be considered harsh for Edward to even think that he could leave Bella and then return, expecting for things to be mended back as they once were. But how long will his punishment continue? When will he come to accept that the wounds perhaps are healed, and he has paid his due?

For Bella, keeping Jacob is almost like leaving a cast on your arm long after the broken bones have healed: perhaps you would have come to lean on its support, but while it is still there, you will never be able to fully recover. It leaves me to wonder which stage Bella is really in. Is she still hurt, and needs Jacob to keep her together while her heart heals itself; or has she already healed, but does not want to remove him for fear she will fall apart again?

I just love it how Edward can see the action from so far away, channeled through the minds of the werewolves back to him like some sort of television feed. It’s amazing how they planned it out, so that he could be far away with Bella and yet still see and hear what is going on through the minds and eyes of the others who are actually there fighting. I can imagine it so well as a scene in the film, flashing back and forth from the epic vampire and werewolf battle nearby.

One of the most curious and most-easily-taken-out-of-context lines in the entire book was this:

“Only a few yards away from that fight, Edward and Victoria were dancing”

I know Edward is quite the fellow, but dancing in the middle of a war…with the woman who wants to kill your future wife? Tsk, tsk.

And then, there is the battle. The glorious, amazing battle in the clearing near the rocks and what’s left of the tent. I reveled in this vampire battle: silently mouthing to myself ‘Finally, finally!’ as all the paragraphs and paragraphs of how perfect Emmett and Edward are; and the chapters upon chapters of Jacob trying to win back Bella; and the pages and pages of description of the scintillating muscles on Edward smooth arms…finally became worth it for any male readers of Eclipse. June 30, 2010, will be marked upon my calendar, as the day I finally get to see this epic scene in the theater

I will also now admit to a mistake in my last post. In error, I had said that Chapter 23 might be my favorite from Eclipse. Unfortunately for Chapter 23, it has now been replaced by the great, glorious, and vampire-battle-filled Chapter 24.

Question for the comments: Do you think (at this point in the book) that Bella is still hurting from Edward leaving her, and needs Jacob to keep her together; or has she already healed, but does not want to remove him for fear she will fall apart again? Both?