Bella

A.P. Comp. 17 December 2008 Inspired by Bella Swan “Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something,” says Isabella Swan, the leading female role in the hit book series “Twilight,” by Stephenie Meyer. The character of Isabella, dubbed as Bella, was created to be an unselfish, strong, and vulnerable young woman. Having found herself at the tender age of 17, Bella was anything but the typical teenage girl. Her mind was of a care taker, a mother, if you will, while her heart reacted to life as a seventeen year old girl’s would. Bella’s character, and the way she was made to look at life is inspirational. While reading “Twilight,” I became inspired by Bella’s character, and began to think differently about the way I looked at life, and the decisions I made. I caught myself replacing Bella’s character in Twilight with my own self, and thinking about how I would handle the situations she’s going through. I realized the reason I was doing this was because I admired Bella, and I wanted to have the good qualities that she had of being unselfish, strong, and vulnerable. Every decision Bella Swan made in her life was anything but selfish. She’s been putting everyone before herself all her life. Her mother divorced her father when she was still a young child, and she’s been the care taker since. “Twilight,” starts with Bella finalizing her decision to move to Forks, Washington to live with her dad, while her mom and new husband Phil traveled around the country for major league baseball opportunities. Bella’s made this decision based on her mother’s happiness. It is stated in the book that Bella didn’t want to “hold her mother down,” when traveling to different states, and always having to switch high schools. She thought of her mother’s future before her own, and decided to live with her dad who she hardly knows. This is an example of one of Bella’s unselfish decisions which inspired me to be more selfless, and changed the way I think before I make a decision. For example, a few weeks ago I needed a ride to a friend’s house, and my little sister needed a ride to a school play she’s been raving about. My mother only had time to go to one place before picking up my littlest sister from school. I thought about arguing, and being stubborn, and fighting to go to my friend’s house, which would always be there, rather than a school play that comes once a year. I suddenly realized that I was thinking about what Bella would do in a situation like this. Most likely think of others before her. Because I admire her so much, I decided to give the ride to my little sister knowing that this would be a decision the unselfish Bella Swan would do. I felt so proud of myself that I promised myself that when I wanted to make a decision, to think unselfishly so that every decision is fair and respected by people and by my own self. Bella was not only was unselfish but she was a strong person. Bella Swan’s character was described in the book as the “suffer in silence” type. In other words, she had a strong heart, and a strong mind. Never to let anyone just walk all over her, or let certain tragedies take over her life. In “Twilight,” Bella is confronted with a gang of older men, all drunk, with cruel and vulgar intentions towards her. Though the author, Stephenie Meyer, could’ve had Bella running and screaming, she played along with Bella’s strong shelled character and had her stand still, strong, and ready to attack when necessary. Bella describes to her love interest Edward why she was calm, by saying that she was thinking of ways to hurt the attacker. Rather than running and screaming like any normal girl would do, the strong Bella stood with no fear and courage that she would escape this confrontation without being harmed. Now I can’t say that I was ever confronted by a gang of drunk men, but, I was confronted with a dog twice my size. I was on my home from school when I spotted a dog staring at my from my neighbor’s backyard. I hesitated to move when I realized that this dog had neither collar nor leash. My home only two houses down from me seemed like miles away. The dog slowly started to work its way down my neighbor’s driveway when it snarled. I stood still, standing strong, and ironically remembering Bella in her sticky situation. I began to think courageously that I would leave this situation without a scratch on me. I thought rationally rather than panicking, and reached for my cell phone and called my neighbor. My neighbor came out with a weapon and walked me to my home. He was startled by how calm I was after the fact, and asked if I was in shock after being less than a 20 foot distance from a black dog about the size of a Harley Davidson motorcycle. The answer was simply no. I realized that this situation marked the start of something new, something I taught myself to do. Something I was inspired to do by a character from a book; Bella Swan. If only Stephenie Meyer knew that her creation of the character Bella Swan nearly saved me from serious injuries and maybe even my life. Her strong way of thinking inspired me to be strong in that way too, which helped me in my heart-dropping situation, and changed my personality to be a stronger and more robust young woman. Though Bella was strong, she was never afraid to be vulnerable. This, I might say is what moved me the most about Bella Swan’s character in “Twilight.” As almost every strong person would, I’ve always been afraid to be vulnerable. It’s the perfect way to have people under mind, and/or underestimate you. I thought when being strong like Bella, I should never show a sign of weakness. Though when Bella fell in love with Edward Cullen, all audiences reading “Twilight,” began to notice that Bella’s shield slowly began to be set down. She was vulnerable in almost every way when she was with Edward. This changed my perspective on vulnerability. I started to ask myself, if I can’t be vulnerable with the person I love, who can I be vulnerable with' Always being strong on the outside makes you weaker inside, having all those secrets and doubts bottled up can break even the strongest minded person. I would know from an experience I’d rather not write about. Bella changed the way I looked at vulnerability. And although this may sound cliché, her character changed the way I looked at life also. In conclusion, when reading “Twilight,” I wanted to have the good qualities that Isabella Swan had of being unselfish, strong, and vulnerable. She inspired me to change the way I made decisions, handled scary situations, and show vulnerability. Inspiration is what triggers someone to have an epiphany. My epiphany in life happens every time I’m faced with something that needs decision making, a strong mind or heart, or a showing of vulnerability. Bella’s character is what made these changes happen, and I’ve become proud of almost every decision I make, knowing that it’s either unselfish, strong, and maybe even vulnerable.