Twilight_Analysis

Twilight Literary Analysis Sociology 105 February 3, 2011 Twilight Literary Analysis Twilight is a new age Vampire romance series that has affected the way society views vampires. This book is about a seventeen year old girl named Bella whose mother remarried, so Bella moved to Forks, Washington with her father. Bella is attracted to the most handsome young man in town named Edward Cullen, who is actually a vampire. Bella falls in love with Edward and wants him to turn her into a vampire so that she can spend the rest of her life with him. Edward refuses because he doesn’t want to deprive her of living life as a human being. Edward and his family continually protect Bella from a pack of evil vampires that want to kill her. Author’s Background Stephanie Meyer was born in Connecticut, and attended Brigham Young University. Her religious denomination is Mormon. Meyer is a housewife with three sons. Stephanie Meyer is best known for her popular four series vampire romance. Differences between Twilight and other Literature in this Genre The Twilight story differs from other vampire romance literature based on its characterization of vampires. In other books vampires are depicted as evil and monstrous. Vampires are known to be carnivores that thrive on sucking humans’ blood. They are said to be nocturnal and sleep in coffins all day. In the Twilight series the Cullen family vampires are viewed as vegetarian vampires that only suck animal blood. The Cullens never sleep, and unlike other vampires they resist sunlight. The children attend high school and the father works as a doctor. Cultural Significance Twilight’s cultural significance is based on the spiritual beliefs of the Mormon religion. This book does depict any sex related scenes. None of the teenagers in this book participate in any sexual scenes. In the Mormon religion it is believed that marriage and family are eternal and last forever even in the after-life. The entire Cullen family is shown throughout the book to be in a relationship with their partners of many years. Even after they were converted to vampires they remained and lived their “afterlife’ with the same mate. Economically Successful The Twilight novel was definitely economically successful. Twilight sales boosted to over one million copies in a little over 2 and a half years. At this rate Twilight broke the record set by the sale of the Harry Potter series. The first day the film version came out in the UK it made over 1 million dollars. Fan Followings Twilight has a tremendous amount of fan followings. It is not just the pre-teen or teen age groups. There are many adults who are grave fans of Twilight. The major fan following is the race between siding with the Cullens or vampires and siding with the werewolves Jacob’s family. Cultural Values and Challenges The primary cultural value depicted in Twilight is the teen abstinence portrayal. The author has a Mormon religion background so this belief is honored through all of her books. Edward Cullens and also the entire Cullen family practice the value of always doing the right and moral action. The Cullens have never given in to the lust to suck human blood. Edward will not turn Bella into a vampire because it is not in her best interest, even though she begs him to do it, because he truly loves her. Stephanie Meyer did a great job with this book. She has made a positive effect on society and popular American culture. Meyers has shown vampires’ characteristics in a new and different light. She centered the book on characters’ that have positive morals and values. Most importantly she campaigns the virtue of teen abstinence which is a very controversial issue in today’s society. Reference Alexander, H. (2009, November 17). Twilight: book breaks sales records. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/6590249/Twilight-book-breaks-sales-records.html