Illicit Abusive Romance In 'Crash And Squirm'

Twilight, written by Stephenie Meyer was the first part of a four book series that begun in 2005. The story begins with a girl and a vampire falling in love, and was the first series in a while to bring vampires back into the lime light. The girl, Elisabeth "Bella" Swan and the vampire Edward Cullen, have a complicated love that although they are destined to be together, everything is working against them to do otherwise. Throughout the work of literature, although it is a modern day love story, Twilight displays many gothic characteristics in its writing including the plot and the role of the woman character throughout the story. Just like any other supernatural creatures, vampires originated from literature.

Humans for centuries have been drawn to vampires. From sitting around the fire in the time before the industrial revolution, to sitting around the table and in modern times watching it on the big screen. The folk tales of the undead that hunt at night, sucking the blood of the innocent has haunted and intrigued the human psyche for as long folklore has been in existence. Being afraid of what is being told to them, yet being unable to pull away. The pull and push affect that these mystical monsters have on the human aura is undeniable. Modern day vampires have a cult like following. When the Twilight series came out, the people where divided between team Jacob and team Edward. Teenage girls would swoon over these monsters, dangerous yet alluring.

Vampires have been around for centuries, they represent the fear of many things such as sexuality, race, gender, etc. and above all, they stand for the fear of diseases. Vampires have once been the symbol of horror due to their terrific depictions and were described as a threat to the humanity. Throughout time, the image of vampire has changed dramatically from a monstrous, inhumanely creature that doesn’t belong to human society to such an attractive and adaptive figure that expresses more of the human side than the evil. They developed human feelings, senses, and live within our society. Modern vampire movies are often more romantic and “sympathetic” comparing to the past. Vampires have abandoned their horror and evolved to a more

People develop multiple reasons to why they like to receive these odd and fear emotions, which now in society we call insanity. In the “Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King, whose main argument is that we watch horror movies to satisfy our curiosity. In the “How Tabloid Train Wrecks Reinventing Gothic Literature” by Carina Chocano, whose main argument is to prove how gothic literature is very similar to gossip; for example, gossiping makes people turn into ghosts, unnatural. It’s tempting to see Gothic tales as escapism, but these stories will sum up during times of trouble. Fascination with fear or Gothic stories satisfies some emotional need of individuals and of society by making people feed on their inner childhood that is inconstantly needed of satisfaction. People can do that by watching horror movies or reading tabloids and that is why they enjoy scaring themselves.

For example one of the first things Bella notices when she first sees the Cullens is their appearance, “I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful.” (Meyer 19) To most vampires this attention the Cullens receive would be ideal, however because they choose not to feed on humans this makes it all the more difficult for them to resist. It is the physical attraction as well as reaction Bella has towards Edward that initially brings them together, and what keeps Bella around. She knows the risk she is taking by being with Edward and consequently being with him is what got her involved with the evil vampire, James, which created the main conflict in the book. There is no exception to the physical beauty of the vampires in Dracula either. It is stated several times throughout the book that creates a longing feeling towards the monsters even though they know it

Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, uses emotion and the supernatural in her books as well. The emotion in the books spawn from Bella Swan who must choose to either love a vampire, Edward Cullen, or a werewolf, Jacob Black. Bella confesses to Edward that she is “Not afraid of [him]. [She] is only afraid of losing [him]”(“Twilight Quotes”). The series highlights Bella’s inner struggles to love Edward or Jacob and emotion can be observed throughout the entire series. Supernatural aspects come from the monsters inside the novels like the vampires and werewolves.

From the internecine feud between the characters in The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne by Ann Radcliffe, to the more recent love triangle in the Twilight franchise by Stephenie Meyer, Gothic literature has now been around for a couple of centuries to entertain its readers with tales of mystery and darkness, of romance and passion between a woman and her enigmatic lover

Fascination is something that is either obtainable or unobtainable. When looking into vampires and werewolves, it is something that we know is most likely not real. But, it can be real in the sense of what the monsters symbolize and through their actions we can feel a sense of understanding. In the film, Let the Right One In, the vampire is a little girl named Eli who befriends a boy named Oskar. Even though Eli is considered a monster and did kill people, it is hard not to sympathize with her and the relationship she has with Oskar. Eli was isolated because she is a vampire, and Oskar was just misunderstood and bullied which is why he did not have any friends until he met Eli. That connection and idea of people being together despite differences is something that intrigues others. Another way vampires

Oddly enough Bella and Edward’s skin tones are both significantly white and they are both drawn in by this whiteness. When Bella is new at the school many of the boys are interested in her but she only shows interest in Edward when he walks through the doors (“Who is that?” ). In addition, Edward has been at the school for a bit but has shown no interest in anyone (“no one here is good enough for him” ). However, when Edward sees Bella he falls in love automatically. Like many heroes, Edward is what one considers very masculine; he is both fast and strong. Bella was about to be hit by a vehicle but Edward “got to [her] so fast, he was nowhere near [her]...he stopped the van from crushing [her]” and left a large dent. Moreover, Edward is rich, worldly, generous, intelligent (he has been around for centuries), he is a saviour, he is significantly protective of Bella (“I feel very protective of you” ), and he is sensitive towards Bella, he is the dream man/boy who many people fantasize over. On the other hand, because Edward possesses all these characteristics, the heroine must lack these qualities and as a result Bella is small, clumsy, delicate, vulnerable, soft, fragile (Edward could lose control and kill her by accident ), desperate, uncoordinated (slips on ice ), less smart (“if you were smart you’d stay away from me... what if I’m the bad guy?” ) “In the end a good-looking boyfriend remains

If someone said the word vampires, what immediately comes to mind is the “classic “ image of one with fangs and a cape that feed on innocent lives. Although you can have your classic vampires in books and movies, not all are portrayed like that. As Foster explains in How To Read Literature Like A Professor, usually in literature, the portrayal of a vampire is used to signify the evil and pure, and when the sinister succeeds he takes that purity and vitality away from the victim. A Thousand Splendid Suns, a novel by Khaled Hosseini, follows the journey of two women who are married to the same man, and how he exhibits those traits of a vampire and attempts to take that vivacity away from them.

The unfamiliar aspect of the show is the supernatural presence of witchcraft, vampires, and werewolves. All these topics are unfamiliar to the human world. We begin to question if they are true or we submerged ourselves into an illusion the tv show creates. Like Samir Chopra expressed, we are consumed by what we don’t know because of our desire to learn. She also talks about the motif of death and vampires escape death by giving up life first.

Here is where an important part of the legend draws reference. According to Kayton, the vampire (young suicide) was known to either devour or steal the hearts of his victims. When the heart was stolen, it was placed over a fire to create an intense unfulfilled love in the bosom of the person it was taken from (307). In Dracula we sort of get that sense the three vampire women wanted this from Jonathan. Because when the Count told them that they could not have him, one of them boldly told him: "You yourself never loved" (55). Also, according to schizophrenic suicide history the family members who were often attacked were mainly members who showed their guilt over the oral deprivation onto the fantasized vampire (patient) with a feared oral attack (Kayton 311). That would be the logic of why the victims of the vampire are usually family members or persons they love; as we witness this with Lucy as she tried to kiss Arthur a two different occasions when she became a vampire. This theory also suggests that the parent 's role is very important and their actions with the child of either showing affection or rejection when the child attempts to become close to them (McMahon 212).

Vampires are the ultimate bad boys, powerful, persuasive, loners and tortured souls. They search forever to find “her”, the fantasy of hot endless love. Which is why these females in vampire literature are willing to risk their lives for a vampire, they want something more. The darkness and mystery pulls these women closer and closer to what can be the greatest love of all time. For example Bella Swan from “Twilight” was a regular mortal who wanted nothing more to be with Edward Cullen the vampire. Elena from “Vampire Diaries” found love with a human who turned out to be a vampire. Even in “Vampire in the Lemon Grove Fila” didn’t not run away knowing Clyde was a thirsty vampire. All these women knew the risk of surrounding themselves around these vampires. But not one of them was willing to walk away.

There are many fascinating insights of Bella and Edward’s love for each other. In chapter 1 of The Psychology of Twilight, Fredrick and his colleagues explains the evolution of human and vampire mind. According to psychologists, humans have about 3 billion nucleotides that lay dormant. These dormant nucleotides are called junk DNA which can be activated when bitten by vampires. As a result, this could enhance one’s power. Victims bitten by vampires can develop their own unique power by depending on where they are bitten. Fredrick also gives the author an overview of the attraction between Bella and Edward. The attraction between Bella and Edward is driven by their sense of smell, the olfactory system. Edward is attracted to Bella’s blood,

Modern day vampire’s capabilities of giving and receiving love give the insight that they are much more human than what they were perceived in previous novels. Earlier stories like Dracula and The Vampyre demonstrated lust over love because the main idea was to seduce humans to fall for them then kill them which was how it made them look like monsters; with TVD and Twilight, self-control plays a major role when vampires are around those they love, they learn to control the urges of biting them and use an alternative option like drinking animal blood instead of human blood. They care more about the safety and feelings of the human rather than their own selfish desire for human blood; therefore they create a more sentimental idea and demonstrate a form of love by doing this.