At this very moment, in my apartment, the scent filling the air is that of rice, steak and jalapenos, as I just finished a wonderful Tex/Mex dish in my attempt to deviate from lasagna and swiss cheese (you are not alone: this has come as a shock to many). I found it curious that this chapter should be called ‘Scent’ when one of my biggest points in Chapter 9 was about the smell of Bella being on the pillows and clothes that had vanished from her room. Obviously, it’s something that the vampires and werewolves can smell: and something that the intruder took as evidence that he had actually found Bella.
It’s interesting how Edward and Jacob are working together in a somewhat manner. Though they still can’t bring themselves to stand in the same house as the other (seeing the destruction to the ballet studio when a vampire fight broke out is enough to make me agree) they still work around it. It seems childish, but I suppose it works.
And all this ridiculousness about Bella smelling. First Edward says something’s in her room. Then Jacob says something’s in her room. Then Jacob says it’s her hair. Since this chapter is called Scent you would think it would be a good scent, like sour cream and onion or peanut butter chocolate (I once knew a girl who had chocolate-chip cookie dough scented lip balm (or whatever they call it), which is a bit strange if you think about it…). Has Bella been bathing in old horseradish or are Jacob and Edward simply losing their minds? I find it funny how they both seem to be battling for her to smell like a wolf or a vampire.
I have a slight problem when reading that I’m sure all of you have realized by now. Sometimes, when I come to a very serious line, that I should be putting on my serious-business-face for, my brain recalls something else entirely, and instead I begin to chuckle at the memory, instead of being grave and somber for what was said. For example:
“…You know,” I teased halfheartedly, “this whole secrecy and deception thing is kind of a pain.”
Edward’s expression hardened. “It gets easier. After a few decades, everyone you know is dead. Problem solved.”
He sniffed. “In fact, that thought is so depressing, I might just break out into song.”
And thus a new career was born.
The deal fell through soon after...
Edward is doing much better in acting like a boyfriend instead of King Cullen, and I think even Bella is surprised. Of course, I don’t entirely blame him for the way he has been since they met (Bella isn’t called a danger-magnet for nothing, as I mentioned before). But it’s always nice to see that even Edward can grow up some and learn that he can’t watch Bella 24/7. The change really came about when Edward realized that he was being too controlling and that Bella actually can be trusted somewhat with her own safety (as long as this doesn’t involve cars, motorcycles, cliffs, water, tennis, needles, knives, mace spray, axes, shotguns, the pavement, the woods, climbing trees, airplanes, volleyball or a potted prickly cactus, which only through supernatural means made it from Arizona to Forks without sticking her in the eye).
And thus, Bella is off to La Push again, with plenty of blessings from Charlie, who would certainly love to invent a new brand of force field that blocks Edward out but allows Jacob Black through. Still, with this, I am having an even harder time understanding Edward — and I can more clearly see one of the major concerns voiced by critics of Bella. I know that if Bella was my girlfriend, and some fellow like Jacob came bounding along who was pushing to be her best friend, and constantly trying to steal her away, I don’t think I would be happy at all for her to be spending so much time with this half-dressed chap who is about 1/10th my age.
It irks me that Bella would continue to see Jacob, knowing how it makes Edward feel. Is this something that Edward should just accept? Is it respectful to their relationship for Bella to be hanging around so closely with other guys (especially guys like Jacob who would obviously jump at the chance to steal her away)?
As most of my readers are girls, I will flip this around — imagine your boyfriend hanging out with some other girl who happens to be a model and is dying to steal him away, and he goes crying to her anytime you get into a fight, and she welcomes him with open arms, saying what a beastly brute you are for hurting his feelings. It would probably come to an ultimatum: one or the other.
As I thought about this, however, I was reminded of what I was reading, and also that Edward can read minds; an ability real guys do not possess (much to the chagrin* of many). So, these problems can’t even be the same as if Bella and Edward and Jacob were humans. The difference is that since Edward can read Jacob’s mind, he knows what is going on, and maybe also that Jacob is well-intentioned. And, even though he can’t read Bella’s, perhaps he has come to trust her enough so that it’s almost as if he really can: he trusts Bella enough to know that she is keeping it friendly with Jacob.
But then again, I’m sure Jacob has plenty of tricks up his sleeve. He doesn’t quite seem ready to give up yet 😀
Question for the comments: do you think it is alright for Bella to lead both Edward and Jacob on? Do you think she even knows what she is doing?
——NOTES——
– For those of you who enjoy my music, I just uploaded a brand new song and would love opinions. Also, the new song can be downloaded for free for the next two weeks (and no sneaky things to sign up for either :D)
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134 Responses
p.s. models are stupid
p.p.s what will happen once you finish Breaking Dawn?! what will you post then?!?!?!?!?
p.p.p.s. i hate jacob in the middle two books. he is much more like-able in the last one
aw, thank you #35 katey1994! I really love Jacob, so I’m always a bit defensive of him.
Bella has stated many times, I love Edward. I love Jacob like a brother. Therefore, she is no longer leading them on. Leading Jacob on leaves us to belive he thinks she is seriously debating between to two. And she’s not. Jacob brings all his pain on himself.
Normally I would write something long and well thought out, but as I have two essays to be writing right now, I will resist. I just have one thing to say in response to your post, Kaleb: “Well-intentioned”? BAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!
Have a great day!
i’m diggin the albums, kaleb. Though I think i would definitely buy Charlie or the Bloods first off.
Bella doesn’t always have the best judgement, and Edward’s not very good at communicating what needs to be communicated. He’s finally realizing that in Eclipse – whenever he tries to do something “for her own good” it turns out awful. So he’s gotta let go a little and let her hang out with Jake. If she ends up going for Jake, Edward feels like that would probably be better for her anyway (plus she’s only 18 – it’s not like she’s ever loved anyone but Eddie, so maybe she could love someone else?).
I was SOO glad Ed stopped acting like King Cullen like you said.
She’s gotta CHOOSE him for it to be real, right?
<3
Ahhh!!! It’s not about Edward trusting Bella, it’s about Edward trusting Jacob! Jacob does not have Bella and Edwards best interest at heart… therefore, no Bella and Jacob relationship.
I actually agree with you, that if I were Edward, I would not even allow her to go to La Push. But then again, Edward being the selfless person he is, he would want Bella to be happy, even if it is not with himself.
No. It is not alright for Bella to lead them both on. And, no, Bella has no idea what she’s doing… exactly.
But Bella isn’t leading them on, I don’t think. Sure, what she’s doing isn’t right, but, I don’t think she understands just how much she hurts them. She has made her point unmistakably clear that she can’t live without Edward. But cutting off her best friend isn’t much easier.
so now I begin to talk myself into circles until we come to the point that Bella doesn’t know. She doesn’t know how much pain they feel when she goes back and forth. She doesn’t know how much they care about her. What to do. How to not hurt them. How to save everyone pain, and then the pain everyone will feel when it’s all over – not that she exactly wants to think about it much. She has absolutely no idea what she’s doing or how things are going to work out or how to make it better. So, she’s… living in the moment, and trying hard to fight fate.
If you look at it from her point of veiw, you have Edward – the love of her life, and Jacob – her best friend. And death staring her in the face in so many ways. It’s enough to make anyone helpless and do things that aren’t exactly the best thing at the moment.
So, to try to sum it up: Bella is completely clueless, not helping her situaion much, but is panicking and afraid and under pressure.
And I don’t think that Edward and Jake are helping much at all as she tries to figure things out and straighten out her amazingly twisted and tangled life.
I hope someone can make sense of what I’m trying to say!
ilu!
Personally, I think Bella doesn’t even realize what she’s doing–leading both Edward and Jacob on. She’s got a lot on her mind these days and it doesn’t seem to even occur to her that she’s being inconsiderate to them both, to put it lightly. She knows she desperately needs them both, one more so than the other. She thinks there’s a way she can have both Edward and Jacob in her life and isn’t giving up hope for that.
Edward in the album cover looks a bit like Jim Nabors. “Loved by millions”
Yes, Bella does not have the best judgement. I think she is bewitched by Edwards hyper-predator attractiveness.
Poor Edward. Poor Jacob. Poor Bella! Bad circumstances for all of them.
Edward: The love of his life can’t stop spending time with this guy who desperately wants to steal her away from him.
Jacob: The love of his life is kind of already with somebody else who she’d rather die than be without.
Bella: Her true love and her best friend are mortal enemies. She’d die (no pun intended about immortality or anything) if her true love left and still be in agony if her friend left.
Basically, what I’m trying to get at here, is that no one is necessarily at fault here. Sure they could have done a few things better, but your average person probably would have done worse – (i.e. Edward: kidnapping Bella and taking her out of the country so she can’t see Jacob (I’m not saying the average person would do that, just he could have . . .); Bella: horrible as it sounds, cheating on Edward; Jacob: flipping out and attacking Edward)
This is a very long-winded explanation and I think I better stop now.
~Peach Tree
I can’t even figure out what I was trying to say there.
Oh well! 😛
~Peach Tree
Bella is torn bewteen the fact that she loves Edward and could never part with him in a million years,but Jacob is her bestfreind. In Bella’s mind, Jacob is like family, who is in pain. It is like a very sick brother and someone telling Bella she can’t see him. The fact is, is that Jacob is falling in love with her and Edward is very uncomfortable that Bella might soon feel the same way and might change her mind. By letting Bella see Jacob, he is taking a big risk, but if he would not let her see him, then that would be a even bigger risk to Bella and Edward’s relationship. All in all they are all taking big risks. Jacob might be the only one who wants one thing only that doesn’t have any major consequenses. He wants Bella. All Bella wants is for life to be normal, in that she can have Jacob as a freind and Edward forever. But seeing as they are enimies, it won’t be that simple.
Bella can’t stay in her current position forever and leading them both on is just gonna make it harder for everybody. I really don’t think she understands how deep she’s getting with Jacob. I think she is trusting that her love for Edward will be enough. Trust seems to be the key to holding their current dangerous position together from falling apart. Whether Bella likes it or not, she can’t stay like that forever. Sorry for the long comment. =D
no because in the end shell end up hurting one of them evean though her minde is only really set on 1
no bella has no clue of what shes doing because she THINKS that thairs no way she could ever love some1 besides edward
if bella did knowshe was hurting them she wouldhave stoped seeing one of them
(did that evean make some sence)it made me sound like im on team jacob witch im not sometime u just want to slap bella and make he relize how stupid some coises (then again people in love do stupid thinks)
………its a verry confusing mess……..
Ugh, if you ask me, Bella tends to be such a twit in this book. Eclipse is when I first really started to be kind of irked by her. And its when I first started to fall in love with the wolves. Swoooon.
This is something that gets discussed later in book, so I won’t go into it.
Bella is being naive. She loves them both, in different ways.
Jacob is taking advantage of her personality – he knows she will feel guilty if he says he is sad. He uses that to keep pulling her (with good reason, in his mind – to keep her human).
Edward is playing the patient boyfriend. He should be honest with her about his feelings. **Reference to Wuthering Heights – anyone?
But, it all plays out the way it is supposed to play out….keep reading!!
By the way – your questions make it VERY HARD not to spoil you!!
Agree with Tina. This is Bella’s first real love – and she naively thinks she can have both boyfriend and best friend. There’s plenty of real life experience that shows you can’t – but most people have to find out for themselves which is what Bella is doing.
Agree with Tina that its hard to answer these questions without putting any spoilers!
Of course she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Truly, she’s just being selfish. She doesn’t seem to think about the future. Just pushes it to the back of her mind so she can be happy now. And that’s what Edward wants her to do. Admittedly, he doesn’t want her hanging around Jake, but he doesn’t want her looking ahead to the future and going on about changing her (as usual). And Jake, in my opinion, doesn’t want to think about the future himself, because he doesn’t think she’ll choose him. I mean, he’s pretty confident, he thinks he has a chance, but he can’t know. But he does want her to think about the future. To think about how much better it would be for her to be with him instead.
Yeah… That was kind of confusing. Anyway, nice post. 😀
i always have a good laugh when I come here.
Bella in Eclipse really pissed me off. I lost a lot of respect for her during this book, and I hated Jacob. Poor innocent Edward is just looking out for Bella, and she just does whatever even though it hurts his feeling. Ugh
Ok I think since it’s Edward’s fault that Bella’s friends with Jacob he needs to deal with it. If he wouldn’t have ran away to go be emo in africa (which I know was to protect her and he’s sorry but facts are facts) she wouldn’t have needed Jacob and now because of that he is a part of her. It would be cruel to BELLA if he made her choice. Also I happen to know how Edward feels but he needs to learn to trust Bella. Even if he doesn’t trust Jacob, he should know that Bella loves HIM and (regrettably so) not Jacob. But the facts are:
Bella LOVES Edward
Bella and Jacob are BEST FRIENDS
She needs a little sliver of life aside for Edward. REALLY.
To LaurenXL
And all you other Bella haters:
SHE’S ONLY HUMAN!! She can’t be a saint 24/7! Gosh! And yeah what she does isn’t right sometimes but that doesn’t mean hate her for the few times she does something wrong when she’s a really good person all the other times! I highly doubt you people never do ANYTHING wrong. Well, thats what your acting like. Steph does this so that we see that Bella is HUMAN and that she’s not like all the other book characters where they are so saintlike and perfect that their predictable and boring. Lighten up. Really.
First of all, many kudos for slipping that “chagrin” in there on us! haha.
I agree with the poster waaaaay above who mentioned that Bella doesn’t see that she’s leading Jacob on and doesn’t know just how much it’s hurting Edward because he doesn’t let on (he won’t, because of the pain he put her through in New Moon). I can see both sides to the coin. Bella considers Jacob as her best friend/brother and loves bejeesus out of Edward, but she’s also naive to think that Jacob isn’t manipulative enough to think he’s got a fighting chance. Bella knows deep down that she has a connection with Jacob, but it’s not a love one.
This all gets resolved in Breaking Dawn and you’ll see why she feels that way 🙂
But in the meantime, feel free to rant and rave at the mistakes Bella makes dealing with Jacob. I sure as hell did! By the end of this book I was yelling all sorts of things at her. Bella really pissed me off in Eclipse. Yes, we know she’s human, but we can “see” the mistakes she’s making as she’s making them, so it’s only natural to say to one’s self “noooooo why are you doing that???!!!”
And Kaleb, you crack me up with your bit about Edward breaking into song, and “All my friends are dead.” I needed a good laugh this morning – thanks! 🙂
She knows what she’s doing, she wouldn’t feel guilty if she didn’t. I think Bella has a bit of a problem with selfishness during Eclipse. I mean, I bet she would go crazy ( with all her insecurities, you know) if Edward was doing with Tanya what she’s doing with Jake.
Regarding to Bella leading Edward and Jacob on: I don’t think she is, in a way she is running from her problem, which is choosing one of them.
But if you think about it, there was never a choice to be made, not really.
The first time I read “Eclipse”, I felt very annoyed by Bella’s actions. I couldn’t understand why she would keep going back to Jacob when every time she saw him, they ended up fighting. I guess she just couldn’t stay away from him. She knows that Edward is the one she wants to spend forever with, so as soon as she realized that Jacob was in love w/ her, she should have distanced herself from him. It wasn’t intentional on her part, but what she was doing was extremely unfair to both Edward and Jacob. It would’ve been different if J had no romantic feelings for her. Edward is being very patient and understanding, though. He’ll always do whatever he thinks is best for Bella or whatever she really wants.
Bella is having her own personal struggles. She is one person with Jacob and another with Edward. She likes being both people and experiencing these 2 seperate relationships. It gets confusing when the 2 collide and I think that’s what is happening right now for you in Eclipse. She’d rather jump back & forth between the 2 and ignore the obvious outcome. Sometimes people play it safe in fear of rocking the boat.
Edward refers to his “human instincts” from time to time. He also says that Bella brings them out in him. He knows he has Bella’s heart, but he is also having to deal with a new emotion.. jealousy.
As for Jacob, I think he’s immature. He’s a boy who is in love with a girl that he knows deep down will never fall in his favor, but yet he’d rather live in the moment and be happy with whatever relationship Bella is able and willing to give him right then.
Thank you! Oh my god, someone who finally gets it. I mean, of course it’s ok for bella and jacob to still hang out, but bella needs to put her foot down and draw the line.
Bella is just way too lenient, and for someone who is willing to die for Edward, she sure doesn’t hesitate to cause him pain. Because although he hides it well, it does hurt him that Bella wants to spend so much time with Jacob. Of course it hurts him. Why can’t bella see that? Why does she think Jacob’s pain is more, when Jacob’s pain is self serving (it’s jacob’s own fault he’s in pain). I think Bella is being, well, hypocritical, and honestly if I wasn’t so confident in knowing that Bella and Edward are MEANT to be together, I would slap the girl and tell her to get a clue.
She SAYS jacob’s only her friend. She SAYS that he’s only family.
Hah.
You’re getting closer and closer to the reason that I will forever in some part of me despise Jacob stupid minded pushy manipulative pathetic scum of the earth Black.
Lots of people pity Jacob.
I pity Edward (at least in Eclipse).
He tries so hard to do everything he can for Bella. Not only does Bella deflect that sometimes, but she keeps forgetting that Edward does have human emotions and feelings. He tries so hard to make her happy, making her his only priority, and Bella doesn’t return the favor. If it was me, I wouldn’t believe in Bella’s love either.
Here’s what I think:
All of them were wrong.
First of all, Jacob was very determined to whisk Bella away from Edward, all the while making snarky little remarks that were completely undeserved. Bella has tried to be clear that she won’t leave Edward for him, but he pushes forward to cause his own pain.
Second, Edward just overreacts constantly. In the beginning, he went to far to keep her safe. Now, he’s going too far the other way, not voicing his concerns about Jacob at all.
And, finally, Bella. While she has definitely not tried to lead Jacob on, she still is, to try and keep their friendship going. She loves him, not the way he wants, but she still does. Jacob isn’t making that situation any easier, but she wasn’t strong enough to leave him, partly because she doesn’t want to cause HIM that kind of pain. So… I don’t think she was being selfish of selfless either way.
However, making Edward put up with it was a little selfish. Put in the same situation, though, and I would have done the same thing she did. I can’t imagine any way she could have avoided her current situation.
So… make what you will of that lol
P.S. The smell thing–you do realize that werewolves smell woodsy to humans, like wet, dirty dogs to vampires? And vampires, who smell wonderful to humans, smell disgustingly sickly sweet to werewolves?
Just making sure you knew.
Reading the rest of the comments I have to smile. One of the joys of Eclipse is the pure human nature of the characters. I read all sorts of articles about how the Twilight series has no basis in reality and yet, we get such a great journey through very real situations that any relationship will deal with. I had to deal with this situation myself when my exhubby’s friends didn’t like me. At the time it was really confusing and hurtful, I know why now and that’s beside the point. My point is that Edward, Bella, Jacob and the rest of the cast of characters are very real PEOPLE. Their highs, lows and the things they learn as they make mistakes through all this is very relatable to all of us. Love it, hate it, Esclipse is a great journey.
Hmmmm…. I think that yes, it is wrong that she is leading them both on, and i don’t know if she fully realizes she is, but I think that she at least partially does. I say this because she knew that was basically what she was doing in Twilight to get information from Jacob.
I wouldn’t string anyone along, or be all confused like that, but I’m also not a teenage girl.
I believe it was Chris Rock who said, “Men don’t have women friends, they just have women they haven’t slept with yet.”
i had a problem with his book for the same reasons. I was irritated at bella for still talking to jacob. I mean, there is no competition between edward and jacob. She knew who she was meant to be with. why drag it out?
I will say this. I hate the ending of the series because of things built up in this book.
I take it your not a fan of Jacob, so naturally, I am going to defend him.
Edward left in New Moon (duh) and I don’t care what people say about “It was for her own good”. NO. If he knew what was good for her he would never have done it. So Bella goes to Jacob (notice: SHE seeks HIM.) who didn’t inflict any of the pain she had, so it was completely not his responsibility to make her better. He did it anyway, even though he knew it would be hard.
So now that Edward (the one who made the stupid, careless move) is back, Jacob just gets thrown out the window? Bella’s all, “Yeah, I know you’ve saved my life 1000 times but Edward is sexier.”
How is that fair? And then when Jacob still wants to hang out with Bella, which is perfectly justified, he isn’t allowed. Because the guy who’s ass Jacob saved won’t let him.
I understand where your going with the girl translation thing, but still.. the circumstances are different.
Wow. this has nothing to do with the question you asked. Gah. I have issues.
Hey Kaleb- (luv ur name, btw)
I totally think it was wrong for her to lead Jacob on. I mean, if she knew she was just going to hurt him in the end, she shouldn’t have used him in the first place…
Luv Ya! ~Lila
Whitley- would you have preferred an “Everybody dies” ending???
Shannah- You totally disregarded the “It was for her own good” thing, like it wasn’t important.
Plus, Jacob caused his own pain just as much as Bella did. He absolutely did NOT make it easier for her. And Edward just keeps making mistakes and overreacting–but almost always for the right reasons. (I say almost because there was the prejudice against werewolves a few times.)
well… I’m here to.. well deffend bella.. because.. well.. i feel like.. well.. i wuold probably have done de same thing..(cof cof.. ejem mistakes.. cof cof)
Well obiousley… she doesn’t does.. all that.. messing arround with everybody’s feelings.. she.. well she doesn’t quite get.. what the consecuenses might be… i mean.. she always hope to.. like.. at the end.. everything to get fixed.. in a way that everybody is happy…(she with the most marvelous thing she has ever met(edward), Edward.. all.. not emo.. and.. not killing him self by goingto yhe vulturi, Rosalie being happy 4 her being on her family… and.. Charlie marrying Billy(hehe) so she can Love Jacob and Jacob love her in return without any.. werewolf hart breaking in pieces so tiny that is almost dust or vampire selfkilling with the help of the vulturi involved…) and well… she didn’t knew that all could get so.. BIG.. and.. so.. well.. ugly.. and hart smashing for so many people..
i bet you she is so sorry..(she is still.. kind of a b!+$H sometimes… but.. what kind of girl isn’t one sometimes… hehe.. plus she feels sorry 4 being one.. hehe)
Love…
ale!
pd- Don’t hate Bella!!
It’s so difficult to answer this question but I think I’d do the same as Edward. Edward feels like a complete ____ (fill in your own word(s)) and he knows that Jacob helpsed Bella and he can not break that bond. All he wants is Bella to be happy and in a way still thinks that Jacob is a better choice if he of course controls himself unlike him Jacob actually has an opportunity to age eventually. Edward’s love for Bella is enough to leave again and again if that is what is best and he has proven it in New Moon and is willing to prove it again.
Your question made me itching to reply! An interesting thought though, definitely…
Well, the way I see it, Bella is definitely not leading both guys on intentionally (I’m pretty sure of this… her mindset changes when she realizes what she has been doing)… but that doesn’t change the fact that she is, I suppose.
However, I think everyone involved is to blame. Kaleb, you make an interesting point – these aren’t humans, and because they aren’t humans they have the ability to act in a way that we cannot. Another thing that doesn’t happen often in human relationships is what happened in New Moon – some may call Bella whiny and clingy and everything of that sort, but that wasn’t Stephenie’s intent (which has a big impact on everything… her intentions change the whole frame of reference for the novel). Bella was supposed to act like she had lost a life partner (or… according to personal correspondence, I think… as a widow instead of just a girl who got dumped by her boyfriend. Looking at it that way, Bella definitely acted appropriately. She was ready to become immortal for Edward. Not completely ready, no, but those who underestimate Bella’s intelligence and honesty when she says that (namely Edward) will also overestimate her reaction to his leaving.
So what did Edward do? Indirectly, he literally gives Bella to Jacob. He even owns up to it in Eclipse. If he hadn’t left, it wouldn’t have happened (though his morals for doing that are… a different story. The intent (hehe) was there, yes, but there’s underestimation here, too).
As she says herself in New Moon, Bella shaped her entire future around the Cullens. She thought that was a certainty – vampire or not, she hadn’t planned for the only man she loved to say that she didn’t hold his heart. What if Bella had never gone to see Jacob? Beside not bringing Alice back after seeing the vision (and all the Cullens after that), Bella would not have gotten better.
Jacob was crucial to Bella’s re-emergence, I guess I could say, from the dark. We see a very different Bella in New Moon – and even after being with Jake for months, it isn’t the same girl we knew in Twilight. The progress that she made, though, was definitely because of his willingness to be her friend. He never dared to abandon her.
Now that Edward is back, of course there’s ambivalence in her emotions. It wouldn’t at all be in human nature for her to act like Jacob had done nothing for her at all. How could Bella have healed if she had not forged a band with him? Her best friend?
I think that Edward does understand this, at least a little bit. He understands the connection that they have because there was NO ONE there at all for Bella while Edward was away.
But in any of the first 10 chapters of Eclipse, does Bella say that she’s leading one of them on? No, at least I don’t think so. At the beach, doesn’t Bella say that her reasons for coming to La Push don’t involve loving Jake like he loves her?
Of course her feelings are there, and Edward realizes that, but the thing is that Bella does not. Can she really be blamed for being blind to her feelings? Maybe. But until she realizes what she’s doing, Bella is only trying to keep promises on both sides, even though there’s a certain desperation there – she knows she can’t do it forever. But Bella, to me, is a good person, and at least tries to salvage her friendships even when there’s chaos everywhere.
Bella’s behavior really angered me while I was reading. I know how miserable Edward must feel, and I found it annoying that she was leading him on like that. When Edward was gone in new moon, and Bella had every right to go after Jacob, she refused, but now that he’s back and hopelessly in love, she goes after him!
But on the other hand, she wants his friendship, and she doesn’t believe Jacob will push for anything more.
First off, Bella is a complete idiot.
*sigh*
Getting that out of the way, like most of the commenters above have already stated, Bella needs Jacob ALMOST as much as Edward.
Edward still can’t forgive himself for leaving Bella so in his mind he’s still heavily indebted to Jacob for keeping her somewhat sane and therefore will allow her to see him without, y’know, crippling him. So yes, Edward is self-sacrificing, but a part (who knows how large) is because he despises himself, not just because he loves Bella (which he DOES, I know!)
Now with Jacob, I kind of feel you have this prejudice about guys that try and steal the girl from her boyfriend (understandable), but I think you’re kind of missing why Jacob is acting that way. Before he became a werewolf he was perfectly content with being Bella’s best friend. Only after he transformed did he fully understand the existence of vampires.. that they were supposedly soulless monsters (remember the Cullens are the exception) and that they were his mortal enemies, which is why he tries so aggressively to win Bella over. Simply put, he only wants to save her from a fate that he truly believes is worse than death. Who wouldn’t? Obviously, winning Bella’s heart would be a HUGE bonus, but that’s not his primary goal.
So yeah, I hope you got some of Jacob’s perspective (and sorry if it sounds a bit biased)
🙂
OH! Did I even answer the question?
It is NOT alright. haha
the all mine friends are dead thing was prolly the funniest thing i have ever seen. thank u kaleb for once again making my day 😀
Ahh, silly Bella…
She is torn and oblivious. She needs and loves Edward, that’s a given. But while he was away, she had to fill the void with something. That something being Jake’s warmth and friendship. Now she loves them both, though she doesn’t precisely know that she loves Jacob. Or rather, she underestimates the love she has for him. Her problem is that she is so caught up in making everyone happy for the moment. Bella never stops to take a look at what happens in the long run. She doesn’t see the damage she is doing, regardless of her good intentions.
Poor Bella, poor Jacob, poor Edward…
LOL “All my friends are dead” that sound´s like a contry song.
About your question I was going to make a long comment but all i was going to say was already said before, so my comment is Bella was very Lucky Jacob only had his dad, because a sister or a mother never will have take the situation as calmly as Billy did.
i am pretty sure bella knows that is hurts edward but jacob is this need that shes had ever since edward left her. and even though edward is back its something that cant be taken back. and also shes very sought after proving to herself that jacob is just a friend. and even though jacob really doesnt get that concept. bella is trying to balance her different loves. her love for jacob as a best friend almost family like and then edward the person who is more than a soul mate to her, the person that is her destiny, part of her own life and soul and whole being.
I would have a really hard time with all this if I were Bella, and I honestly don’t know what I would do. On one hand, I don’t want to make Edward mad, and I really do love him, but on the other hand, Jake is my best friend and I don’t want him mad either. So what gives?
I completely agree with you. Bella was irritating me in this book, too. I mean, I know she loves Jacob a lot, and she doesn’t want him to hurt over her, I think that she owes more to Edward. He is, after all, her boyfriend. What I mean is that she owes Edward more…attention, I suppose. Anyhoo, if they would all just calm down and think about it for a while, and Bella wouldn’t push Edward into letting her see Jacob all the time, then eventually they could be more civil about it.
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p.s. models are stupid
p.p.s what will happen once you finish Breaking Dawn?! what will you post then?!?!?!?!?
p.p.p.s. i hate jacob in the middle two books. he is much more like-able in the last one
aw, thank you #35 katey1994! I really love Jacob, so I’m always a bit defensive of him.
Bella has stated many times, I love Edward. I love Jacob like a brother. Therefore, she is no longer leading them on. Leading Jacob on leaves us to belive he thinks she is seriously debating between to two. And she’s not. Jacob brings all his pain on himself.
Normally I would write something long and well thought out, but as I have two essays to be writing right now, I will resist. I just have one thing to say in response to your post, Kaleb: “Well-intentioned”? BAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!
Have a great day!
i’m diggin the albums, kaleb. Though I think i would definitely buy Charlie or the Bloods first off.
Bella doesn’t always have the best judgement, and Edward’s not very good at communicating what needs to be communicated. He’s finally realizing that in Eclipse – whenever he tries to do something “for her own good” it turns out awful. So he’s gotta let go a little and let her hang out with Jake. If she ends up going for Jake, Edward feels like that would probably be better for her anyway (plus she’s only 18 – it’s not like she’s ever loved anyone but Eddie, so maybe she could love someone else?).
I was SOO glad Ed stopped acting like King Cullen like you said.
She’s gotta CHOOSE him for it to be real, right?
<3
Ahhh!!! It’s not about Edward trusting Bella, it’s about Edward trusting Jacob! Jacob does not have Bella and Edwards best interest at heart… therefore, no Bella and Jacob relationship.
I actually agree with you, that if I were Edward, I would not even allow her to go to La Push. But then again, Edward being the selfless person he is, he would want Bella to be happy, even if it is not with himself.
No. It is not alright for Bella to lead them both on. And, no, Bella has no idea what she’s doing… exactly.
But Bella isn’t leading them on, I don’t think. Sure, what she’s doing isn’t right, but, I don’t think she understands just how much she hurts them. She has made her point unmistakably clear that she can’t live without Edward. But cutting off her best friend isn’t much easier.
so now I begin to talk myself into circles until we come to the point that Bella doesn’t know. She doesn’t know how much pain they feel when she goes back and forth. She doesn’t know how much they care about her. What to do. How to not hurt them. How to save everyone pain, and then the pain everyone will feel when it’s all over – not that she exactly wants to think about it much. She has absolutely no idea what she’s doing or how things are going to work out or how to make it better. So, she’s… living in the moment, and trying hard to fight fate.
If you look at it from her point of veiw, you have Edward – the love of her life, and Jacob – her best friend. And death staring her in the face in so many ways. It’s enough to make anyone helpless and do things that aren’t exactly the best thing at the moment.
So, to try to sum it up: Bella is completely clueless, not helping her situaion much, but is panicking and afraid and under pressure.
And I don’t think that Edward and Jake are helping much at all as she tries to figure things out and straighten out her amazingly twisted and tangled life.
I hope someone can make sense of what I’m trying to say!
ilu!
Personally, I think Bella doesn’t even realize what she’s doing–leading both Edward and Jacob on. She’s got a lot on her mind these days and it doesn’t seem to even occur to her that she’s being inconsiderate to them both, to put it lightly. She knows she desperately needs them both, one more so than the other. She thinks there’s a way she can have both Edward and Jacob in her life and isn’t giving up hope for that.
Edward in the album cover looks a bit like Jim Nabors. “Loved by millions”
Yes, Bella does not have the best judgement. I think she is bewitched by Edwards hyper-predator attractiveness.
Poor Edward. Poor Jacob. Poor Bella! Bad circumstances for all of them.
Edward: The love of his life can’t stop spending time with this guy who desperately wants to steal her away from him.
Jacob: The love of his life is kind of already with somebody else who she’d rather die than be without.
Bella: Her true love and her best friend are mortal enemies. She’d die (no pun intended about immortality or anything) if her true love left and still be in agony if her friend left.
Basically, what I’m trying to get at here, is that no one is necessarily at fault here. Sure they could have done a few things better, but your average person probably would have done worse – (i.e. Edward: kidnapping Bella and taking her out of the country so she can’t see Jacob (I’m not saying the average person would do that, just he could have . . .); Bella: horrible as it sounds, cheating on Edward; Jacob: flipping out and attacking Edward)
This is a very long-winded explanation and I think I better stop now.
~Peach Tree
I can’t even figure out what I was trying to say there.
Oh well! 😛
~Peach Tree
Bella is torn bewteen the fact that she loves Edward and could never part with him in a million years,but Jacob is her bestfreind. In Bella’s mind, Jacob is like family, who is in pain. It is like a very sick brother and someone telling Bella she can’t see him. The fact is, is that Jacob is falling in love with her and Edward is very uncomfortable that Bella might soon feel the same way and might change her mind. By letting Bella see Jacob, he is taking a big risk, but if he would not let her see him, then that would be a even bigger risk to Bella and Edward’s relationship. All in all they are all taking big risks. Jacob might be the only one who wants one thing only that doesn’t have any major consequenses. He wants Bella. All Bella wants is for life to be normal, in that she can have Jacob as a freind and Edward forever. But seeing as they are enimies, it won’t be that simple.
Bella can’t stay in her current position forever and leading them both on is just gonna make it harder for everybody. I really don’t think she understands how deep she’s getting with Jacob. I think she is trusting that her love for Edward will be enough. Trust seems to be the key to holding their current dangerous position together from falling apart. Whether Bella likes it or not, she can’t stay like that forever. Sorry for the long comment. =D
no because in the end shell end up hurting one of them evean though her minde is only really set on 1
no bella has no clue of what shes doing because she THINKS that thairs no way she could ever love some1 besides edward
if bella did knowshe was hurting them she wouldhave stoped seeing one of them
(did that evean make some sence)it made me sound like im on team jacob witch im not sometime u just want to slap bella and make he relize how stupid some coises (then again people in love do stupid thinks)
………its a verry confusing mess……..
Ugh, if you ask me, Bella tends to be such a twit in this book. Eclipse is when I first really started to be kind of irked by her. And its when I first started to fall in love with the wolves. Swoooon.
This is something that gets discussed later in book, so I won’t go into it.
Bella is being naive. She loves them both, in different ways.
Jacob is taking advantage of her personality – he knows she will feel guilty if he says he is sad. He uses that to keep pulling her (with good reason, in his mind – to keep her human).
Edward is playing the patient boyfriend. He should be honest with her about his feelings. **Reference to Wuthering Heights – anyone?
But, it all plays out the way it is supposed to play out….keep reading!!
By the way – your questions make it VERY HARD not to spoil you!!
Agree with Tina. This is Bella’s first real love – and she naively thinks she can have both boyfriend and best friend. There’s plenty of real life experience that shows you can’t – but most people have to find out for themselves which is what Bella is doing.
Agree with Tina that its hard to answer these questions without putting any spoilers!
Of course she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Truly, she’s just being selfish. She doesn’t seem to think about the future. Just pushes it to the back of her mind so she can be happy now. And that’s what Edward wants her to do. Admittedly, he doesn’t want her hanging around Jake, but he doesn’t want her looking ahead to the future and going on about changing her (as usual). And Jake, in my opinion, doesn’t want to think about the future himself, because he doesn’t think she’ll choose him. I mean, he’s pretty confident, he thinks he has a chance, but he can’t know. But he does want her to think about the future. To think about how much better it would be for her to be with him instead.
Yeah… That was kind of confusing. Anyway, nice post. 😀
i always have a good laugh when I come here.
Bella in Eclipse really pissed me off. I lost a lot of respect for her during this book, and I hated Jacob. Poor innocent Edward is just looking out for Bella, and she just does whatever even though it hurts his feeling. Ugh
Ok I think since it’s Edward’s fault that Bella’s friends with Jacob he needs to deal with it. If he wouldn’t have ran away to go be emo in africa (which I know was to protect her and he’s sorry but facts are facts) she wouldn’t have needed Jacob and now because of that he is a part of her. It would be cruel to BELLA if he made her choice. Also I happen to know how Edward feels but he needs to learn to trust Bella. Even if he doesn’t trust Jacob, he should know that Bella loves HIM and (regrettably so) not Jacob. But the facts are:
Bella LOVES Edward
Bella and Jacob are BEST FRIENDS
She needs a little sliver of life aside for Edward. REALLY.
To LaurenXL
And all you other Bella haters:
SHE’S ONLY HUMAN!! She can’t be a saint 24/7! Gosh! And yeah what she does isn’t right sometimes but that doesn’t mean hate her for the few times she does something wrong when she’s a really good person all the other times! I highly doubt you people never do ANYTHING wrong. Well, thats what your acting like. Steph does this so that we see that Bella is HUMAN and that she’s not like all the other book characters where they are so saintlike and perfect that their predictable and boring. Lighten up. Really.
First of all, many kudos for slipping that “chagrin” in there on us! haha.
I agree with the poster waaaaay above who mentioned that Bella doesn’t see that she’s leading Jacob on and doesn’t know just how much it’s hurting Edward because he doesn’t let on (he won’t, because of the pain he put her through in New Moon). I can see both sides to the coin. Bella considers Jacob as her best friend/brother and loves bejeesus out of Edward, but she’s also naive to think that Jacob isn’t manipulative enough to think he’s got a fighting chance. Bella knows deep down that she has a connection with Jacob, but it’s not a love one.
This all gets resolved in Breaking Dawn and you’ll see why she feels that way 🙂
But in the meantime, feel free to rant and rave at the mistakes Bella makes dealing with Jacob. I sure as hell did! By the end of this book I was yelling all sorts of things at her. Bella really pissed me off in Eclipse. Yes, we know she’s human, but we can “see” the mistakes she’s making as she’s making them, so it’s only natural to say to one’s self “noooooo why are you doing that???!!!”
And Kaleb, you crack me up with your bit about Edward breaking into song, and “All my friends are dead.” I needed a good laugh this morning – thanks! 🙂
She knows what she’s doing, she wouldn’t feel guilty if she didn’t. I think Bella has a bit of a problem with selfishness during Eclipse. I mean, I bet she would go crazy ( with all her insecurities, you know) if Edward was doing with Tanya what she’s doing with Jake.
Regarding to Bella leading Edward and Jacob on: I don’t think she is, in a way she is running from her problem, which is choosing one of them.
But if you think about it, there was never a choice to be made, not really.
The first time I read “Eclipse”, I felt very annoyed by Bella’s actions. I couldn’t understand why she would keep going back to Jacob when every time she saw him, they ended up fighting. I guess she just couldn’t stay away from him. She knows that Edward is the one she wants to spend forever with, so as soon as she realized that Jacob was in love w/ her, she should have distanced herself from him. It wasn’t intentional on her part, but what she was doing was extremely unfair to both Edward and Jacob. It would’ve been different if J had no romantic feelings for her. Edward is being very patient and understanding, though. He’ll always do whatever he thinks is best for Bella or whatever she really wants.
Bella is having her own personal struggles. She is one person with Jacob and another with Edward. She likes being both people and experiencing these 2 seperate relationships. It gets confusing when the 2 collide and I think that’s what is happening right now for you in Eclipse. She’d rather jump back & forth between the 2 and ignore the obvious outcome. Sometimes people play it safe in fear of rocking the boat.
Edward refers to his “human instincts” from time to time. He also says that Bella brings them out in him. He knows he has Bella’s heart, but he is also having to deal with a new emotion.. jealousy.
As for Jacob, I think he’s immature. He’s a boy who is in love with a girl that he knows deep down will never fall in his favor, but yet he’d rather live in the moment and be happy with whatever relationship Bella is able and willing to give him right then.
Thank you! Oh my god, someone who finally gets it. I mean, of course it’s ok for bella and jacob to still hang out, but bella needs to put her foot down and draw the line.
Bella is just way too lenient, and for someone who is willing to die for Edward, she sure doesn’t hesitate to cause him pain. Because although he hides it well, it does hurt him that Bella wants to spend so much time with Jacob. Of course it hurts him. Why can’t bella see that? Why does she think Jacob’s pain is more, when Jacob’s pain is self serving (it’s jacob’s own fault he’s in pain). I think Bella is being, well, hypocritical, and honestly if I wasn’t so confident in knowing that Bella and Edward are MEANT to be together, I would slap the girl and tell her to get a clue.
She SAYS jacob’s only her friend. She SAYS that he’s only family.
Hah.
You’re getting closer and closer to the reason that I will forever in some part of me despise Jacob stupid minded pushy manipulative pathetic scum of the earth Black.
Lots of people pity Jacob.
I pity Edward (at least in Eclipse).
He tries so hard to do everything he can for Bella. Not only does Bella deflect that sometimes, but she keeps forgetting that Edward does have human emotions and feelings. He tries so hard to make her happy, making her his only priority, and Bella doesn’t return the favor. If it was me, I wouldn’t believe in Bella’s love either.
Here’s what I think:
All of them were wrong.
First of all, Jacob was very determined to whisk Bella away from Edward, all the while making snarky little remarks that were completely undeserved. Bella has tried to be clear that she won’t leave Edward for him, but he pushes forward to cause his own pain.
Second, Edward just overreacts constantly. In the beginning, he went to far to keep her safe. Now, he’s going too far the other way, not voicing his concerns about Jacob at all.
And, finally, Bella. While she has definitely not tried to lead Jacob on, she still is, to try and keep their friendship going. She loves him, not the way he wants, but she still does. Jacob isn’t making that situation any easier, but she wasn’t strong enough to leave him, partly because she doesn’t want to cause HIM that kind of pain. So… I don’t think she was being selfish of selfless either way.
However, making Edward put up with it was a little selfish. Put in the same situation, though, and I would have done the same thing she did. I can’t imagine any way she could have avoided her current situation.
So… make what you will of that lol
P.S. The smell thing–you do realize that werewolves smell woodsy to humans, like wet, dirty dogs to vampires? And vampires, who smell wonderful to humans, smell disgustingly sickly sweet to werewolves?
Just making sure you knew.
Reading the rest of the comments I have to smile. One of the joys of Eclipse is the pure human nature of the characters. I read all sorts of articles about how the Twilight series has no basis in reality and yet, we get such a great journey through very real situations that any relationship will deal with. I had to deal with this situation myself when my exhubby’s friends didn’t like me. At the time it was really confusing and hurtful, I know why now and that’s beside the point. My point is that Edward, Bella, Jacob and the rest of the cast of characters are very real PEOPLE. Their highs, lows and the things they learn as they make mistakes through all this is very relatable to all of us. Love it, hate it, Esclipse is a great journey.
Hmmmm…. I think that yes, it is wrong that she is leading them both on, and i don’t know if she fully realizes she is, but I think that she at least partially does. I say this because she knew that was basically what she was doing in Twilight to get information from Jacob.
I wouldn’t string anyone along, or be all confused like that, but I’m also not a teenage girl.
I believe it was Chris Rock who said, “Men don’t have women friends, they just have women they haven’t slept with yet.”
i had a problem with his book for the same reasons. I was irritated at bella for still talking to jacob. I mean, there is no competition between edward and jacob. She knew who she was meant to be with. why drag it out?
I will say this. I hate the ending of the series because of things built up in this book.
I take it your not a fan of Jacob, so naturally, I am going to defend him.
Edward left in New Moon (duh) and I don’t care what people say about “It was for her own good”. NO. If he knew what was good for her he would never have done it. So Bella goes to Jacob (notice: SHE seeks HIM.) who didn’t inflict any of the pain she had, so it was completely not his responsibility to make her better. He did it anyway, even though he knew it would be hard.
So now that Edward (the one who made the stupid, careless move) is back, Jacob just gets thrown out the window? Bella’s all, “Yeah, I know you’ve saved my life 1000 times but Edward is sexier.”
How is that fair? And then when Jacob still wants to hang out with Bella, which is perfectly justified, he isn’t allowed. Because the guy who’s ass Jacob saved won’t let him.
I understand where your going with the girl translation thing, but still.. the circumstances are different.
Wow. this has nothing to do with the question you asked. Gah. I have issues.
Hey Kaleb- (luv ur name, btw)
I totally think it was wrong for her to lead Jacob on. I mean, if she knew she was just going to hurt him in the end, she shouldn’t have used him in the first place…
Luv Ya! ~Lila
Whitley- would you have preferred an “Everybody dies” ending???
Shannah- You totally disregarded the “It was for her own good” thing, like it wasn’t important.
Plus, Jacob caused his own pain just as much as Bella did. He absolutely did NOT make it easier for her. And Edward just keeps making mistakes and overreacting–but almost always for the right reasons. (I say almost because there was the prejudice against werewolves a few times.)
well… I’m here to.. well deffend bella.. because.. well.. i feel like.. well.. i wuold probably have done de same thing..(cof cof.. ejem mistakes.. cof cof)
Well obiousley… she doesn’t does.. all that.. messing arround with everybody’s feelings.. she.. well she doesn’t quite get.. what the consecuenses might be… i mean.. she always hope to.. like.. at the end.. everything to get fixed.. in a way that everybody is happy…(she with the most marvelous thing she has ever met(edward), Edward.. all.. not emo.. and.. not killing him self by goingto yhe vulturi, Rosalie being happy 4 her being on her family… and.. Charlie marrying Billy(hehe) so she can Love Jacob and Jacob love her in return without any.. werewolf hart breaking in pieces so tiny that is almost dust or vampire selfkilling with the help of the vulturi involved…) and well… she didn’t knew that all could get so.. BIG.. and.. so.. well.. ugly.. and hart smashing for so many people..
i bet you she is so sorry..(she is still.. kind of a b!+$H sometimes… but.. what kind of girl isn’t one sometimes… hehe.. plus she feels sorry 4 being one.. hehe)
Love…
ale!
pd- Don’t hate Bella!!
It’s so difficult to answer this question but I think I’d do the same as Edward. Edward feels like a complete ____ (fill in your own word(s)) and he knows that Jacob helpsed Bella and he can not break that bond. All he wants is Bella to be happy and in a way still thinks that Jacob is a better choice if he of course controls himself unlike him Jacob actually has an opportunity to age eventually. Edward’s love for Bella is enough to leave again and again if that is what is best and he has proven it in New Moon and is willing to prove it again.
Your question made me itching to reply! An interesting thought though, definitely…
Well, the way I see it, Bella is definitely not leading both guys on intentionally (I’m pretty sure of this… her mindset changes when she realizes what she has been doing)… but that doesn’t change the fact that she is, I suppose.
However, I think everyone involved is to blame. Kaleb, you make an interesting point – these aren’t humans, and because they aren’t humans they have the ability to act in a way that we cannot. Another thing that doesn’t happen often in human relationships is what happened in New Moon – some may call Bella whiny and clingy and everything of that sort, but that wasn’t Stephenie’s intent (which has a big impact on everything… her intentions change the whole frame of reference for the novel). Bella was supposed to act like she had lost a life partner (or… according to personal correspondence, I think… as a widow instead of just a girl who got dumped by her boyfriend. Looking at it that way, Bella definitely acted appropriately. She was ready to become immortal for Edward. Not completely ready, no, but those who underestimate Bella’s intelligence and honesty when she says that (namely Edward) will also overestimate her reaction to his leaving.
So what did Edward do? Indirectly, he literally gives Bella to Jacob. He even owns up to it in Eclipse. If he hadn’t left, it wouldn’t have happened (though his morals for doing that are… a different story. The intent (hehe) was there, yes, but there’s underestimation here, too).
As she says herself in New Moon, Bella shaped her entire future around the Cullens. She thought that was a certainty – vampire or not, she hadn’t planned for the only man she loved to say that she didn’t hold his heart. What if Bella had never gone to see Jacob? Beside not bringing Alice back after seeing the vision (and all the Cullens after that), Bella would not have gotten better.
Jacob was crucial to Bella’s re-emergence, I guess I could say, from the dark. We see a very different Bella in New Moon – and even after being with Jake for months, it isn’t the same girl we knew in Twilight. The progress that she made, though, was definitely because of his willingness to be her friend. He never dared to abandon her.
Now that Edward is back, of course there’s ambivalence in her emotions. It wouldn’t at all be in human nature for her to act like Jacob had done nothing for her at all. How could Bella have healed if she had not forged a band with him? Her best friend?
I think that Edward does understand this, at least a little bit. He understands the connection that they have because there was NO ONE there at all for Bella while Edward was away.
But in any of the first 10 chapters of Eclipse, does Bella say that she’s leading one of them on? No, at least I don’t think so. At the beach, doesn’t Bella say that her reasons for coming to La Push don’t involve loving Jake like he loves her?
Of course her feelings are there, and Edward realizes that, but the thing is that Bella does not. Can she really be blamed for being blind to her feelings? Maybe. But until she realizes what she’s doing, Bella is only trying to keep promises on both sides, even though there’s a certain desperation there – she knows she can’t do it forever. But Bella, to me, is a good person, and at least tries to salvage her friendships even when there’s chaos everywhere.
Bella’s behavior really angered me while I was reading. I know how miserable Edward must feel, and I found it annoying that she was leading him on like that. When Edward was gone in new moon, and Bella had every right to go after Jacob, she refused, but now that he’s back and hopelessly in love, she goes after him!
But on the other hand, she wants his friendship, and she doesn’t believe Jacob will push for anything more.
First off, Bella is a complete idiot.
*sigh*
Getting that out of the way, like most of the commenters above have already stated, Bella needs Jacob ALMOST as much as Edward.
Edward still can’t forgive himself for leaving Bella so in his mind he’s still heavily indebted to Jacob for keeping her somewhat sane and therefore will allow her to see him without, y’know, crippling him. So yes, Edward is self-sacrificing, but a part (who knows how large) is because he despises himself, not just because he loves Bella (which he DOES, I know!)
Now with Jacob, I kind of feel you have this prejudice about guys that try and steal the girl from her boyfriend (understandable), but I think you’re kind of missing why Jacob is acting that way. Before he became a werewolf he was perfectly content with being Bella’s best friend. Only after he transformed did he fully understand the existence of vampires.. that they were supposedly soulless monsters (remember the Cullens are the exception) and that they were his mortal enemies, which is why he tries so aggressively to win Bella over. Simply put, he only wants to save her from a fate that he truly believes is worse than death. Who wouldn’t? Obviously, winning Bella’s heart would be a HUGE bonus, but that’s not his primary goal.
So yeah, I hope you got some of Jacob’s perspective (and sorry if it sounds a bit biased)
🙂
OH! Did I even answer the question?
It is NOT alright. haha
the all mine friends are dead thing was prolly the funniest thing i have ever seen. thank u kaleb for once again making my day 😀
Ahh, silly Bella…
She is torn and oblivious. She needs and loves Edward, that’s a given. But while he was away, she had to fill the void with something. That something being Jake’s warmth and friendship. Now she loves them both, though she doesn’t precisely know that she loves Jacob. Or rather, she underestimates the love she has for him. Her problem is that she is so caught up in making everyone happy for the moment. Bella never stops to take a look at what happens in the long run. She doesn’t see the damage she is doing, regardless of her good intentions.
Poor Bella, poor Jacob, poor Edward…
LOL “All my friends are dead” that sound´s like a contry song.
About your question I was going to make a long comment but all i was going to say was already said before, so my comment is Bella was very Lucky Jacob only had his dad, because a sister or a mother never will have take the situation as calmly as Billy did.
i am pretty sure bella knows that is hurts edward but jacob is this need that shes had ever since edward left her. and even though edward is back its something that cant be taken back. and also shes very sought after proving to herself that jacob is just a friend. and even though jacob really doesnt get that concept. bella is trying to balance her different loves. her love for jacob as a best friend almost family like and then edward the person who is more than a soul mate to her, the person that is her destiny, part of her own life and soul and whole being.
I would have a really hard time with all this if I were Bella, and I honestly don’t know what I would do. On one hand, I don’t want to make Edward mad, and I really do love him, but on the other hand, Jake is my best friend and I don’t want him mad either. So what gives?
I completely agree with you. Bella was irritating me in this book, too. I mean, I know she loves Jacob a lot, and she doesn’t want him to hurt over her, I think that she owes more to Edward. He is, after all, her boyfriend. What I mean is that she owes Edward more…attention, I suppose. Anyhoo, if they would all just calm down and think about it for a while, and Bella wouldn’t push Edward into letting her see Jacob all the time, then eventually they could be more civil about it.