The Twilight of Good Writing

As the rest of the Culture of Death slinks to new lows, we who are trying to raise souls for heaven must remain vigilant. Just because a parent is stricter than 80% of parents out there, remember whether what you are permitting your children to do would have been acceptable in the household you grew up in.

When I first heard the premise of the “Twilight” series from the middle school students in my Catholic school, my stomach turned. A bright young woman, full of promise, cavalierly risks her life for a cold, sulky man who at any given moment may bite her neck and suck the blood out of her.

My students, whose Bible-sized books never leave their arms, protested loudly when I read them a negative Catholic review in class, and raucously insisted I read the book. Most of their teachers had read it, they insisted, and now loved the series, and discussed the upcoming film with them. Devout Catholic mothers and respected Catholic writers have defended “Twilight”. When my daughter’s high school English teacher made it required reading, I reluctantly decided to read the book find out just what was driving this phenomenon, and whether I would allow her to read it.

The story is compelling and despite not truly bonding with Bella, whom I found condescending towards just about everyone in her life, I looked forward to seeing how her romance with Edward progressed. The feelings evoked by Stephanie Meyer remind me of the intense teenage longing of middle school, where a girl’s entire day is made when the object of her affection looks her way.

She is skilled at creating in her readers the intense, prolonged sexual tension of unfulfilled desire. The couple never “goes all the way”; however, so many defend it as a wholesome book. Don’t ever confuse abstinence with chastity; “Twilight” is about sex, plain and simple. But it gets worse.

Bella is unfortunately the typical American teenage girl of her generation. She is the product of a broken home with inadequate parenting. She moves from Phoenix, where a mother whose pursuit of a love interest replaces concern for her daughter’s welfare, to Washington State where an emotionally incompetent father, cannot protect her from the disastrous choices of her low self-esteem.

In steps handsome, emotionally distant Edward, the guy no one understands, who appeals to Bella the girl no one understands. Is this a match made in heaven, or just passionate co-dependence?

Edward is every parent’s nightmare, a bad guy with panache, who makes a hero of himself, stealing a teenage girls’ heart while feigning morality. He seems noble for not killing or seducing Bella when they tangle passionately on her bed down the hall from clueless Dad.

He is, however, no stranger to her bedroom. As a vampire who needs no sleep; he has been haunting her bedroom for weeks to watch Bella sleep. Bella disparages her father, whom she calls “Charlie” for his broken heart about her mother’s desertion of their marriage. Charlie is the village sheriff, yet he is no match for Edward’s good looks, dominating personality, and superpowers. His feeble attempts to protect his daughter are dwarfed by the bold rescues carried out by Edward, whose strength and near constant anger make him seem chivalrous and dangerous all at the same time.

When I asked the young women in my class why they loved “Twilight” they shouted “romance’ but when questioned further, they admitted they like it for the theme of “romance with danger”. Living on the edge of darkness has been a theme of so much of children’s literature; “Harry Potter”, “A Series of Unfortunate Events”, and “Goosebumps” have created a generation of children who have never seen the true, the noble and the beautiful.

As their parents, we owe it to our daughters, to guide them toward that which uplifts their hearts, and forms their minds. To that which guides them towards good spouses, not dangerous men in need of a ‘savior’. Girls already have a Savior, and it hurts that I have never seen His book carried by these girls with equal devotion.

What can we do to re-orient our daughters? Contrast this series with the “Chronicles of Narnia’. When my attempts to reason that the “Twilight” series was toxic met intractable opposition, I changed tactics, and exposed my students to a Christian writer, CS Lewis who understood the hallmarks of true nobility, hoping to create an irresistibly clear contrast in their minds.

Reading “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ with seventh graders who have seen the film and knew the plot seemed futile, until after reading the book’s ending in class, I asked them a simple question, ‘if you were one of the Pevensie children, how would Narnia be different?” I didn’t anticipate the firestorm of excitement I had ignited, and sat back to watch their imaginations fire away. Something of Christ figure Aslan’s lifting of ordinary children to the level of noble monarchs had captured their imaginations, and they begged me to read “Prince Caspian” next.

So, what if your daughter has already become infatuated by this series? Find her something written by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, JRR Tolkien, or CS Lewis. Together watch the films which their delightful novels have inspired, and gently guide her towards the true, the noble and the beautiful.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I think that it is a real shame that your scathing judgement of this book will encourage parents to dissuade their teens from reading this series. What is sad is that your arguments are so generalized and ambiguous that it makes me wonder if you even read the book. Your article seems to be more about the movie version that the book that it was based upon.

The characters in the book are plagued with all sorts of flaws. This realism is part of what attracts teens to the book. However, the characters in the book also possess traits for which every parent should want their child to strive. You conveniently seemed to trivialize the good in the face of amorphous death. What message are you sending to the kids by ignoring the good and judging the book for elements which displease you?

Ironically, you close your article with the very scripture passage that you are ignoring by denouncing Twilight. Jesus, the one upon whom we should model our behavior, did not cloister himself in the temple amongst the “righteous”. Instead, he sought out those who society shunned. And yet you deliberately act counter to the passage you quoted from Philippians by ignoring the valuable lessons and focussing on the bad.

Our youth today do not live in a cozy little bubble surrounded by only Catholic influences. Instead, they are growing up in a secular world filled with dangerous choices and evil intentions. They must learn to navigate the secular world and to find their way in spite of the obstacles thrown up by false idols, materialism, greed, etc. None of the books which you recommend were even written in this century and several weren’t even written in the last century. How are our youth to learn to navigate today’s perils via novels written by authors who had no clue of what was to come?

I chose to read this book with my daughter and then discussed with her all the various aspects of the contents, focussing primarily on the fact that Edward fought his very nature to act in a moral way in spite of the fact that he had every excuse to give in to his base urges. I can not believe that you so blithely ignored one of the most moving and relevant passages in the entire book. When the female protagonist asks him why he has chosen to fight his craving for human blood, he responds by saying:

But you see, just because we’ve been… dealt a certain hand… it doesn’t mean that we can’t choose to rise above – to conquer the boundaries of a destiny that none of us wanted. To try to retain whatever essential humanity we can.

From a Christian perspective, is that not what we want our children to do? Do we not want them to follow the example of Edward by not taking the easy road and blaming it upon our circumstances; but, fighting to do the moral thing in spite of how difficult or painful it might be for ourselves? I would encourage Caitlyn to read and reread this series if it were just for this one lesson.

Because think about it. Our teenagers are in a state of confusion. Their bodies and their brains seem out of control and they are terrified by the changes that they have no control over. This is the stage at which we lose many of them to drugs, alcohol, apathy, suicide… But, here in Edward, they have a modern hero with whom they can identify. Not only has he felt their pain, his pain goes far beyond what they can imagine experiencing. He is a perpetual teenager who struggles ever second of every day to do what is right even though his body insists that he needs to kill to endure existence. He fights it. And he wins. That gives our teenagers hope and makes their struggles just a bit easier to contend with.

If that weren’t enough, Edward fights to keep Bella on the straight & narrow arguing that if he doesn’t have a soul any more, he will not allow her to put her own in jeopardy. So, he refuses to have sex with her until after they are married. Yeah. As an Amazon Vine Reviewer, I can assure you that that is disgustingly rare for contemporary teen literature. Again, Edward resists temptation, teaching our teens that they can and should do the same.

And then there is the way that Edward treats Bella…. with the utmost respect combined with protective sensitivity and selfless devotion. His old fashioned upbringing prompts him to be ever the gentleman while his long life in a family of “vegetarian” vampires has taught him that while women have different strengths, they are his equals if not on occasion even stronger and smarter than he. If I could pick a primer for my daughter’s future boyfriends (well, yes, the Bible would be first on the list; but, granting that the Bible is THE primer for our lives…) this series would be it. I want my daughter to find love with someone like Edward who will treat her that well. And I want her to value herself to the point that she expects no less.

I tend to put my trust in the Holy Spirit to guide me and my family, especially in the ideas we are exposed to on a day to day basis via the t.v., books, newspapers, etc. It has been my experience that by inviting the Holy Spirit into your heart when reading, you will receive the message you are supposed to receive, no matter what the content of the book.

Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us, if for us” (Mark 9:40) and I believe that anyone who defends morality does so with Jesus in his/her heart… even if he/she does not know it. Matthew writes: “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree can not bear good fruit.” By these words, it is evident that the Twilight series is not bad nor evil and though it deals with issues that might make Christians squirm, the message has the inspiration of our Savior as its basis.

Angela B. Markwalter | 8/15/2009

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