Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Twilight, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Lust
Self-Restraint and Morality
Good, Evil, and Perspective
Family
Summary
Analysis
Bella is on edge. Jasper isn’t back from checking out yet, and Bella is terrified that Alice will figure out what’s going on. Presently, Alice bends over and grips the bed. Jasper appears and runs to her, demanding to know what she sees. Alice says “Bella,” and Bella realizes Alice now knows that Bella is going to meet James. When Jasper makes Bella feel calm, Bella welcomes it. Alice recovers a moment later, says everything is fine, and asks Bella if she wants breakfast. Bella insists on waiting until they head to the airport. She showers, sure that Alice is going to tell Jasper what she saw in her vision.
This passage illustrates how important one’s perspective is. To Bella, it’s a complication to her plan that Alice now sees she’s going to meet James in the ballet studio. But to Alice, this is devastating and something to be avoided at all costs. Alice wants to protect Bella. Bella wants to protect her mother. No one is right, here—the situation is messy and everyone is trying to do their best to help the people they love. Except James, of course.
Themes
Finally, Alice, Jasper, and Bella leave for the airport. On the drive, Bella asks how Alice’s visions work; Edward mentioned that things change. Alice says that’s true. The weather is easy, but people change their minds all the time and every decision changes the future. Bella nods; this, she says, is why Alice couldn’t see James in Phoenix until he decided to come. Privately, Bella knows that this is also why Alice only saw Bella in the dance studio with James once Bella made her choice.
The weather is easy for Alice to predict because there’s no human choice involved. But people, Alice proposes, are complicated and are always gathering new information and making new choices. In this way, the novel makes clear that the future is essentially made of the choices that people make. To take that logic further, the novel makes clear that one can always make a different choice, and in doing so recreate oneself and the future. It is not what or who a person is that defines them; it’s the choices they make.
Themes
At the airport, Bella feels extremely lucky: Edward’s plane is landing in the biggest, most confusing terminal. Bella leads Jasper and Alice through the airport, and they find a seat. She gives Alice her letter, and then, with 30 minutes until Edward’s flight arrives, Bella says she’s hungry. She asks if Jasper will go with her, since she’s feeling anxious. Alice doesn’t seem concerned—clearly, she thinks James is going to outsmart them, not that Bella is going to betray them. Jasper walks with Bella toward a café, but Bella says that she has to use the restroom. She slips into the bathroom—and darts out the bathroom’s other door.
Just because Alice can see the future doesn’t mean she has every detail regarding how it’s going to work out. And because she trusts and loves Bella, it’s unthinkable to her at this point that Bella will be responsible for the vision she had earlier (which was presumably Bella in the ballet studio with James). When Bella is able to use her knowledge of this confusing terminal to her advantage, it highlights again how intelligent and resourceful she is.
Themes
Bella runs for the elevators, squeezes into one, and races out of the airport. She leaps onto a hotel shuttle and imagines Edward standing on the curb, frustrated by the end of her scent trail. At the hotel, Bella gets into a cab as an older couple gets out. The driver agrees to drive her to Mom’s house for $80. On the drive, Bella sits back and tries to compose her thoughts. She thinks of Edward and imagines meeting him at the airport. Perhaps they would’ve gone somewhere in the far north so he could be outside—or maybe they’d have gone somewhere tropical but remote, so he didn’t have to hide. Bella daydreams until the cab driver asks for Mom’s house number.
Bella believes at this point that she’s never going to see Edward again, since she’s sure she’s going to die in the ballet studio with James. By choosing to meet James, she’s prioritizing her mother’s life over her own life, her mother’s life over her own happiness. But this, of course, doesn’t mean that Bella doesn’t still love Edward and want to be with him. In her own mind, she can escape somewhere happier and think of how things could be had she been able to make other choices.
Themes
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At the house, Bella lets herself in and finds a phone number written on Mom’s whiteboard. She dials carefully, and James answers on the first ring. James assures Bella that Mom is fine—assuming Bella is alone—and then tells her to come to the ballet studio around the corner. Bella agrees and hangs up. As she leaves the house, Bella can see in her mind’s eye Mom and a young version of herself everywhere. She feels like she’s leaving everything behind. It feels to Bella like she is running through quicksand, since the day is so hot—and Bella wishes she was home, in Forks.
Bella will be leaving everything and everyone behind. So it’s not surprising that she essentially sees her life flash before her eyes as she walks these familiar streets of her home. But then, interestingly, Bella realizes in this moment that home isn’t Phoenix for her anymore. Home is with the person she loves—Edward—in Forks, highlighting the power of their love to change her perspective.
Themes
Finally, Bella crosses the parking lot and lets herself into the unlocked building. The lobby is empty, so Bella walks through into the brightly lit studio. She’s terrified—and then she hears Mom’s voice. But Mom isn’t talking to Bella. Bella turns and sees that Mom is actually on the TV screen. The video is from Thanksgiving five years ago, which is when Bella almost fell off a pier in California. Turning slowly, Bella sees James behind her with the remote.
James tricked Bella to get her to come, but there is an upside to this: Mom is safe. Bella has now shown herself to be willing to give her life for those she loves—but James has manipulated her selflessness for his own advantage. Bella now finds herself in grave danger precisely because she’s loving, loyal, and trusting.
Themes
Bella realizes that Mom is safe—and that she never even got Bella’s message. Bella is so relieved that she feels giddy and strangely confident. Soon, everything will be over, and both Charlie and Mom will be fine. James is surprised that Bella isn’t mad, and Bella notices that his eyes are black. He’s thirsty. James remarks that some humans have no sense of self-preservation, and he comes close to Bella. Up close, she finds him unremarkable—save for the pale skin and eye color. He asks if Edward is going to avenge her death, but Bella says she asked Edward not to in a letter.
Again, it shows how selfless Bella is that she feels giddy and relieved that Mom is safe and Bella is the only one who’s going to die. Her own life doesn’t mean nearly as much to her as the health and happiness of her loved ones. Describing James as “unremarkable” suggests that he’s fundamentally different from other vampires, like the Cullens. He doesn’t have the intoxicating beauty to draw victims in.
Themes
James seems disappointed. He says this was too easy and asks if he can leave Edward a letter of his own. James fiddles with a small video camera and says that after seeing this video, Edward won’t be able to resist coming after him. James then insists that this has happened before, and he’s surprised Edward didn’t pick up on it. Years ago, a vampire was fond of a “little victim,” just as Edward is fond of Bella. But when James set his sights on the girl, the vampire stole her from the asylum and turned her into a vampire. The girl didn’t notice the pain; she’d been stuck in a dark cell for a long time. It was the 1920s, so she was in an asylum undergoing shock treatments. Bella realizes James is talking about Alice. James says he destroyed Alice’s maker.
In addition to providing an origin story for Alice’s transformation into a vampire, this scene establishes James’s fundamentally evil nature. He doesn’t just follow his instincts to feed on human blood. He relishes causing pain, both physical and emotional. And he has been that way for decades, at least back to the 1920s. James’s evil nature further highlights how different from him the Cullens and Edward are. Anyone can become a vampire, but how they behave once they are a vampire is what defines them.
Themes
James approaches until he’s inches away and says that Alice smelled even better than Bella does. Then, with a sigh, James says they should get on with it. Bella feels ill; she knows this isn’t going to be a quick death. James circles her and crouches. Bella can’t help but run, though she knows it’s useless. James blocks her and strikes her across the chest. She flies into the mirrors, and James steps on her leg, snapping it. Bella hears a sound and doesn’t even realize she’s the one screaming. James throws her into the mirrors again, and the glass cuts into her scalp. Bella bleeds and feels nauseous and dizzy. She watches James’s expression change; he’s clearly hungry. She hopes that what happens next will be fast.
James doesn’t just feed. He doesn’t just follow his instincts. He tries to cause as much pain as he can in the process. For her part, Bella has willingly put herself in this position to save those she loves, and she never regrets doing so. But the experience of this pain is still brutal.
Themes
