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
When Bella gets home, she tells Charlie that she has a lot of homework, locks herself in her room, and puts in headphones. She turns on music loud enough to hurt her ears and listens to it on repeat until she falls asleep. Bella can tell she’s dreaming when she wakes up somewhere in the forest near the ocean. Jacob is trying to pull her into the forest and tells her to run, but he falls and turns into a wolf. Mike’s voice tells Bella to run too, but Bella sees Edward beckon to her. He has sharp teeth and looks evil. Before Bella can move, the wolf flies at Edward, and the two fight. Then, Bella wakes up. It’s 5:30 am.
Dreams may be just Bella’s subconscious working things out, but the dream nevertheless throws into sharp relief the choice Bella is going to have to make. Will she choose to listen to the people, like Jacob and Mike (and to a degree, Edward himself) who insist that Edward is dangerous and should be avoided? Or does she give in to her interest in Edward, no matter the danger it poses to her?
Themes
It’s no use trying to go back to sleep, so Bella gets ready for her day and boots up her computer. She searches “vampire” and peruses a website called “Vampires A-Z.” Bella reads through world legends about vampires, looking for anything familiar or plausible. Many of them seem like stories meant to explain high rates of child mortality or to excuse male infidelity. But three stand out: one that looks like pale humans, one that is fast enough to massacre towns in minutes, and an Italian kind that’s supposed to be good. That last one is a relief, but none of the legends line up with Jacob’s story. Furthermore, Bella knows that vampires can’t come out during the day.
As mythical beings that supposedly don’t exist, Bella is already running into issues as she researches vampires. Legends about mythical beings, like vampires, often arise to explain things that people don’t know how to explain any other way—like child mortality. But Bella also can’t ignore that some of these legends seem to match up with what she’s observed in Edward. Bella is trying to marry her rational, sensible side with seemingly fantastical things that she’s seen.
Themes
Annoyed and embarrassed by her internet search, Bella decides she has to get out of the house. She hikes into the forest from the backyard, carefully following the trail. When she comes to a fallen tree, she sits down amongst the ferns and logs. The forest looks eerily like it did in her dream last night; here, it’s easier to believe that vampires might exist.
Because Bella has an easier time believing in vampires when she is out in the forest, the novel starts to equate vampires with the natural world. This also implies that vampires, if they do exist, are something natural—just like the ferns and logs.
Themes
Bella knows she has two questions to answer. First, was anything Jacob said true? It seems ridiculous, but Edward is also gorgeous, has saved Bella with his impossible strength, and he never eats. He speaks like he’s from a different era, and he says he’s dangerous. If the Cullens aren’t vampires, they’re at least not human. The second question is what Bella is going to do if it’s true. She can’t tell anyone. She can avoid Edward, but this makes Bella feel like she’s in pain. Or she can do nothing—after all, even if Edward is evil, he still saved her. Bella also realizes that Edward in real life is nothing like the Edward in her dream last night—and when the wolf attacked Edward in her dream, she was afraid for Edward.
As Bella thinks through her conundrum, it’s worth noting that she’s compiling all the information she’s gathered and is trying to make a rational decision. She is, importantly, not jumping to conclusions that Edward is evil just because he might be a vampire. But even as she tries to be rational about all of this, she still finds that her emotions are getting in the way. Feeling pain when she thinks about avoiding Edward speaks to how interested in and connected to Edward she already feels—and as she thinks about her dream again, she reveals that she also wants to protect Edward.
Themes
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Bella knows she has her answer. It doesn’t feel like a choice at all; no matter what’s true, she only wants to be near Edward. Shivering, Bella gets up and hurries home. She spends the afternoon writing a paper on Macbeth. She’s at peace—making decisions is always hard for her, but it’s a relief to have made a choice. Charlie gets home late in the evening with fish he caught, and Bella decides to get a fish cookbook in Seattle. She feels chills as the thought of going to Seattle with Edward.
When Bella makes this choice, it becomes clear that her all-encompassing interest in Edward is more important to her than any threat he might pose to her. So though Bella frames this as a rational choice, she’s actually not making a very rational decision: she’s prioritizing her lust and her emotional fulfillment over anything else.
Themes
It’s sunny again the next morning. Bella shocks Charlie at breakfast with her upbeat demeanor and leaves for school early. She settles on the benches by the cafeteria and sketches on her homework. Mike calls to Bella and comes to join her. He tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, and then the subject turns to their Macbeth essay, which is due on Wednesday. Deflated, Mike says he’ll have to get started on it instead of going on a date with Bella. Bella tells Mike that Jessica’s feelings would be hurt if they dated.
Once Bella feels at peace and has made a choice about Edward, that the weather in Forks starts to cooperate. Bella misses the Phoenix sun, and it likely makes her feel more at home when Forks is so sunny. The connection between her choice and the weather also implies that Bella made the right choice—choosing Edward will make her happy and feel more at home.
Themes
Later, Jessica invites Bella to accompany her, Angela, and Lauren to shop for dresses in Port Angeles. Bella’s anxiety climbs throughout the morning; she wants to study the Cullens to see if anything matches up with her research. But they’re not in the cafeteria at lunch. Suddenly miserable, Bella agrees to go to Port Angeles. The rest of the day passes slowly, and Bella is thrilled to be able to go home after school and mope before going to Port Angeles. But Jessica calls to postpone until tomorrow—Mike asked her out. To distract herself, Bella emails Mom and then takes her collected works of Jane Austen outside to read. When she realizes that the Austen books are full of characters named Edward or Edmund, she stops reading and lies back in the sunshine.
In this passage, Bella’s struggle to connect with her human classmates comes to the forefront. Going to Port Angeles with Jessica is, Bella suggests, only a way to distract herself from the Cullens’ absence. Bella’s heightened emotional state as she thinks about the Cullens (and casts aside Jane Austen) also drives home how obsessed she is with Edward. His absence is plunging her deep into despair, while presumably, she’d be thrilled if Edward were in school.
Themes
When Charlie gets home, Bella jerks awake and follows him into the house. She watches TV with him after dinner and, during a commercial, she asks if she can go with Jessica to Port Angeles tomorrow. He doesn’t understand why she’s going dress shopping if she’s not going to the dance, but he agrees. Bella offers to leave sandwich ingredients in the fridge for him.
Charlie might not get Bella’s desire to go to Port Angeles, but he nevertheless wants her to be happy in Forks and make friends. He supports her by allowing her to form connections, while Bella supports Charlie in return by making sure he has something nutritious to eat.
Themes
The next day is almost exactly the same: the Cullens aren’t at school, and Bella is miserable despite the nice weather. She’s anxious to get out of Forks so she can stop looking for Edward everywhere. After school, Bella hops into Jessica’s car. They pick up Angela and head out of Forks.
It's an indicator of how much Bella looks forward to Edward’s presence that she’s unable to be happy despite the sunshine. Edward is becoming even more important to her than the sun—something she craved only a few days ago.
Themes
