Today, macbeaner pointed out this blog post to me. It's by a published author named Alisa. I left a comment in response to it, but it warned me that the owner of the blog gets to screen comments, so:


A friend of mine brought your blog to my attention today. I just finished reading BD. I hope everyone else has too, because there are going to be some spoilers in my response.

The first thing I want to say is in response to your comment that: No author with the skill that Stephenie Meyer possesses does anything in her books by accident. Meyer is a brand new writer. She's finished five books, and had them published in record time. Her skill is - good. But not fabulous. She's not Tolkien. She's not even Rowling. I think if you are trying to paint her as a pro at this, then you're lying to yourself. (It seems to me that a large part of the plot of BD was done by accident. In another conversation, I'd be asking you if you truly found it that skillfully written.....)

Passing over all the ways in which you've stretched the vampiric palor to symbolize caucasian (and then turned around and pointed out that Laurent is played by a black man), let's look at the attitudes the characters have towards Jacob Black in particular.

In New Moon, when Bella is trying to decide how to tell Jacob that she's willing to try for something more than just friendship, she says she'll have to phrase it just right so that he knows she isn't settling. So that she makes it clear to him that he's much too good for her. Does THAT sound like the author thinks Jacob Black is inferior? Her main character clearly doesn't.

Charlie - Bella's father who would want what is best for her, always - prefers Jacob to Edward through two of the four books. We don't get to hear much of what he thinks in book four, but I'd be willing to guess he preferred Jake then, too.

Even the hapless (but not a "total loser" as you claim) Mike Newton clearly expresses a preference for Jake, if Bella HAS to have one of the two monsters.

Also, the werewolves are not painted as evil. They are friends to the Cullen family, and when the Denali vampires (pale or "white", all of them) take exception to their presence, it's pointed out to them that the werewolves stood by the Cullens when they Denali vampires had not. Does THAT make them out to be inferior? It certainly doesn't seem so.

And finally, the spoiler. Avert your eyes if you haven't finished BD. By the end of the book, Bella is ready to send the most important person in her life - the most important person who will EVER be in her life - off alone with the person she most trusts, the one she's sure will be able to take care of her. She's prepared to send her daughter off alone with Jacob Black - Quileute Indian, and Werewolf.

So, really, if she's entrusting her daughter to him - out of all the assembled vampires and werewolves - HOW is it that you come to the conclusion that he's treated as an "inferior" character? If BELLA thought Jacob was "sinful," as you refer to him, do you really think she'd send her daughter off with HIM for safe-keeping? Nowhere that I've noticed has Meyer EVER so much as hinted that Jake might be "sinful" - except when she wanted to disprove it. A plot device you mention using, yourself, isn't it?

You've clearly done your homework on the Mormon religion. You probably know a lot more about it than I do. But here's the thing: when you read ANY book, you can find what you're looking for. You can find political commentary or vague allusions to current events, or religions or famous people. You can find something to like and something to hate, and you can find something to make the author look however you THINK the author ought to look. Right now I'm asking myself why you read this series thinking that it ought to make Meyer look like a racist.

Because I can see the shaky parallels you've drawn, but I can't see the intent in Meyer's writing. I can only see the intent in YOURS.

I will be very disappointed if many people see value in what you've written here. In the end of the book, Meyer didn't have to MAKE Jacob good in order to do the "morally right thing," because Jacob was good all the way through. His character faltered only briefly. Edward's character went through a similar faltering in NM when he nearly went hunting in Volturi. So, even there the two are on equal footing.

I hope you will take a step back and try to read the books without looking for some ulterior motive. MOST authors don't write like that, as I'm sure you know. I think if you are not LOOKING for racism, you will not find it so often. Good luck to you.

-Daintress


EDIT: Looks like she's taken down her blog post. A shame, since I didn't get to see what she responded to my comment, though I understand from several people that she DID at least let my comment through the queue. If anyone remembers what she said, let me know?

EDIT 2: NO! I'm wrong. She didn't take it down. It got moved. It appears to be here:
http://alisavaldesrodriguez.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-08-08T15%3A18%3A00-07%3A00
But you have to scroll down.