Thoughts on chapter 5 of Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer Part 1 Pg. 87-92

I have to split this chapter up. It is so long and so BORING I am really struggling to get through it.

The Bad

Pg.87

Okay so apparently no one at school was talking about the Cullens. Chapter 4 was literally pointless. Completely pointless. I don’t get it! Is everyone obsessed with the Cullens or not? This may be part of Carlisle’s brainwashing! That makes it all make sense! 

Pg. 90

Bella letting the stoner work with her feels blown way out of proportion. Edwards internal monolugue is annoying. He doesn’t understand why she would do that. Has he never met a human who’s not a selfish asshole? Apparently not if this is SUCH a massive deal to him. 

Yes, letting a girl who’s failing biology work with you is a very kind gesture. But it’s not earth shattering. Mike, Edward and the teacher were SHOCKED that Bella would be so selfless. Although to be fair so was I. She’s a rather shallow, selfish, annoying person so this felt very out of character for her.

Pg. 91-92

I DON’T CARE ABOUT MAKING PLANS FOR COMIC CON (unless they’re mine). This is boring.

Also apparently she’s saving Eric from being teased. Sheesh! Bella doesn’t come off looking like a saint. She comes off looking like a caricature of a nice person or of someone who has been so horribly abused that they adopt unhealthy people pleasing coping mechanisms. 

I understand what Stephanie is trying to do here but it’s just not hitting. Bella is too one dimensional for any of this to mean anything. I feel like this is just damage control to give Bella a personality but being a doormat isn’t a personality. It’s a sign that she needs therapy and probably suffered serious abuse.

Stephanie is a mormon and if this is how she sees the world she needs help. I think a lot of this book was influenced by her religion. It’s honestly really sad and kind of terrifying that this is how she thinks of the world. 

I also want to take a moment to talk about parentification. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parentification

This is abuse, which Bella has clearly suffered. I suppose that makes the whole being a doormat and people pleasing thing make sense. 

There is nothing wrong with exploring parentification in a work of fiction however, glamorizing it and making it out to be the result of a cute, quirky parent is sick. This is serious and the way Stephanie portrays it as cute and quirky is disgusting. 

My theory on this is Stephanie suffered this abuse but doesn’t recognize it as such. And the mormon church just filled her head with stuff about how suffering is a virtute and she bought it hook, line and sinker. I have no idea if this is accurate, I’m just guessing. This definitely makes me feel some sympathy for Stephanie. I would say she needs to get therapy but I don’t think she has the tools to recognize that she needs it, especially being in the mormon church. I can’t fault her for not getting help when she perhaps has been praised for suffering. 

Every ounce of sympathy I have for her goes out the window with the pedophillia undertones. There’s no excuse for that. I suspect Stephanie was a victim of abuse just from her writing but still. Maybe she genuinely doesn’t know any better. Maybe she is that broken. But it’s not an excuse for glorifying pedophillia like she has. Something has clearly gone very wrong in her life and she needs serious help.

I have a lot of anger towards Stephanie and a lot of sympathy because this is not the work of a person who had a normal childhood. Or maybe she’s a narcissist. It would be a lot easier to hate her if she was. But I don’t know her personally. 

Okay I’ve gone off on a rant. Let’s get back on track.

The Good

Pg. 90

OMG BELLA ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING! Bella let a “stoner” work with her in Biology and apparently this makes her a shining example of true compassion and kindness. Yay for Bella doing something? I guess? It feels so out of character for her though and the way Stephanie writes it, makes it feel condescending. 

Overall Thoughts

This whole thing feels like propaganda for the idea that suffering is a virtue.​​ That is a wildly toxic idea. 

Very long.

Very boring.

I feel bad for Bella...and Stephanie (a little).