Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

control while he makes her lose her control: “Blood boiled under my skin, burned in my lips. My breath
came in a wild gasp. My fingers knotted in his hair, clutching him to me. My lips parted as I breathed in his
heady scent” (282). Suddenly, Bella is aware of her sexuality, her desire for Edward, and is unable to
control herself. After this display of affection, Edward realizes how perilous this could be for Bella. He
„turns to stone‟ under her lips and with „irresistible force‟ pushes her face away from his (282). Bella turns
back into a repentant child, muttering „Oops‟ (282) and moving away from him. She then laments her lack
of control. After that, Edward becomes her protector from outside threats, he also protects her from
herself. Meyer acknowledges societies double standard when it comes to adolescent sexuality: on one hand
they are supposed to be innocent, yet are also “constructed…as fully sexual temptresses” (Doan and
Williams 68), which is the role that Bella now plays for Edward.
Of course, to be a protector he must be constantly vigilant. This entails spying on Bella before and after
they are talking. He repeatedly snuck into her room and sat in the rocking chair across from her bed and
watched her while she slept. Despite the boundaries that were crossed when Edward infiltrated Bella‟s
bedroom without her knowledge, she is more upset that he may have heard her talking in her sleep. She
notes that she “could not infuse her voice with the proper outrage” because she was “flattered” that he
would go through so much trouble (292). Instead of a calculated entry into her home, Bella takes this action
as a sign that Edward cares enough to go through all the trouble. Pipher says adolescent girls „suffer‟ from
what is called “imaginary audience syndrome” where the girls “think they are being watched by others who
are preoccupied with the smallest details of their lives” (60). There could be nothing more romantic than a
man being so enamored with a woman that he would go through so much trouble just to watch her sleep.
Snitow makes note about a theme in Romances in general that it is “pleasing to think that appearances are
deceptive, that male coldness, absence, boredom, are not what they seem” (250).
178