Is Edward Possessive???

[Shimmerskin]

I was reading Crossed by Ally Condie and encountered a quote I find very pertinent to this discussion about Edward:

"Does loving someone mean you want them to be safe? or that you want them to be able to choose?"

Until about halfway through EC, Edward errs in believing his greatest gift to Bella is in keeping her safe. (There's also an element of self-interest in this, because he can't live in a world where she doesn't exist; if anything were to happen to her, it would be his own destruction, as well).

As he matures in his relationship, he comes to understand that truly loving Bella means honoring her choices, even to the exclusion of protecting her. This may not be in his best interests at all, if in fact her choices lead to her death, or to her leaving him to be with someone else. Yet he honors them. His love is that pure.

He loves her more for her sake than for his.

[scoundrel]

As he matures in his relationship, he comes to understand that truly loving Bella means honoring her choices, even to the exclusion of protecting her.

One day I will stop threatening to do it and actually start a Slumber Party thread. That is an extremely amusing passage but as nearly always happens in these books, the funny passages are deadly serious too. It isn't only Edward actually; Alice is both protective and a bit possessive too. One must remember Alice has a best friend for the first time she can ever remember and the first thing that happened was that James came within a whisker of killing her, thwarted in the end only by his own stupidity. The events in Phoenix in the first book will have impressed on Alice that Bella can die; Alice does not like seeing Bella gallivanting off to hang out with unstable young werewolves.

But although Alice designed the Slumber Party, Edward conceived the basic notion; its a gilded cage. Bella has shown intractable resolve on the werewolf issue and Edward is in a flat spin thinking about all the bad stuff that could happen. He has not accepted as yet that some things are beyond his control. As Oliver Cromwell might have put it:

Put your faith in God and keep your powder dry.

[redlipstick]

start the thread, scoundrel, start the thread. You've obviously put way more thought into than anyone else, and I think we could appreciate getting schooled by you. (!)

[Envoute by Twilight]

start the thread, scoundrel, start the thread. You've obviously put way more thought into than anyone else, and I think we could appreciate getting schooled by you. (!)

I second that! Please Scoundrel humor us!

[LadyEsme]

I also vote for a discussion specifically on the slumber party. Go for it, Scoundrel.
Cheers,
LadyEsme