Quo me rapis: the Slumber Party thread

[scoundrel]

Relationships are tested under fire. I would not seriously consider marrying someone with whom I have not argued and made up, not once, but often. People learn about each other and learn the location of the lines they must not cross by arguing, reconciling, and negotiating the terms of their relationship.

We see this in action between Edward and Bella throughout Eclipse. Twilight was the story of their first love. New Moon was the melodrama of their parting and eventual reunion, and the eventual enforcement upon Edward of a situation he thought disastrous for Bella's sake. Eclipse is the story of the courtship which Edward tried to avert in New Moon; we see in Eclipse some of the problems which Edward guessed would happen. But I am not sure that Edward guessed in the parting scene of New Moon that he would have to worry about Bella associating with the Quileute werewolves.

The Slumber Party is the second shoe which falls for Bella after her first impetuous raid on La Push. Bella's escape from FHS and her second raid on La Push is the second shoe falling for Edward after he tried to coral her away from La Push and even had Alice kidnap her. These two really need to talk.

In the end, the Slumber Party has happened for the best. Bella was away from home when Riley visited her house; she would have been in grave danger otherwise. There has been a big falling out between Bella and Jacob in which Jacob grossly exceeded his own boundaries; this is also a relationship in which Bella needs to stand up for herself. Alice has accepted that she pushed her luck a bit too far and is quite meek in accepting Bella's forgiveness; Alice is rarely humble with anyone, but she understands better how she may and may not treat Bella. Above all, Edward has been forced to capitulate over his excesses of over-controlling behaviour. It falls short of unconditional surrender because he really does need to protect Bella in this world of Lions and Tigers and Bears (oh my...); but he accepts that she deserves much more respect than he showed when disabling her truck or arguing with her in her own house. They are defining the terms of their future relationship, and these terms will not involve Edward simply telling Bella what to do. Bella, for her part, shows magnanimity as well as great affection for her new inimical vampire family in general and her vampire lover in particular:

I tensed, waiting for the fury - both his and mine - but it was only quiet and calm in the darkness of his room. I could almost taste the sweetness of reunion in the air, a separate fragrance from the perfume of his breath; the emptiness when we were apart left its own bitter aftertaste, something I didn't consciously notice until it was removed.

There was no friction in the space between us. The stillness was peaceful — not like the calm before the tempest, but like a clear night untouched by even the dream of a storm.

And I didn't care that I was supposed to be angry with him. I didn't care that I was supposed to be angry with everyone. I reached out for him, found his hands in the darkness, and pulled myself closer to him.

Incidentally, the slumber party has been invaluable as a training experience for Bella in finding out about the world as seen through Cullen family eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQLNS3HWfCM

In fact, Alice Cullen's slumber party project has been the success she probably foresaw in her own visions; its just that she didn't expect it to work out exactly the way it worked out.

[scoundrel]

Alice was almost maternal with her Protections in the sleepover ; no doubt she would have replicated the sleepover with Bree over and over if she lived. Maybe Alice likes having control, i.e wedding.

Here is a little example I noticed of how the slumber party experience informed Alice and Edward's interaction with Bella later.

"I have foreseen...," Alice began in an ominous tone.
Edward threw an elbow toward her ribs, which she neatly dodged.
"Fine," she grumbled. "Edward is making me do this. But I did foresee that you would be more difficult if I surprised you."
We were walking to the car after school, and I was completely clueless as to what she was talking about.
"In English?" I requested.
"Don't be a baby about this. No tantrums."
"Now I'm scared."
"So you're - I mean we're - having a graduation party. It's no big thing. Nothing to freak out over. But I saw that you would freak out if I tried to make it a surprise party" - she danced out of the way as Edward reached over to muss her hair - "and Edward said I had to tell you. But it's nothing. Promise."
I sighed heavily. "Is there any point in arguing?"
"None at all."
"Okay, Alice. I'll be there. And I'll hate every minute of it. Promise."
"That's the spirit!"

Alice is very controlling, far more so than Edward; here is one more example of her playing dolls, with Bella as the doll and Esme's house as the doll's house. But the truth is that Bella likes being Alice's barbie doll more than she cares to admit. Alice's secret weapons are charm and sincerity of affection...plus the power to foresee exactly which games her victim will enjoy playing. She makes Bella the centre of attention, the very thing Bella systematically avoids and cringes from, but teaches Bella that it is a good thing to be loved and valued in your own right, that sometimes attention is a great pleasure.

This is what we find in the slumber party; Bella is against the idea of being at the centre of attention yet the reality is not the horror she expected. The slumber party annoyed her, but she didn't hate it at all and part of her realises how much of it stems from the affection and anxiety her vampire associates cherish on her behalf.

[scoundrel]

This gave me chills, scoundrel. It actually made me think of Alice, as well as Esme, in a different manner... " Kidnapping" Bella, though in good intentions, strikes me as a tad odd, though I would have loved to be there Alice might even be selfish, holding Bella captive, and doing things she knows Bella does not enjoy. And Esme, as a responsible adult, allows it. Very interesting. It makes me wonder if an innocent human stumbled upon their existence, Alice would do the same.

I just picked up on this little point and it's significant. Alice is subtle and ingenious as well as mischievous. Bella has no chance at all, even though she has sworn blind to hate every minute of it. She does enjoy herself and does fall exactly into the role, half the entertained and half the entertainment, which Alice has meticulously set up for her. This is what is so very exasperating from Bella's point of view; she can see exactly what Alice is doing and even then she is still helpless to resist. Alice can play Bella like a piano, and does. Fortunately, Bella knows it is funny and has the good sense to accept it and laugh.

[scoundrel]

oh, my, goodness. you have been thinking about the slumber party!

okay, so that's why Alice asks about the wedding dress, rather than informs Bella it's already been taken care of?

beautiful song link, btw.

I think the slumber party is the last hurrah of the Cullens exerting ownership of Bella. The power dynamic works overwhelmingly in the Cullens' favour as long as Bella is human; when James and Laurent refer to Bella has their "pet" they have a bit of a point. Alice is a genuinely friendly and benevolent spirit, but she sees herself as being called upon to protect wayward Bella from herself.

After the slumber party, Alice does not reform; for example, she could have reminded Bella that graduation is imminent and Bella needs to buy in some new threads to wear, but she chose Bella's graduation outfit for her and waited until the critical moment, when Bella realised she had got herself into a fix, and then produced the graduation outfit. There is a good reason why Bella is not quite as effusively grateful for the gift of the graduation outfit as she ought to be; Bella might sometimes be asleep at the switch, but she isn't dim and she always knows when she has been outfoxed.

However, Alice is exceptionally cunning and she drew from the slumber party the lesson that coercing Bella does not work; that herding Bella is like trying to herd cats. Bella can be outmanoevred, though this must be done carefully so that she is not offended. Bella can be enticed; Alice leaves that side of things to Edward. Bella can be persuaded; the wedding and the wedding dress are Alice's finest hours as an arch-manipulator. Bella has a loyal spirit and a sense of duty (as does Alice) and these can be invoked:

Play your role first, Bella, and then you can do what you want second. Part of being a Cullen is being meticulously responsible.~ Eclipse ch 26

But never again will Alice simply commandeer Bella or unilaterally control Bella's life. Alice is an awful lot like an older sister, who is never mean or nasty, but is inclined to be just a tad bossy.

[scoundrel]

The slumber party is a showcase for the lady Cullens at home, Alice in particular. In many ways, Eclipse is Alice's novel, the book in which we see Alice in her fullest plumage. The slumber party is Alice's first opportunity to be playful since that wonderful and fateful Sunday morning when she greeted Bella at the Cullen house with the Kiss of the Vampire. She wants to play, and Bella has been conscripted to be her playmate; even Rosalie plays along, because Alice is quite impossible to resist when she's in this mood, and playing along is just such fun. Rosalie rather enjoys being unhappy

Oh I could make a meal Of that wonderful despair I feel...
~ The Teardrop Explodes: Tiny Children

but she also enjoys hanging around with her fashion consultant; Rosalie was born to be a supermodel and Alice is her perfect sister. Also, she has her agenda and the slumber party is Rosalie's window of opportunity to speak to Bella of things which Bella ought to know. Yet, leaving these things aside, when Alice wants to play, not even Rosalie wants to miss the fun. Poor Bella, she's the ball the vampire girls want to play with, but even she cannot resist; Alice can charm the stars from the sky.

[scoundrel]

Alice was almost maternal with her Protections in the sleepover ; no doubt she would have replicated the sleepover with Bree over and over if she lived. Maybe Alice likes having control, i.e wedding.

I didn't pick up on this right away, but it is a very insightful comment on Alice's nature. Though I see Alice more as an architypal older sister than maternal in the strict sense, she is protective and kind-hearted. I am quite sure she would have played a leading role in nurturing Bree Tanner if Bree had survived the encounter with the Volturi and been retained. Essentially, at least until Bree was sufficienty socialised to be released and allowed to stay or go on the basis that she would either stay and be a Cullen, or go and hunt responsibly, without attracting retribution from the Volturi, someone would have to be both her guard and her tutor. The obvious guard is Jasper, and I bet this is already clear to Jasper while he is rather reserved in the clearing about Carlisle's decision to accept Bree's surrender. But if Jasper is to be the guard, then Alice is the natural tutor. It would be good cop/bad cop.

Alice is Bella's mentor in all things vampire right from their first embrace in Twilight; she could do much the same for Bree as well.

[LynnL]

Yes it's rather sad that Bree never got the chance...so much lost potential.

[scoundrel]

Yes it's rather sad that Bree never got the chance...so much lost potential.

It is sad. Bree seemed to Bella in Eclipse to be a feral and menacing figure and also an embodiment of her own fears. Bree is the first newborn Bella has ever met, and is clearly tortured by her thirst for Bella's sweet blood. Bella is remarkably insouciant around the Cullens, as we see in her fumings during the slumber party, but this does not extend to vampires in general. Bella was as brave as a lion when facing the Volturi in New Moon, but she feared them in various ways, because she knew them to be evil. Bella fears Bree because she sees in Bree a terrible loss of personality and this is her darkest fear of the change.

Tragically, Bree has no way back. Diego is dead, and if she was unwilling to split off to go away with Freaky Fred, who is actually her only true friend in Riley's coven and the only person in her world on whom she can rely, she wouldn't much relish being adopted by strangers. Now that she knows Diego is finished, I don't think she's all that sorry to be cashing in her own chips. She lost the game, and in fact she faces that with a lot of dignity.

But Alice would have brought Bree back from the edge if anyone possibly could. Although Alice disclaims empathy in Bella's human dilemmas, she never disclaims compassion for them, and in Bree's case, Alice has been there too. Alice rose from the change without a friend in the world and without the slightest idea what had led to her being a vampire, or how to live as one. As a newborn, Alice had it tough and she was well placed to support Bree, if the lots had fallen that way. Bree's captivity as a Cullen family POW would have had strong echoes of Alice's slumber party arrangements. I wonder if it could have worked out, or if Bree would have felt like she was living in The Truman Show.

[Shimmerskin]

But Alice would have brought Bree back from the edge if anyone possibly could. Although Alice disclaims empathy in Bella's human dilemmas, she never disclaims compassion for them, and in Bree's case, Alice has been there too. Alice rose from the change without a friend in the world and without the slightest idea what had led to her being a vampire, or how to live as one. As a newborn, Alice had it tough and she was well placed to support Bree, if the lots had fallen that way. Bree's captivity as a Cullen family POW would have had strong echoes of Alice's slumber party arrangements.

This strikes me as SM showing us a bookend moment-that-never-was. She's bookending as skillfully as ever she has, but by using one half as an example of something that can never exist, it paints rather a melancholy tone. I think many (or even most) of Alice's moments can be seen to have a similarly dark shine showing behind the sunny yellow of her nature.

[scoundrel]

This strikes me as SM showing us a bookend moment-that-never-was. She's bookending as skillfully as ever she has, but by using one half as an example of something that can never exist, it paints rather a melancholy tone. I think many (or even most) of Alice's moments can be seen to have a similarly dark shine showing behind the sunny yellow of her nature.

Bella's first true meeting with Alice featured Alice commenting on how nice Bella smelt, which from a vampire is quite a double-edged remark. Bella noticed that Edward had turned into Mr Plank-Face. I think we can reasonably surmise that Bella smells absolutely delicious and that Alice found her jolly appetising; but of course Alice marches to the beat of a different drum, and we know she has already made up her mind that Bella will be her friend. This is exactly how Alice works; she is extremely relaxed about her own dark side and never beats herself up for it, totally unlike Edward, but she never hurts the ones she loves, and she unconditionally adores Bella and is thrilled to little bits that Bella is her friend. One of the reasons for the slumber party is quite simply that Alice to celebrate Bella's friendship and she knows that, whatever noises Bella makes, Bella will allow it. That precognition gift of Alice's is quite unfair when linked to such a seductive and winning personality. One way or another, Alice always gets her way. The slumber party is a supernatural event dedicated to friendship and the pleasures of friendship; Gothic forces devoted to benevolent mischief.

In the Volterra section of the story in New Moon, does anyone notice that the Volturi Guard are deeply afraid of Alice? She is far more deadly than any one of them, except Jane, and since Alice sincerely detests them, they have good reason to be afraid. But Bella, even when Alice flinches from her because she is too thirsty and Bella is too full of flavour, never fears Alice. Bella knows Alice loves her. Ultimately, the slumber party is a forgiveable liberty taken by Alice because it rises organically frm the love of Alice's honest heart.