TA TALKS BACK: EDWARD – IN LOVE OR ADDICTED??
TA Forum member Southern_Twihard shared her thoughts on love and addiction related to the Twilight series.
Think back to…Edward explaining to Bella in Twilight that she was his personal brand of heroine…Edward’s thoughts in Midnight Sun revealing the physical impact that Bella had on him…Edward revealing to Bella in New Moon (I think) that Emmett also had a “la tua cantante†but that she became a McEmmett Happy Meal.Well, those passages collectively made me wonder… Did Edward fall in love with Bella in Twilight? OR Did he convince himself that it was love when, in reality, he was just addicted to her — he “experimented†with this addictive “substance†and then spent all of his time and energy getting as much of her as possible regardless of consequences?
I completely forgot about this weird idea of mine until recently, when I had lunch with a good friend who is a licensed addiction counselor. I asked her: “If Edward came into your clinic, would you qualify him as an addict?â€
She declared that she would not be able to help Edward if he entered her clinic because she would certainly faint from his “awesomeness.†We both blushed and giggled at the mere thought! Next, she snarled at me for “daring to try to analyze the most romantic book written in our lifetimes!†But, she suddenly stared in silence at me, and I KNEW that my idea had sparked her interest.
She gradually listed Edward’s behaviors that would qualify him as an addict:
- Physical cravings for the habit-forming substance (Bella) on an elemental level;
- Eventual tolerance to his cravings (image: Edward sniffing Bella’s wrist in New Moon and Eclipse to show that he was becoming desensitized to her blood);
- Compulsive need to have access to Bella regardless of personal consequences (image: all of Edward’s overprotective sheltering); and
- Withdrawal symptoms when Bella was inaccessible/“dead†(image: Edward sans shirt in Voltera at noon…enough said).Despite these supportive facts, she declared that I could “rest easy because Edward was not an addict.†She explained that he “had to be†like many other people who never develop addictions after they partake of addictive substances, whether due to biology or how they were raised or just pure luck. More importantly, she was certain that Edward’s reaction to Bella was more like super-hyper-pheromones because “he is just too perfect and wonderful for anyone to think anything less of him.â€
A moment of serious silence followed her declarations… But, then we were absolutely hysterical since we were worriedly discussing whether or not a fictional character was an addict whom she could help with counseling.
Regardless, she convinced me with her expertise – the true love theory prevails!
What do you think? Was Bella Edward’s addiction or his true love?
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