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And that's why I have become very picky when choosing my books. I've grown to despise the independant girls that lack a single flaw in their personality ... actually, make that every single character that is very much of a Mary Sue (not the Alice is a Mary Sue there just isn't as much information about her and you don't get to see/hear what she's really thinking).

Bella is very flawed, and that is why I like her character. She can be funny, stupid, vain, insecure...


Like I said in another thread. He had left her and hidden everything that reminded her of him. Then she has to go get him back, and then he proposes to her after denying her the one thing that would keep them together forever. I wouldn't accept right away either.
Also, Charlie would be so angry and even more disappointed in Bella than he was at the end of the book. Charlie watch Bella wither away while he was gone, which would be horribly painful for a father to do. Then he sees the Cullens return and it looks like Edward expects Bella to come crawling back to him after putting their family through that. I don't blame Charlie for being furious and who knows what would occur when Bella's mother found out.

Bella. Didn't. Use. Jacob.

Get that straight mad

I'm already sick and tired of reading the very same thing, in every single thread I go to. "Jacob was used, Jacob was used, how could she do that to him?"

She didn't use him!

She was merely holding on to any thing that was safe, anything she had left. Because she had nothing left until Jacob came along. He was her sun, her light, her safe harbor, as she herself worded uncountable times.
Her feelings for Jake are real, she really does care for him a lot. She doesn't want to see him sad. She feels horrible about everything that happened, but it wasn't her fault.
She was drowning in the darkness within her, and Jake was the light at the end of the tunnel. Anyone who's drowning tries to reach up for the light, for something that'll save them, instinctly.

I don't see how so many people out there don't seem to understand her. Actually, I think I do. I've been through something as bad as her, and I can understand Bella so well - we're tuned.
Last year, in April, my one true love, my first boyfriend, was shot on the head, and died. When I started acting exactly like Bella did, I could see how so many people around me just couldn't understand what I was feeling.
The feeling of loss. Desperation. I couldn't find myself again. Unlike Bella, I didn't have a light at the end of my tunnel to reach for.
The only thing that kept me from killing myself was the fact I hadn't seen my first boyfriend for a long time - he was in Brazil, and I was in US. It didn't make the pain any less, seeing I still loved him as much as I had before.
I know that Edward didn't die, and many people might think that she's exaggerating - but, I don't think so. As I said before, I'm tuned with her, I can understand.
It's not that easy to not believe what came out of Edward's mouth when he left - I don't know how to explain, it's just not easy to NOT believe. It's something Bella had been running from since she fell in love with him.
She had all the reasons in the world to believe she didn't deserve him, and she's insecure, so of course she'd ask herself why Edward would ever love her. His words were enough to crush the little hope she had, and throw her right back to all the insecure feelings that were always there.

Bella isn't a bad character. She's deeper than many of you think she is. It's just the kind of person she is. The kind of situation she's in. There's no way to not have to be saved constantly - with vampires trying to kill her, angry werewolves around her, and on top of all that, her own darkness inside to fight with.
I think she's actually very strong, and not selfish at all. She didn't try to kill herself, she thought about the people who love her.
When I thought about killing myself, it barely came through my mind what the people who loved me would feel.
She was strong enough to not be engulfed in her own darkness. And that alone is a very difficult thing to do.

The people who don't like Bella, in my opinion, just don't understand. Because they've never really felt that way. To them, she sounds whiny - I don't really blame anyone, if I didn't know any of what she feels, I'd think she's whiny too.

You only really know how deep a well is until you fall in it yourself.
Think about that.

Thank you! heart

Well, Stephenie said Bella has her reasons to declining Edward's proposal, so...
All we can do is wait, right? sweatdrop
~tears~

Yeah I never really hated Bella,disliked her or any of that stuff people keep saying.
But what you said makes since, and NO! she didn't use freakin Jacob!
Seriously,he knew that she didn't feel the same about him that he did her if you go to her website it has a little chapter thing in Jacob Point of View which I really got Jacob then,and If you reread New Moon she says on her site that
When the advanced reading copies began to fall into the hands of my fans, I asked people read New Moon twice, promising that I would explain why later. It's later, and this is why: the first time through New Moon, I've found that readers are so anxious about the absence of Edward that they can't settle into the middle portion of the book. They skim and speed read and flip ahead until, at last, they find him again. However, at that point they've missed the main section of the novel almost completely. On a second reading, knowing that Edward will return to the story at the proper place and time, the reader can slow down and enjoy the wondrousness that is Jacob Black.-Stephenie Meyer

and she also said

....And thus was born the basic premise of New Moon, and with it the title. To follow after Twilight, I needed a time of day to reflect the mood of the sequel. As this is the blackest period of Bella's life, I thought it appropriate to name the book after the darkest kind of night, a night with no moon.-Stephenie Meyer

The darkest point of her life!!

I'd rather she always get saved than a) get killed by bloodthirsty vampires or b) always do the saving... that really annoys me.

Bella is a VERY realistic character... especially for such an unrealistic situation (being in love with a vampire). Much more realistic than the independent, witty, over-powerful, flawless female leads in other books I've read. They get annoying after awhile. Bella is her own person and cannot be compared to other characters. Now don't get me wrong, I love strong characters, why do you think I like Bella so much? She is strong. Perhaps not physically, but she didn't kill herself, she did her very best to stay strong for her family. I don't think I can ever put my opinion of Bella into better words than UnicornPower has. Read her post.

Bella is a very admirable character. Different from the recent onslaught of Mary-Sue type female leads.

I was so sad during this book, there were times when i was just ready to... well I don't know scream probably. Anyways i never once hated Bella, I felt horribley sorry for her becuase all I could think of was'man if I had a guy like Edward I know I would be the same way,' it's a humans natural insicurity, we always feel like a lot less than what others think of us and so when we find someone who is our world it's just that insecurity that makes us think 'how could such an amazingly wonderful person fall for someone so plain,' when in truth that other person is probably thinking the same thing.
It's looking at the little things Bella did that showed how brave she was, trying to be strong and act fine for her father, but with that much hurt and loss it's just not possible to be normal and act normal, pain has a way of getting the best of us.
And when it comes to Jacob I was at my greatest loss becuase I understand to much and I want to sympathize with everyone. I understood Bella's need to be with someone who made her happy, how made her feel alive again, but I know who hard it is to need something so bad and yet keep a line of relationship clear.
Jacob, i felt so bad for him becuase I knew in the end Bella would never be his, but I know boys all to well and that he would chase her to the bitter end; and bitter it was. I knew someone like him, they fight so hard for something, but in the end they still loss, it's what the elizabethans would call a tragedy where the hero doesn't get what he wants.
All in all i was a freaking roller-coaster of emotion with New Moon, a logical part in my mind was always telling me, of course Edwards coming back he has to (I can imagine a group of very angry fangirls who would rampage Mrs. Meyers house if he didn't), but while i was reading I just kept thinking, 'what if he doesn't come back, wouldn't it be right for her to be with Jacob?' of course i scolded my self for that becuase i knew the only one Bella would ever truely belong with was Edward.