Bella's Incapacity to Carry "Sad Cargo" and the Potential Transcendence
of Jacob's Character in the Ending of the Twilight Series
Allow me to start off this entry by warning anyone who unconditionally kisses Stephenie Meyer's toes that I question a lot of writing decisions she makes. And I am hardly referring simply to the man Bella chooses to be with at the end of Eclipse; I am mainly opposed to how everything plays out, and the ethical implications of the characters' decisions, despite the fact that I have a somewhat radical tolerance for extremely imperfect characters.
We understand by now, some happily and some bitterly, that despite the collision of Bella's close relationship with Jacob with her unyielding commitment to Edward, she remains resolved to not only stay with Edward but become part of his immortal family.
Here is my problem with the very inclusion of Jacob in this hypothetical story: If his being an alternative love interest for Bella that she never even considers choosing over her star-crossed affair is the only purpose he serves, I find him to be - as much as I adore the character - an enragingly pointless diversion to fill the gap while Edward is gone in New Moon and create some "conflict" for the cross-special lovers to overcome and enrich our already heavy-handed concept of how much they love each other in Eclipse. To suggest that Bella's emotional difficulties in the end of the last volume was the entirety of her consideration of either not being with Edward or, more pathetically, not becoming a vampire? - Weak, weak, weak. If this is the case and Bella's decisions go through no further trials in Breaking Dawn, Meyer will have proven herself only capable of babying her main characters through a playground of obstacles on the way to getting what they want, and to hell with any personal growth on the way.
But I do think there is a lot of possibility that this is not Stephenie Meyer's intention and that Jacob Black may still be an...