Tuesday 15 March 2011

BEL: The Chapter in Which A Skeleton is Unearthed


Last week we found out what the big deal was about the collar. This week we're going to see Bella's side of the equation and Jasper will be revealing his final skeleton.

I've received a few comments along the lines of 'it's nice to see Maria isn't portrayed as the bad guy.' Don't confuse her (at least former) love for Jasper with her role in the story. If simply loving Jasper meant she was a 'good guy', then Edward would be a 'good guy' too because he loves Bella. Or at least thinks he does. And we all know Team Edward is not whiter than white here.

It's important to note that, at this point we have no idea where Maria's loyalties lie. Jasper says they loved each other very much and their relationship, however warped and twisted it was, proves that there was at one time a massive amount of trust there. He has also said that she would be too damned scared to do anything but be loyal to him, in case he came after her. But then, he said Alice was loyal and none of you believed that, did you?

That said, it's important that you don't automatically paste Maria as 'team evil' just because she hurt Jasper, as some of you - you know who you are - did with Alice.

I've said it before and I say it again. 'Good' and 'Evil' are too finite for this story. There is no black and white only a scale of grey that each and every one of the characters is constantly moving up and down; even Bella and Jasper.

Where does that leave Maria? Form your own opinions, decide where you think she would be now based on her former relationship with Jasper. And if any of you figure out where she's at right now, I'll be impressed.

Also, a few people queried the tethered mates thing in ch20 and this is part of the explanation. Bella is his missing piece and as such will always do what is right for him and vice versus. Maria was just another lost half missing her tether, and they helped each other out. We'll find out more about Maria later.

I'll leave you with this thought; if their relationship damaged Jasper, what kind of effect has it had on her?

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3 comments:

  1. I love how you ended that, babe. It's gonna make the readers think a little harder on what they just read in this last chapter, and since I have a little insight I can say this makes perfect sense, if they open their eyes a bit and read what you;re really saying.

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  2. @ Duskri123 Yes, it's too easy to think of Maria as being OK because she was the abuser, not the victim. But it's not a standard 'abuse' situation, different rules apply. How she is dealing with it relies solely on how much she has learned since finding her own tether and whether she realises what her treatment of Jasper must have done to him.

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  3. *still has a growly face at Maria*

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