Twilight Book Summary, Themes, Characters & Synopsis

Title	Twilight
Author	Stephenie Meyer
Genre	Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Publication	October 5, 2005
Publisher	Little, Brown and Company
No. of Pages	498 Pages (Hardcover)  544 Pages (Paperback)
Language	English
Series	Twilight Saga (Book 1 of 4)
Setting	The small town of Forks, Washington, USA

Characters

The main characters of “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer are:

1. Bella Swan ➔ A 17-year-old girl who moves to Forks and falls in love with Edward.
2. Edward Cullen ➔ A vampire who loves Bella and tries to protect her.
3. Jacob Black ➔ Bella’s friend who later reveals a secret of his own.
4. Alice Cullen ➔ Edward’s vampire sister with special powers.
5. Carlisle and Esme Cullen ➔ Edward’s vampire parents.
6. Rosalie and Emmett Cullen ➔ Edward’s vampire siblings.
7. Other Vampires ➔ Some are friends, but others pose a danger to Bella.

Themes

The themes of “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer are:

1. Love ➔ The story is all about love between Bella and Edward.
2. Identity ➔ Bella tries to figure out who she is and where she belongs.
3. Supernatural ➔ It’s about vampires and werewolves, things that are not normal.
4. Family ➔ Bella’s relationships with her family and Edward’s family are important.
5. Choice ➔ Characters have to make tough decisions in the story.

Synopsis

Twilight is about a girl named Bella who moves to a rainy town and falls in love with a vampire named Edward. Because vampires can be dangerous, their love is complicated. Bella also befriends a man named Jacob, who has his own secrets. The plot revolves around their love and the difficulties they face.

Summary

Bella Swan, age 17, is relocating from Phoenix, Arizona, to Forks, Washington, where she will live with her father, Charlie. Even though she despises the sleepy, soggy town of Forks, she wants to give her mother, Renée, some space and time to cherish her relationship with her new lover, Phil. On her first day at Forks High School, Bella meets a number of her classmates and spots five incredibly attractive teenagers seated together at a lunch table: Rosalie, Jasper Hale, Edward, Emmett, and Alice Cullen. She discovers that they are Dr. Carlisle and Esme Cullen’s adoptive children. After class, Bella is seated next to Edward in biology. Edward is unfriendly to her in their first class together, and Bella doesn’t see him again at school for the rest of the week. 

Edward appears pleasant when he returns to school the following Monday. When Bella touches Edward’s hand by mistake, she notices that it is very cold and that she feels something like an electric charge. She also observes that Edward’s eyes seem to change color, turning from black to gold when he’s angry. Days later, when Bella is being hit by a van in the school parking lot, Edward steps in to stop her from being crushed. She knows he was across the parking lot and is confused by his power and speed when he claims that he was right next to her when the vehicle nearly hit her. Bella has Edward-related fantasies that night.

In the weeks that follow, Bella receives invitations to multiple school dances from males, but she politely declines each one since she has to leave for Seattle that day. After hearing her, Edward approaches Bella and offers to take her to Seattle, but he cautions her against being friends with him. Bella encounters Jacob Black, a Quileute teenager, during a weekend beach party. He tells Bella about a Quileute myth that claims the Cullen family is a vampire family, however, one that preys on animals rather than humans. Although his father Billy believes the narrative, Jacob freely confesses that he doesn’t. 

Bella sneaks out by herself when she and her buddies travel to Port Angeles to shop one day. Four males start to abuse Bella just as Edward arrives in his car to save her. He claims that he can read the minds of everyone but her and that he is aware of the men’s strategy. Bella tells Edward that she is aware that the Cullens are vampires on the way home. When Bella claims that his being a vampire is irrelevant to her, Edward is taken aback. Edward answers Bella’s queries while dispelling the misconception that vampires spend their nights in coffins and are unable to venture outside during the day. He also commits to demonstrate to Bella how the sun affects him. When Bella gets home, she realizes she loves Edward.

As Edward and Bella get closer, Edward warns Bella that, except Alice, none of his siblings approve of their relationship and that, if Edward were to lose control and hurt Bella, his entire family would be in danger. The day before the dance, Edward begs Bella to travel with him somewhere other than Seattle because he wants to show her what happens when he is exposed to sunlight but isn’t allowed to do it in public. 

The following day after school, Jacob and Billy Black arrive while Bella and Edward are talking in front of her house. Billy notices Edward and cautions Bella to use caution as he flees. On Saturday, Bella and Edward travel by car to a forest before hiking there. Bella is mesmerized by Edward’s skin, which appears to be formed of diamonds in the sunshine. When they first met, Edward says he was tempted to bite Bella, so he took the car to Alaska to get away from her. 

He came back when he was confident that he could control his urges. To get to Bella’s truck, Edward hoists her onto his back and races through the forest. There, they have their first kiss. Edward reveals to Bella on the walk home that he was born in Chicago in 1901 and was on the verge of death from influenza in 1918 when Carlisle “saved” him by turning him into a vampire. Esme, Alice, & the others were eventually located by Carlisle, who transformed them and added them to the Cullen family. Edward acknowledges that he listens in on Bella’s dreams and watches her practically every night. He admits that this is his first experience falling in love.

The following day, Edward introduces Bella to his family. The family chooses to play baseball since the thunder masks the sound of their game when Alice, who can see into the future, sees a storm approaching. When Bella returns home to change, she discovers Billy & Jacob Black waiting outside. Billy tells Bella that Edward is hazardous once more. When Bella reveals to Charlie that she is seeing Edward, he is shocked yet supportive of their relationship. Soon after, Edward arrives, introduces himself to Charlie, and brings Bella to a baseball field located deep within a forest so that he may play with his family. 

Three vampires approach the Cullens during the game. Bella’s hair is ruffled by a breeze, which allows James, one of the new vampires, to smell her human fragrance. James and Edward suddenly start to crouch and snarl at one another; it’s obvious that James wants to murder Bella. After removing Bella from the field, Edward, Alice, & Emmett discuss their options. Bella devises a strategy that will keep Charlie safe and keep James from locating her. She informs Charlie that she is returning to Phoenix while acting as though she had broken up with Edward at home. Driving Bella to Phoenix from the south are Alice and Jasper. James will be lured in the opposite way by Edward, Carlisle, and Emmett, who will then assault him.

The following morning, Alice, Jasper, and Bella book a stay in a Phoenix hotel. Bella recognizes one of the rooms as her old dancing studio and the other as a room in her mother’s house when Alice sees them in her vision. Edward tells Bella that James escaped them and boarded a plane, and he promises to go to Phoenix with Carlisle and Emmett to keep her safe. The following morning, when Bella answers the phone, she hears her mother’s voice addressing her by name. When James speaks again, he informs Bella that he has Renée. Bella must sneak away from Alice and Jasper and get to her mother’s house, he claims; otherwise, her mother’s life is in jeopardy. Bella slinks off when Alice, Jasper, and Bella head to the airport to meet the others. 

When Bella is at her mother’s house, James calls and instructs her to go to her former dancing studio. When Bella gets to the studio, she notices Renée on a TV and understands that James had deceived her into believing that he was her mother by showing her an old movie. Bella is brutally attacked by James, and she collapses. She hears Edward shouting her name as soon as she comes to. James bit her hand, which Carlisle discovers when attending to her wounds. Carlisle gives Edward the order to draw the poison from Bella’s blood to save her from becoming a vampire. Edward hesitates to taste Bella’s blood because of fear that he won’t be able to stop after the poison wears off, but he eventually makes up his mind to do it.

Bella awakens in a hospital room a few days later. The fact that Edward was able to stop consuming her blood is evidence of how much he loves her, he informs her, adding that James was slain by Emmett and Jasper. Edward claims Bella fell through a window and down two flights of stairs to explain Bella’s wounds to her parents. Edward and Bella dispute when Bella questions why he won’t turn her into a vampire. Edward says he doesn’t want Bella to miss out on any human experiences and accompanies her to the prom once she has mostly healed from her wounds. Although Edward claims he won’t leave her, Bella accepts it for the time being. She is sad that he won’t alter her. Edward grinned and leaned in to kiss Bella’s throat as they danced.

FAQs

Abou the Author-Stephenie Meyer

Author Name	Stephenie Meyer
Full Name	Stephenie Morgan Meyer
Date of Birth	December 24, 1973
Place of Birth	Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Nationality	American
Education	Bachelor’s degree in English from Brigham Young University
Famous Works	-Twilight series (including “Twilight,” “New Moon,” “Eclipse,” and “Breaking Dawn”) -The Host
Genre	Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Romance