Twilight

In Literary Analysis by Celena Kusch, she explains the concept of cultural contexts.  Cultural context refers to cultural history that aids in enhancing our interpretation of the text’s social significance (Literary Analysis, 75).  The cultural context offers an explanation behind the reasoning for an artistic work being the way it is.  Kusch uses the example of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.  The main characters in the Twilight series are Bella, a human, Edward Cullen, a vampire, and Jacob, a werewolf.  Edward and his vampire family represent the upper class of society and Jacob and his family represent the lower class.  The Cullens are an all-white family, and the patriarch of the family is a doctor. The werewolves are Native Americans and live secluded from the other members of the community on a reservation.  The vampires and werewolves have had a several hundred-year feud. The two groups never blend. Bella falls in between these two groups by having romantic feelings for both Edward and Jacob. In the end, she chooses to marry Edward and becomes a vampire.  The cultural context of the novels tells the audience that Bella chooses to become a member of the elite section of society. The ultra-white skin, immortal beauty, and rich family will give her a life with no struggle. If she had chosen to join the werewolf family, this would not be true.  Cultural context is the tool that leads the reader to make this assumption of the Bella’s choices throughout the novel. The book’s situations parallel situations in current culture. The reader is able to make these connections because of cultural history. The reader is also able to discover different meanings within the text than what is interpreted from only the surface of the text.

For this blog post, I would like to analyze a certain situation in Twilight where cultural context is key in understanding a deeper meaning of the text.  Towards the end of the novels, Bella and Edward end up getting married and conceiving a child.  A problem is developed within her pregnancy when the Cullen family realizes the child she is carrying is not human.  The baby is half-human, half-vampire and is draining her of all the nutrients she needs to survive. Jacob still cares about Bella very much, despite her choosing Edward over him, and wants to help her survive through the pregnancy and birth of the child.  The child is born and kills Bella. Bella is then transformed into a vampire and Jacob hates Edward for changing her from human to vampire. Then, the first time Jacob makes eye contact with the baby, he imprints on her. Imprintation occurs when a bond is formed between a werewolf and another person and initiates the werewolf to protect the other at all costs.  It is viewed as a law in werewolf culture. Eventually when the child grows older Jacob and Bella’s child fall in love. Viewing this situation through the lens of cultural context gives it a different meaning. Since the vampire family represents the elite section of society, and Jacob is the complete opposite, society says that he will never be able to mesh with the Cullens because of the low probability of social mobility.  The only way Jacob is able to achieve the status of the elite class is by joining the family of the Cullens. This isn’t easy for Jacob. Before the child was born, the family often remarks that Jacob is only “a dog” and they don’t like being around him. This is comparable to racism and segregation in American society. They look down upon him because of his appearance and lifestyle. The Cullens and the werewolves choose to never change the relationship between werewolves and vampires because that is how their culture has always been.  Only a law can change this relationship which is similar to segregation within previous years of American culture. It is common in American society for people to be stuck in their ways and not change their opinions. The novels appear to end in a “happy ending”, but the cultural problems within the novel are never truly resolved. American culture’s issues will never fully be resolved.  

Using cultural context as a tool for finding different meanings in literary texts is crucial.  It aids the reader in developing an awareness of underlying details. It gives a text a larger social significance according to Kusch.  When challenging the norms of society within a literary work, it may change the meaning to readers. Some texts may be viewed as superficial to some readers, especially Twilight because of the story it tells on the surface.  When a reader views it with the cultural context in mind, the level of importance may increase.  The series appears to challenge American culture through the use of bloodsucking and body-morphing creatures.  These aspects may draw a reader in, and change the way they view the society around them.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.