Wednesday, October 20, 2010

In Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer, is there external or internal conflict?

There is BOTH internal and external conflict in Stephenie Meyer's Eclipse.


The external conflict revolves around Victoria, a vampire seeking revenge for the killing of her romantic partner, James (the antagonist of the Twilight series' first book). Victoria wants to kill Bella to punish Edward for killing James, even though this "murder" was an act of defense. This conflict results in the creation of a vampire army and an enormous battle between these warring factions at the end of the book.


The internal conflict largely occurs within Bella, whose first-person perspective guides the narrative of the book. Bella is emotionally torn between her love for Edward, her vampire boyfriend, and her love for Jacob, a werewolf. While Bella feels strong emotional ties to both of these men, she ultimately has to make a decision: will she choose Edward and finally "seal the deal" by acquiescing to his marriage proposal, risking that Jacob will make good on his promise to get himself killed in the battle with Victoria? Will she choose Jacob, which is a safer and more "natural" relationship, risking the loss of her supernatural love? Bella eventually agrees to marry Edward. This sets us up for the external conflict of the fourth and final book of the series, in which Edward and Bella's honeymoon results in an unexpected hybrid vampire-human child. 

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