The Thrill is in the Chase

         Why, why, why,why? Why must girls insist on succumbing to the charms of troubled agnst-y and ridiculously hot monsters? I mean seriously, what do they see in the assorted vampires and werewolves? Because all that I see is something, yes thing, that I would keep on a 10 mile radius. This theme is prevalent in almost every book written for the clientele of none other than me, a teenage girl. Except I, unlike many other girls my age, do not see the attractions of the Edward-Jacob-Sam's of the parallel world of supernatural beings. It can't be denied that the para-normal romance craze has taken over my age group. In fact there's a whole section in Barnes and Nobles tired "Teen Para-normal Romance," which is larger than the "Mysteries" section, if that's not offensive to literature, I don't know what is.

         So why are teen girls so attracted to the handsome conflicted monsters as boyfriends? I'm sure none of them in real life would want a vampire boyfriend such as Edward the handsome gentlemanly male love interest in the famed Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I'm also pretty sure that none of them would want werewolves like Jacob (also from the Twilight series) and Sam (star of the Shiver series) who could rip them apart with their unstable temperaments and shape shifts.
          As I thought about this conundrum, I hearkened back to another book I'd read called the Perks of Being A Wallflower. In the book, Patrick is giving Charlie advice on how to treat a girl. He says, "the key to girls is that they always want to change us." He then goes on to tell Charlie that if you change the challenge is over and they get bored, they "break up with your sorry ass." I think this is why the Bella-Grace's of the world of books are so attracted to the monsters. If Patrick's advice is sound, then the monster is the ultimate challenge, and therefore boyfriend. A monster is something always affiliated with evil in context. To change a monster to something good is almost nearly impossible, it takes perseverance and patience and often, love. The challenge is rich and tempting, everyone believing they can do it.
           Bella believes that she can change Edward from careful and held back into someone who can actually have a relationship and believe in their supposed love. She pushes him to start the relationship in the first book, Twilight. Edward wants to keep his distance, he knows that he could hurt her, kill her even and he doesn't want to put her in danger. It makes him more appealing to her as she finds herself "going crazy" for him even more as she pushes him away. However, he gives in eventually, he is still a boy after all. Her next challenge is getting him to have a physical relationship with her. Again he is afraid of hurting her, damaging both her phsyce and body. Again Bella keeps pushing and pushing, trying to change his mindset and feelings toward himself, as he hates himself for hurting others and being a vampire. Bella is constantly trying to change Edward and his resistance just makes him more attractive to her.
           While Bella is trying to change Edward's mindsets, Grace of the series Shiver by Maggie Stiefire is trying to change her boyfriend Sam's physical being. Sam is a werewolf, his shift is triggered by coldness. In the winter he becomes a wolf for the whole seasons, while in fall he can shift whenever it gets cold. When he is a wolf, he doesn't remember Grace, and his love for her, he disappears from her life. Fearing this time, Grace is trying to find the cure for his wolf-ness. Although Grace and Sam both want to be together all of the time, they are both most attracted to each other when their problem of werewolves is most intense. In fact, when they have sex for the first time it is after Sam has had a false alarm of almost becoming a vampire. The chase is what seems to turn Grace on.
            Both of these girls speak longingly of the "happily ever after" in their respective book series, but both are still extremely attractive to their monster boyfriends when they are trying to change them. As Patrick told Charlie, "Girls-want-to change us." and these two female protagonists prove this.
     

The Past, The Present, The Future

       My first memory is from when I was two years old. It was when my sister was born. It wasn't that I was there at the birth, it was that my Aunt had come down from the apartment she rented upstairs to come and take care of me as my parents brought my sister into the world. All that I remember is a flash of a picture, just a snapshot of a bowl of the spinach-y mixture (I later found out it was quiche) and my hand on the wooden spoon, pudgy fingers gripping hard.That was in 2001. Somehow, 11 years later, I still remember that moment, among all other moments both before and for after that. Why? Why that flash?
      The past has so much to do with our present, and therefore our future. The past, whether it be a minute ago or 20 years, is prevalent in our decisions and lives. Life is not like an essay, we are not given specific resources that tell us what to do.The thing is, the past is all of the back ground information we have on life. So we have to rely on it in order to base our life on anything.
      The past is always on the mind of characters in books. Books are usually centered on a change that has happened in the main character's life, that's what makes books worth reading. In many of the books I have read recently, getting beyond the past which ties them down and becoming ready for the future or breaks them free. For although the past is a valuable resource, we can dwell on it too much. I found this theme in Between Shades of Gray, Looking for Alaska and The Secret Life of Bees.
        In Between Shades of Gray, the past and present and the foreseeable future are so different that the contrast is startling. Between Shades of Gray is a story about a girl named Lina growing up under the rule of Stalin in Lithuania. Lina and her family (Brother Jonas, Mother Elena and Father Kostas) live a rich and happy life in Lithuania. Kostas is a professor and makes enough money to keep them all happy. Lina is pursuing what looks to be a successful career in art and Jonas chases bugs out of the house instead of killing them. Then the deportations begin. Lina, Jonas and Elena are separated from Kostas and deported first to a forced labor camp and then to Siberia to supposedly die; in trains marked "thieves and prostitutes."Lina's past and her present are so strikingly different that it seems they were from different lifetimes. Because of Lina's present situation, she frequently thinks about the past. She describes delicious meals to herself when she is starving in Siberia. She draws as if she still has that freedom. But both of these things just make her present situation worse when she feels more hungry and the guards catch her drawing. Lina feels that the only way she can survive is by living in the past which dulls the present. What Lina doesn't realize is that the contrast only grows stronger and that she cannot survive that way. Lina needs to stop dwelling on the past if she is to survive the present and future.
       The dichotomy between past and present is also evident in the book Looking for Alaska by John Green. The book centers on a boy named Miles. Miles enrolls in the boarding school Culver Creek to set out to find the "Great Perhaps." Miles meets new friends, trouble makers Colenel and Tamiki and the beautiful Alaska. Miles falls in with them and soon acts just like them, smoking, pranking and having fun all the time. However, Miles is forgetting his past. He forgets his former loser-like existence at home and how he used to be more shy, more reserved, less impulsive. In forgetting this former side of himself he doesn't realize how much heartbreak and trouble he is getting into falling for Alaska Young. Sure she's hilarious and sexy, but she's dangerous and moody. If Miles had held on to a little bit more of his former judgement and reserve he would have realized a little of what he was getting into and maybe not have been so hurt and surprised when it fell apart.
     A third example of how the past really affects the future is in the historical fiction novel, the Secret Life of Bees. The Secret Life of Bees is about a girl named Lily who, when her black substitute mother Rosaleen insults some of the worst racists in town, finds the opportunity to run away from her abusive father. She is guided by some objects her mother left behind to the Boatwright sisters in Tiburon South Carolina. The Boatwright sisters help her to find the truth about the death of her real mother and she finds a home with them. Lily has been haunted all of her life by her mother's death, how she might have accidentally caused it and why it happened at all. It is only when Lily comes to terms with her mother's past which surrounds her at the Boatwright home, that she becomes truly content with herself and finds herself a home which feels right to her. When Lily was living with her father, she spent all of her time restless with the present and unsure about her future. Sometimes, reflecting on the past helps to steady the future.
     The past affects the future, whether you need to reflect on it more, or dwell on it less which is a difficult balance to maintain. So I don't know why I still remember making the quiche and I'd like to figure out why someday, but I'm not going to dwell on it too much, there's still life out there to live!