LeahForever~ I think the answers to your questions depend upon point of view. Most importantly, you cannot separate out the supernatural elements of the story. You can't simplify it to a high school romance or a teenaged break up. The intensity of the emotion involved, and therefore the intensity of the reactions involved, is base in the fact that this isn't a simple human love story. With that in mind, my opinions on your questions are as follows:Leah Forever wrote:I have a question or two about Bella.
1. How is going into a catatonic state for a week and being a zombie for three months and three weeks an appropriate reaction to losing your high school boyfriend?
2. How could Bella possibly forget what Edward did to her, and as such why would she want to save him?
3. Why is it that Bella needs a MALE to get her out of the zombie state? Can't she get a counsellor? I mean, she could just say that's she having a lot of trouble getting over a break-up. She could say there was an argument. A counsellor will not ask what the boyfriend's species was, for goodness sake!
4. Come to think of it, why does Bella agree when referred to as the (male) Vampire Girl, and why does she call Emily the (male) Wolf Girl?
1) Edward was much more than just a "high school boyfriend" to Bella. In Bella's heart, head and soul, she already knew that they were fated to be together forever. She'd accepted it and was throwing herself headlong into it. When Edward left her, she lost her soul mate, as well as the life she'd chosen to lead, her entire future. And not only Edward. She also lost the entire family she'd chosen to be hers. To Bella, her life was quite literally over. And, add the fact that the person she believed to love her most told her he couldn't love her anymore. That kind of wound is a lot deeper than a pint of Ben & Jerry's and a weekend watching "chick flicks".
2) The simplest explanation is that, to quote Buffy, love makes you do the wacky. But, by way of a bit deeper examination, sometimes love makes total sense out of what is, to all others, complete nonsense. First, looking at why she saved him, that's the simplest explanation of all. She loves him. When you truly love someone, you don't want them hurt, period. No matter what else, Bella could not let Edward hurt, no matter what she thought his motives were. The pain you've suffered or could suffer because of that person doesn't matter. In your soul, you know that their pain will hurt you more deeply than anything else. As for forgetting what he did, I don't believe she ever forgot. More importantly, I'm willing to bet Edward would never let her. He will continue to flagellate himself for that mistake for centuries to come. But, I believe she forgave him completely. In loving Edward the way she does, Bella also grows to understand how he thinks and feels, to understand how he came to believe that leaving her was the best option. She grows to understand exactly why he did what he did, whether she agrees with it or not.
3) This one has so many layers. Bella lost the love of her life, her future, her family. It wasn't anywhere near as simple as an argument or just "a break up". It was all those very severe losses that sent Bella into the tailspin she experienced when Edward left. But, she could not share those details, the things that made everything so very bad and put her in that catatonic state. In not being able to share those specific things, counseling would have been of no help. Without complete honesty, any kind of therapy or counseling is ineffective at best. As the patient, you always know that the person does not truly understand all the circumstances and can't possibly know how to help. Which brings me directly to your contention that Bella needed a male to bring her from her state. She didn't need a male, persay. She needed someone who understood those details, knew completely the situation and exactly why she hurt so badly. It's why going out with Jessica or Angela didn't work. It wasn't that they were women and Jacob was a man. It was that she could be completely honest about her feelings, grieve her loss without hiding anything. Jacob could give her that.
4) I never saw the Vampire or Wolf girl comments as identifying themselves by the men they were with, but with the "side" they were with. Rather like during the prom, when she and Edward were joking back and forth about the vampires slaughtering the unsuspecting partiers and he asks her, "and where do you fit into that scheme?" She answers, "Oh, I'm with the vampires, of course." Remember, when she originally identifies herself as that, it's after Edward has left.