Check out This Salt Lake Tribune Article.I’ve read that S. Meyer has infused her novels with Mormon beliefs and was just wondering what they are. I don’t know enough about that religion to be able to recognise a subtext. (I’ve seen the films). I’m curious about whether the media has proclaimed her work to be Mormon because of her faith, or if the novels really are promoting a certain system of belief.
Maybe she avoids coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco because she doesn’t like them? I avoid those things and I’m not Mormon. Bella advising her father to cut back on steak is probably because he was eating it every night and there are healthier choices than that.• The story’s teenage heroine, Bella, avoids coffee, tea, alcohol and tobacco — not unlike the Mormons’ “Word of Wisdom” health code. Bella also advises her father to “cut back on steak,” much like the LDS teaching to eat meat and poultry “sparingly.”
I am not a fan of the new age feminism movement. They completely distorted and took to the extreme the goals of the original feminists, who wanted to be able to vote and to be able to choose to work outside the home if they wanted to. There is nothing wrong with a woman choosing to stay home and cook and clean. Bella did that because those were her chores and she got out of school before her father got off work. Her high school doesn’t have an honors program, so she wasn’t in something that would give her a lot of homework. No reason not to clean up a little and cook dinner, especially if she didn’t mind doing those tasks. Bella was not abused or forced to do those things. Bella also had a part-time job outside the home a few days a week, something the feminists should be happy about.• Feminists have questioned Bella’s frequent cooking and cleaning — household chores that reflect a strong Mormon work ethic and traditional roles for women. The official motto for mostly Mormon Utah is “Industry,” and its symbol is the beehive.
Well, I think most vampire stories portray vampires with super-human strength, often beautiful, etc. What is new in the Twilight books is that they sparkle and aren’t really hurt by the sun. I guess not being hurt by the sun makes them more god-like since they are almost invincible, but the sparkling is just strange.• A crucial Mormon belief is that humans can become divine. In the “Twilight” series, the Cullen family of vampires once was human but now lives without death in a resurrected condition. Meyer describes the Cullens, particularly Edward, as “godlike” and “inhumanly beautiful.”