Breaking Dawn is the final installment of the Twilight series and concludes the Bella-Edward-Jacob love triangle. The book has been written in three parts, with Bella as the narrator in the first and final part and Jacob in second part. The book hints, through its plots, hints at necrophilia, bestiality, and pedophilia. Bella’s decision to not abort a child, that was capable of harming her, becomes a poor argument in the pro-life-pro-choice debate as women in real life do not have the option of coming back to life and becoming immortal. The main pot is a traditional damsel-in-distress, princess-and-knight fairytale kind-of story which evolves as Bella gains power at the end of book. Their is little light thrown to the secondary characters and apart from Bella and Jacob, not a lot of characters show any development.
The book starts with Edward and Bella preparing for their wedding while Jacob is still missing. Bella comes across as a shy girl with low self-esteem. She has a hard time believing that Edward is in love with her or that he wants to get married to her. Her expectation of the life after her transformation to a vampire also discussed in this part and thirst for blood rather than any affinity to another person is stressed. These factors are stressed to bring out her unusual reaction after becoming a vampire later in the book. Immortal children are also discussed, though it can be mentioned as foreshadowing, but the mentions appear more deliberate on the part of author.
Bella’s wish to have sex with Edward, despite knowing that he could possibly harm her, is the turning point in the story. They conceive Renessme their first night together, driving the second and third parts of the book. Edwards’s wish to abstain is more from concern over safety of Bella. He is completely oblivious to the knowledge that vampires could conceive. The chapters on their honeymoon at Isle Esme are built around sexual tension and foreshadowing about her conception. The Portuguese housekeeper couple is meant to hint at the supposedly dangerous results of vampires mating with humans. As soon as Bella deduces that she might be pregnant, Carlisle calls her and informs that Alice is unable to see er future anymore, which adds to the mystery as well as hints to the proximity of the fetus physical makeup to werewolves. Bella at this point, decides to seek Rosalie’s help, who had previously expressed disapproval on her part with Bella’s decision to sacrifice her ability to bear children and embrace immortality.
The second part is focused on Jacob, who tells the further story from his point of view. The chapters have long names, like insights from the narrator, which show little relevance to the plot in the story. Jacob seems to be preparing for Bella’s imminent arrival, to learn if she survived her honeymoon or not. He is angry and has murderous rage inside him for Cullens. His speculation, however, doesn’t covers Bella’s pregnancy. Seeing her in a weakened state, full of optimism about her condition and affection for him, makes him have a change of heart against her and he decides to protect her and Cullens against the attack of his pack.
While he is protecting Bella, he is also having a conflict with his feelings for Bella and her impending death. Sort of camaraderie develops between him and Edwards as he, along with Alice, don’t want Bella to have a child that would kill her. But, as Edward begins to hear the thoughts of the baby and becomes as enamored as Bella about the child, Jacob is unable to feel the bond. At this point, he is so intent on escaping the pain, he wishes to imprint on any woman so as to avoid feeling for Bella. His feelings are echoed by those of Leah who leaves Sam’s pack to join his to avoid being in proximity to Sam. After Bella had delivered the child, and he thinks her dead, he is ready to kill the baby but realizes that he has imprinted on Bella’s baby.
The third part is focused on Bella adapting to her new life. She is uncommonly and conveniently well-suited to the vampire life. Tension eases at this point as problems between vampires and werewolves resolve and things appear momentarily fine before the final confrontation with Volturi. Volturi have been mentioned earlier in the series and threaten Cullens as they see Bella as a human a threat to their secret. However, confusion with Irina over Renessme, whom she takes to be an immortal child, drives the climax. Alice’s abandonment of Cullens makes things appear bleak for Cullens, but the presence of multiple strong vampires and Bella’s shield against the Volturi’s attacks cause the Volturi to retreat. Thus, Bella becomes the strongest player in the game from the weakest.
