“When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it’s not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.”

These words from the Preface of the story are spoken by Bella as she faces imminent death at the hands of James, a bloodthirsty vampire seeking to hunt and kill her for sport. Throughout the book, Bella displays unwavering loyalty to those she loves in various ways, such as keeping difficult secrets, making selfless decisions without regard for her own happiness or wellbeing, and repeatedly risking her own life to protect those she holds most dear. This extreme selflessness has led her to a situation with James that she likely won’t survive, but she has no regrets about the choices she made that led her to the standoff. Bella never changes her view on sacrificing for those she loves. Even as her death is moments away, rather than regret her choices, Bella chooses to focus on her gratitude for the decisions that brought her to Edward’s love, regardless of the consequences.

“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him—and I didn’t know how potent that part might be—that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

This quotation, which occurs at the end of Chapter 9, summarizes what Bella and Edward have learned about each other so far as well as the main conflict of their relationship and the novel itself. Bella’s main problem is that she’s fallen deeply in love with a vampire who openly admits his desire to kill her and his insecurity about whether he can control himself around her. Bella comes to terms with the fact that regardless of what Edward is, her feelings for him are so strong that they cannot be changed, even by his desire for her blood.  She willingly accepts Edward for who and what he is. She accepts the inherent danger of a relationship with a vampire even if she can’t ever be sure if he’s going to kill her. The rest of the novel will focus on how Edward and Bella navigate this seemingly impossible dynamic.

“The others—the majority of our kind who are quite content with our lot—they, too, wonder at how we live. But you see, just because we’ve been…dealt a certain hand…it doesn’t mean that we can’t choose to rise above—to conquer the boundaries of a destiny that none of us wanted. To try to retain whatever essential humanity we can.”

This quotation from Chapter 14 encapsulates the reason that Edward and his vampire family restrict themselves to drinking animal blood rather than human blood. Edward stands in stark contrast to the classic image of a selfish vampire who kills people and drinks their blood without remorse. Instead, Edward is a sensitive soul who still retains many of the emotions, feelings, and memories he had in his human life. Twilight demonstrates repeatedly that vampires often retain some of the most dominant characteristics and skills they possessed in life. Edward may be a vampire, but he still appreciates art, music, and spending time with his family. He still wants to make good moral choices that do not hurt others. These words from Edward suggest that, deep down, he believes that vampires possess the free will to make choices that adhere to the ideals they held when they were humans.