Which Twilight Character Would You Be?

I finally "read" (I'm an audio books girl) Twilight this week. Despite a couple of plot issues, writing issues, and very intense mushiness akin to Sweet Valley High (I hate to admit that I did read those back in 5th grade), I found myself looking for excuses to listen to it and really enjoying the story. Who wouldn't enjoy learning about modern day vampires who are actually kind, funny, and extremely good looking? Cool idea.

If I could pick one Twilight character to be, I would be Jasper. I like to think that I have some of his qualities. When I'm with another person I can often sense what their mood is and will unconsciously match it. I would like his gift for infusing good feelings throughout a room or a person. That's pretty cool.

The Twilight character I would not be is Bella. She has some good qualities, so I feel bad being all negative here, but my big problem with love stories is how fictional they often really are. I worry that our society is teaching single people to have some pretty unrealistic expectations about love. Here are my issues with Bella:

1) In the beginning of the story, Edward is very rude and controlling. In spite of this, Bella falls for him. Why did she fall for him? The only thing mentioned in the story (over and over again) is Edward's perfect face and body. So, who cares what the guy treats you like as long as he's gorgeous, right? The lesson I didn't like here is that we later learn why Edward was so harsh and that he's really a nice guy. I wouldn't want my daughter thinking that it's okay to fall in love with someone who's mean to her because underneath that he's probably a nice guy. No way!

2) Bella is pretty masochistic. She doesn't think she's worth much, doesn't think she's pretty, can't understand why Edward likes her, and thinks she should always be the one who should suffer. Of course Edward thinks she's the sun, the moon, and the stars and that she is "no ordinary human." The lesson for the girls here is that, if you have no feeling of self-worth, you should look for a guy to come along and he will magically think you are amazing and will fill up your self-confidence bucket.

3) She's constantly apologizing for anything that could possibly be her fault. I personally have a problem with this because I'm a little too much like that, so I was probably extra sensitive to it. But it got pretty annoying. Please, girl, stop apologizing for how good you smell, for holding Edward's hand, for being clumsy, for trying to help, etc.

Well, I guess that's it. Will I be "reading" the second book? Yes, I think so, though I hope it's less mushy. I'm looking forward to learning more about the vampires.