Stephanie Meyer's New Moon: Summary, Characters and Themes

NEW MOON by Stephenie Meyer

* Settings * Forks, Washington; Volterra, Italy * Like Twilight, New Moon happens during modern times (around 2006). The book mainly took place in present-day Forks, Washington, with a short trip to Volterra, Italy, and back.

* Forks, Washington
Rainy, foggy, cold – Forks is still Forks, proudly claiming the highest rainfall per year in the United States. As in Twilight, the woods play a central role in adding a dark mood to the story. However, in Twilight, the forest possessed some redeeming elements, while in New Moon, it always represents tragedy, nightmares, and a dangerous, inhuman world. As for tragedy, Edward breaks up with Bella on a walk in the forest. The darkness of the woods matches the darkness in her heart. * Volterra, Italy
Volterra is far away from Forks in typically sunny Italy. But it’s wintertime over there too, and "Even in the sun, the wind was glacial, and the wet made the cold actually painful" Moreover, sunshine, at this point in the story, has become a tool of death: it will publicly expose Edward as a vampire and force the Volturi to fulfill his death wish.
Bella describes the city itself as medieval and ominous: The street was very narrow… cobbled… faded buildings… darkened the street with their shade.
While the Forks forest radiates evil because of its spacious, eerie silence, Volterra’s evil comes from its bustling voices and bodies, which establish a strong sense of claustrophobia. Bella has to fight her way through the crowd to get to Edward.

* Characters * Isabella "Bella" Swan
An 18 year old girl who is the central figure in New Moon. She’s a student in Forks High School, and works at the local sporting goods store three days a week for her income. Bella is very clumsy and stubborn; she has a private mind that’s why Edward never gets a chance to read his mind. She feared aging because she’s a human, and her boyfriend is a vampire that never gets old.

* Edward Cullen
Bella’s vampire boyfriend, the adoptive brother of Alice who remains a teenager. He is handsome, very average, even for a human, almost shamefully plain. His skin is precisely pale shade, his eyes have strange golden tint with deep and bruise-like shadows beneath and his face is startlingly beautiful. After leaving Bella at the end of Chapter 3, Edward doesn’t return until Bella saves him in Italy in Chapter 20. Nevertheless, Bella hears Edward’s voice all throughout the story

* Jacob Black
Bella’s childhood friend. In New Moon, Jacob develops into a major character and a potential love interest.
Jacob had grown into some of his potential in the last eight months. He’d passed the point where the soft muscles of childhood, lanky build of a teenager, the tendons and veins had become prominent under the red-brown skin of his arms. After Edward left Bella, Jacob spent much time with her, trying to heal her broken heart and move on.

* Charlie Swan
In many ways, Charlie is an easy dad. He’s quiet, unobtrusive, and gives Bella all the freedom she can handle. Since they’re both not big talkers, their relationship still feels somewhat awkward and distant, even though Bella has already spent a year with him. Charlie has huge trouble discussing "emotional things" with Bella, so he waits until the last minute to muster up the courage for a talk, and Bella can spot it coming from miles away. Yet, there is no doubt that the father and daughter share a deep, loving connection.

* Laurent
He wants to be a vegetarian vampire, travelled to Alaska and lived with Tanya’s family, but he can’t control his thirst with blood. He does not adopt the strict diet of drinking animal blood and cheats by occasionally feeding on human blood. Laurent returns to Forks to find Bella for Victoria. Once he finds Bella, though, he wants to claim Bella’s sweet blood for himself. He does not succeed, and was killed by the Quileute werewolves.

* Victoria
Victoria represents all the qualities of a traditionally evil vampire, a predator in human disguise. In Twilight, Bella describes Victoria as "wild" and "chaotic" with a "distinctly feline" posture, and fire-red hair.
Victoria lost James, her mate, when he tried to kill Bella and was instead killed by the Cullens. Now she’s back to kill Bella in order to avenge James. Throughout New Moon, she keeps escaping from the werewolves as well as the Cullens. The novel ends without us knowing her whereabouts, or when and how she will try to make good on her mission.

* Billy Black
Billy Black is a direct descendant of Ephraim Black, the last chief of the Quileute Indians. He’s best friends with Charlie Swan, Bella’s father. When an illness leaves Billy confined to a wheelchair, Charlie buys Billy's old Ford truck for Bella. This is how Bella meets Jacob in Twilight, and how she comes to learn the Quileute legends about vampires and werewolves, and the fragile treaty of peace between them.
As one of the tribal elders, Billy considers vampires his natural enemies. He tells Bella from the beginning to break up with Edward.
When his son Jacob turns into a werewolf, Billy tries hard to keep Bella away from him. Once Bella discovers Jacob’s secret, though, and Billy learns about the danger the vampire Victoria poses to Bella, he helps keep Charlie and Bella in La Push, to protect them and to support Bella’s relationship with Jacob.

* The Cullens
The Cullens are Edward’s vampire family. Family members have all been "adopted" by Carlisle Cullen, the head of the family, and include his wife Esme, Edward, and the couples Alice and Jasper, and Rosalie and Emmett.

* Carlisle Cullen
Carlisle Cullen is Edward’s adoptive father. He has dark eyes, medical talents, therefore making him an excellent doctor. He formed the only known vampire family that feeds exclusively on animals, rather than on humans. Although he created his wife and children by transforming them into vampires, Carlisle did it to save them from dying. In fact, in Edward’s case, Edward’s mother begged Carlisle on her deathbed to "save" Edward. She apparently knew that Carlisle was a vampire.
In contrast to the rest of the family, including Edward, Carlisle thinks that there’s an afterlife for good vampires. Carlisle not only votes for Bella to become a vampire, but also promises to change her after her graduation, if Edward won’t. * Esme Cullen
Carlisle’s wife and Edward’s adoptive mother. She has no special powers. Esme, the matriarch of the Cullen family, adopted Bella into the family from the moment she met her. Although Esme’s not Edward’s real flesh and blood mother, she looks like "she would be crying if that were possible" when she holds Edward safe in her arms after his suicide attempt. Esme roots for Edward and Bella to be together, and also votes for Bella to become a vampire.

* Alice Cullen
Alice possesses considerable self-restraint when it comes to her killer instinct around humans. Alice also has a special ability: she can see the "planned or subjective" future. After Edward breaks up with Bella, Alice keeps checking up on her through her "visions," and sees Bella jump to her apparent death. Alice accompanies Bella to Italy to save Edward’s life. Alice clearly thinks that Edward and Bella should be together, because she tells Bella that she’s been debating whether or not she should transform Bella into a vampire herself. She also votes in favor of Bella becoming a vampire in the end of the novel.

* Jasper Hale
He evolved into a "vegetarian" vampire to become part of the Cullen family and, although he seems to try very hard, he still’s very much susceptible to the delicious smell of human blood. He’s torn up about attacking Bella on her birthday. In many ways, Jasper’s loss of control triggers Edward’s decision to break up with Bella to keep her safe. He gained the ability to manipulate the emotions of those around him.

* Rosalie Hale
Rosalie never wanted to become a vampire, but she had no choice. That’s why she’s jealous of the human Bella from the beginning. When she learns about Bella’s alleged suicide from Alice, she goes out of her way to tell Edward. Rosalie feels horrible about it later, and asks Bella to forgive her. Her regrets about becoming a vampire lead Rosalie to vote "no" on Bella’s transformation during the Cullen family meeting.

* Emmett Cullen
Strong, big, and always in the mood for trouble, Emmett is gung-ho about saving Edward, but he listens to Alice’s advice to stay back and let Bella do the job. He genuinely likes Bella and also votes for her to become a vampire. After leaving Forks with Rosalie (partly because she doesn’t like Bella), they’ve been traveling around Europe, then return to Forks after Edward is saved.

* The Quileute Werewolves

* Sam Uley
Leader of the pack, Sam is the alpha male. What he says goes. Sam was the first of the Quileute boys to transform into a werewolf once the Cullens moved back to Forks. Because of his new life and mission, he turned down a college scholarship. Sam helps the other boys deal with their transformations and their responsibility as "protectors" – that is, keeping humans from getting chomped by vampires. Sam is engaged to Emily. Emily bears a horrible scar, from a time when she witnessed Sam’s lose control as a werewolf. Yet, their love for each other is obvious.
In wolf form, Sam is black, "tall as a horse, but more muscular" with "dagger-like incisors". Sam finds Bella in the woods after Edward breaks up with her. At first, both Bella and Jacob dislike Sam, because they believe he brainwashed Jacob’s friends (Paul, Jared, and Embry) into joining his weird gang. When Jacob becomes a werewolf, Sam forbids him to share his secret with Bella. After Bella finds out, though, and Sam learns that the vampire Victoria’s after her, he does everything in his power to protect Bella.

* Embry
Along with Quil, Embry is one of Jacob Black’s best friends. He and Jacob make fun of Sam Uley’s gang, until he turns into a werewolf himself. Since Embry can’t tell Jacob what’s happening to him, he starts avoiding his friend. But once Jacob becomes a werewolf, they’re best friends again.

* Paul
Paul is a werewolf with a temper. When Bella shows up to an emergency pack meeting, Paul loses control and attacks her.

* Quil
Quil is one of Jacob’s closest friends. Quil, Jacob, and Embry all make fun of Sam’s "cult," until they all turn into werewolves too. After Jacob goes through his change and avoids Bella, it’s Quil who tells her that Jacob has joined the gang. When Bella is finally in on the whole werewolf story, she learns that Quil’s next in line to become a werewolf too.

* Jared
Jared was one of the first boys to turn into a werewolf after Sam.

* Emily
Though not a werewolf herself, in many ways, Emily acts as a mother to the five werewolf boys. She cooks them huge portions of food and offers them a place where they can feel like a family. Emily is very beautiful – if it weren’t for the scar she bears from a night when Sam lost control as a werewolf.

* The Forks High Friends * Mike
After the summer break, Mike returns with a new haircut that looks very similar to Edward’s. In fact, after Bella snaps out of her zombie state, Mike tries to ask her out. Bella tells Mike that she doesn’t date, but they can be "friends." Nevertheless, he continues to rival with Jacob for Bella’s attention when all three go to the movie theater together. Mike also tells Bella that Jacob is in love with her and that she’s cruel to pretend they’re just friends.

* Jessica
Jessica is one of the first friends Bella makes when she comes to Forks. But she’s an exhausting friend, because she never stops talking and she bears grudges. When Bella asks her to go to a movie after ignoring her for months (due to Edward’s departure), Jessica sulks, but agrees to go. She gets really mad at Bella when she puts them in danger by having "an episode." After that, Jessica doesn’t want anything to do with Bella.

* Angela
Angela is the opposite of Jessica. She loves silence and she doesn’t bear grudges, which is why Bella likes her best out of all her school friends. She’s very happy to see Bella return to life and tells her she missed her.

* Climax
When Bella went on a rescue mission to save Edward after he was misinformed of Bella's supposed suicide by Rosalie. Alice had told Rosalie that she saw Bella jumping off a cliff, and Rosalie told Edward that Bella had committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, when she was actually cliff-diving (a popular form of recreation among the La-Push werewolves.) Meanwhile in Forks, Charlie's friend Harry had died, so when Edward calls to confirm Bella's death, Jacob answers. Edward asked to talk to Charlie and Jacob tells him that he's "at the funeral". Edward immediately thought that he meant Bella's funeral so he makes a trip to Italy, home of the dangerous and ancient Volturi vampires, in the hopes that they will kill him. So that they could be together even in death.

* Themes * Personal choice and free will plays a vital role in our lives.
In New Moon, Edward chooses to leave Bella, although she’s the one true love of his life. Bella decides to commit a series of reckless acts just to hear Edward’s voice in her head. Both Edward and Jacob had no choice in becoming a vampire and a werewolf, but they both can decide whether to act on their natural instincts, or to exert self control to follow their human instincts. Bella has also made her choice to become a vampire.

* Where does friendship end and romantic love begin?
Throughout New Moon, Bella struggles with how she feels about Jacob. Jacob knows that he wants more than just friendship with Bella, yet he promises to always be her friend, no matter who she ultimately chooses to love. Friendship in New Moon is defined by loyalty, promises, and companionship. Jacob also defines friendship as loyalty to his kind, the werewolves, which is why he struggles to be with friends with Bella when she decides she wants to become a vampire, his natural enemy. Bella, on the other hand, feels that friendship has no boundaries.

* Summary

Isabella "Bella" Swan is given an eighteenth birthday party by Alice and Edward Cullen, the vampire whom she loves, and his entire vampire family consisting of Carlisle, Alice, Emmett, Esme, Rosalie and Jasper Hale. Bella accidentally gets a paper cut there which leads to a violent and tense moment. Jasper, the newest member of the 'family' to try out the non-human diet, cannot control himself at the sight and smell of her blood and makes a leap for Bella. Edward is forced to protect her, but this makes it all too clear that keeping Bella close to the family puts her at risk. In the midst of this, a pivotal moment occurs during a conversation with Carlisle while cleaning her wounds. Bella is told that Edward believes that vampires are soulless creatures and that there is no better place for them if they die. It is made clear that Edward's relationship with her is a constant tug of war in his heart because he doesn't want to risk turning Bella into a creature who he believes is damned. Edward begins to withdraw himself emotionally, and later he and his family depart from Forks in an attempt to keep Bella safe. He unknowingly hurts Bella further by taking photos and memories that would prove his existence, in an attempt to make a clean break of their relationship.
Bella becomes severely depressed and withdrawn from the world after his departure. She enters a state of mourning lasting four months where she is just going through the motions of everyday life without actually experiencing any of it. Eventually Charlie confronts her and she realizes how this is affecting her dad and attempts to pull herself together for his sake. On an outing with a friend, Bella finds herself in a potentially dangerous situation and finds that she can hear Edward's voice in her mind. She prolongs the situation and can hear Edward during the entire episode which makes her pain of losing him more bearable. Bella finds that she can always hear Edward if she is in potential danger and, because of this, she becomes increasingly reckless.
Jacob Black, the young Native American from Twilight, makes a reappearance in New Moon. Bella finds two motorcycles on the side of the road that need work and she remembers that Jacob is a mechanic of sorts. She loads them onto her truck and offers Jacob one of them as payment if he can make them run. They become very close friends and Bella depends on him, filling up the hole in her heart as best as she can with their friendship. Jacob is attracted romantically to Bella and although Bella knows this and tells him they are just friends, there is nothing uncomfortable about their closeness. In the midst of their growing closeness, Jacob confides in Bella that something is going on at La Push reservation. Jacob confesses that he is afraid of Sam Uley, the leader of a group of older guys on the reservation. A friend of his had expressed fear of the group, went missing for days, and then resurfaced as a member of the gang. He has been acting strangely and Jacob believes they are up to no good. He is also frightened that he could be next on the list. During an outing with Jacob he becomes very ill and fevered. After this episode Bella finds it is almost impossible to get in contact with Jacob before finding that he has reappeared as a follower of Sam Uley. Bella confronts him at his house and Jacob harshly tells her that he must stay away from her and never see her again.
However, after a fight ensues, Jacob clearly hurting and regretful, sneaks into her room late at night to tell her that she knows exactly what is happening to him, she just doesn't realize it. The only clue he gives her is reminding her of the legends he told her when they first met. Bella eventually recalls a story about werewolves and vampires and realizes that Jacob, and the rest of Sam Uley's gang, are indeed werewolves, and thus the enemies of her beloved Cullens. This presents a whole new set of problems for Jacob and Bella, because not only is there animosity between Jacob and Edward because of their mutual love for Bella, but they are also sworn enemies because of what they are.
There is genuine potential for bloodshed and the possible death of either at the other's hands. Things are further complicated by the return of Victoria. Victoria seeks to avenge her mate, the vicious tracker vampire James, whom Edward killed after James attempted to kill Bella. Rather than kill Edward, Victoria sees killing Edward's "mate" as a fair trade. It is up to Jacob and his pack to protect Bella from Victoria's revenge.
The story leads Bella on a rescue mission to save Edward after he is misinformed of Bella's supposed suicide by Rosalie. Alice had told Rosalie that she saw Bella jumping off a cliff, and Rosalie told Edward that Bella had committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, when she was actually cliff-diving (a popular form of recreation among the La-Push werewolves.) Meanwhile in Forks, Charlie's friend Harry had died, so when Edward calls to confirm Bella's death, Jacob answers. Edward asked to talk to Charlie and Jacob tells him that he's "at the funeral". Edward immediately thought that he meant Bella's funeral so he makes a trip to Italy, home of the dangerous and ancient Volturi vampires, in the hopes that they will kill him.
Alice accompanies Bella to Italy and during their trip she receives flashes of what is happening with Edward and the Volturi. Seeing how valuable an asset Edward would be, the Volturi refuse to destroy him and invite him to join their coven. He refuses and devises a plan to walk out into the middle of the city at noon with his skin exposed in order to force the Volturi's hand. A vampire's skin, when exposed to the sun, glitters like diamonds, which would expose him and potentially, the Volturi. Bella and Alice arrive in time to stop him from stepping into the sunlight, but are cornered and escorted to the underground home of the Volturi by vampires working for them. It is here that we find that even the eldest of the clan are not able to penetrate Bella's mind and that any powers that the vampires might possess will do them no good when it comes to her. The Volturi tell Edward that Bella cannot leave because she is a human who knows their secret and that is not allowed. Bella, Edward, and Alice make a deal with the Volturi; they agree that in the near future they will turn her into a vampire in order to prevent them from harming her. They agree, with the assertion that they will be paying a personal visit in order to ensure the deed is done. The group is allowed to leave, but upon returning to America, Edward refuses to turn her right away. He wants to wait until it is absolutely necessary, which could take years. Bella then brings the decision to Edward's family who has returned to Forks.
They take a vote and all but Rosalie agree on the decision to turn Bella into one of their family. Edward eventually offers to turn Bella himself on the condition that she marry him first, but Bella is horrified at the thought of marriage at such a young age, remembering her parents' marriage and how it fell apart due to them marrying young. In the epilogue, Bella returns home one day to find Jacob waiting for her and there is a showdown between Jacob, Edward and Bella. Jacob tells Bella that they cannot be friends with Edward in the middle, while also reminding Edward that if he bites a human he will be breaking their treaty, which would leave their coven open to attack by Jacob and his pack. The story ends with Bella determined to find a place for Jacob in her life while also dealing with her desire to be a vampire.

* Problems Encountered

* #1
Bella’s life was ruined when Edward decided to broke up with her. She became severely depressed and withdrawn from the world after his departure.

* #2
Bella followed Edward to the forest but she failed because he is as fast as a tornado. She got lost in the woods and was cornered by the evil vampire Victoria who wants to kill her as revenge. * #3
Charlie was starting to worry because Bella was in a mourning state which lasted for four months. He didn’t know what to do, the only option in his mind was to send Bella to her mother.

* Solutions Offered

* #1
Love is precious and essential to every living creature. Once we feel the love we’ve been longing for, it’s really pleasing and such a wonderful feeling, but there’s always a possibility that one day our partner would leave us alone. If that situation would happen to us, we should be open minded and learn to accept the reality that the person we love just doesn’t feel the same way anymore. We shouldn’t ruin our lives just because of that. Life is too short to waste for silly reasons. There are lots of boys/girls out there. But, there’s always an exception, if you really think that he/she is the right person for you, you should be brave and fight for your love.
In Bella’s case, Edward is her one true love, that’s why she did everything just to win him back. If you’re really sure about the person you should be like Bella, don’t waste your time having second thoughts go and fight for your one true love.

* #2 Yes you should fight for the one you love, do everything to win him/her back but never put yourself into danger. Always think about yourself more than anything or anyone else. In every decisions you make, make sure you won’t be hurt or nothing harmful will happen to you.
Unlike Bella, she rushed through the forest without knowing that her life could be in danger. That’s so wrong, we shouldn’t do what Bella did here, she placed her own life into a total danger. She was lucky enough that Jacob’s friend arrived to save her life. Things like that only happen in stories, not in real life so never put yourself into risks.

* #3
It’s normal for parents to worry for their children, especially with a case like this. If I were Bella, I won’t let my father worry for my own problems. They have responsibilities to us but we’re old enough to manage our own problems in life. First of all, I should not be worrying much about the person I love because if he really loves me, he won’t be doing things that would stress me.
We shouldn’t be like Bella here, it’s not such a big deal for us to be in a mourning state and be lifeless. If we ever encounter a problem like this, the best thing to do is to socialize with many people. Have fun and don’t worry about the problems, take a break and prioritize yourself and also put into consideration the people around you especially your family.

* Recommendation/Conclusion

New Moon, Stephenie Meyer’s novel, was quite suspenseful. While the series is known as being mainly romantically-based, New Moon contains a great deal of mystery. At the beginning, Bella is unwrapping a present while at the house of her boyfriend (who just so happens to be a vampire). His family is there, too, so when she gets a paper cut on her finger and then falls onto a glass table and slices her arms up, it's a disaster. With all that blood, it definitely seems like the vampires would devour her. However, they don't. A few days later, Edward moves away because he believes it's too dangerous for them to be together. This leaves you wondering if he'll ever come back. Then, Bella finds that if she puts herself in dangerous situations, she can hear his voice in her head, so she starts being unreasonably reckless. All the while, Victoria, a vampire who is set on killing Bella because Edward killed her mate, is hunting our heroine. Eventually, Bella develops a close friendship with Jacob Black, who she later finds out is a werewolf.
Bella is the perfect embodiment of teenage love, which is definitely easy to relate to right now. Also, she isn't your typical lead female. She's not startling pretty, and she's incredibly clumsy, but she's still smart and lovable. Her family means a lot to her; she's always worrying that by associating with vampires and werewolves she's putting her mom and dad at risk. Towards the end of the book, she shows her strength and really shines.
New Moon is incredibly emotional. As a reader, you experience the total spectrum of emotions. At the beginning of the book, the tone is happy and light-hearted, but quickly takes a dramatic turn when Bella injures herself. Things then turn desperate as Edward is slowly pulling away from her.

This book and its series are worth reading, I guarantee you 100% satisfaction.