First, a disclaimer that I am not a literary “big brain”, I am a psych student who loves to read and I am somewhat intimidated to post here. I cannot speak from a Mormon POV, I identify more closely with Baptist doctrine, but Breaking Dawn is my favorite of the series. I love the resolution. There are many spiritual themes throughout that I believe transcend any one particular doctrine of Christianity. There is sacrifice, redemption, sanctification, ect. Many of the criticisms of the book deal with these themes precisely. For example, some say it works out all too well, Bella gets everything she wants. However, isn’t that exactly what happens when we accept God? We may suffer, we may sacrifice but in the end the result (heaven) is almost too good to be true and yet thats what we get.

Religious meaning aside, I have also seen many upset that there was no loss in the final “battle”. I find it ironic that a generation that preaches that violence is not the answer has a problem when logic saves the day rather than physical confrontation and dominance.

I doubt the LDS apologists will find anything to take issue with from your posts, they prefer to engage on a more doctrinal/historical accuracy front. They’re unlikely to wade into an academic literary discussion of a teen romance novel.

There have been some insightful literary Twilight discussions from within the LDS intellectual community. You may find some good info here:

http://www.motleyvision.org/2008/stephanie-meyers-mormonism-and-the-erotics-of-abstinence/

Thanks for maintaining a fun blog, I’ll be sure to check back in.

You’re right, if I understand you correctly, that I’m not here to expose the evils of Mormon history and theology secreted away in these books as the boogeys under the bed, the vampire in your daughter’s bedroom. My job, as I understand it, is to try and explain why readers love the Twilight books. My common sense answer is “it has to be in the author’s artistry and meaning.” Getting at that necessarily involves discussing the influences evident in the text as well as the meaning derived from her core beliefs. As her core beliefs are overwhelmingly TBM and the most influential books in her life she says are the Book of Mormon and the Speaker for the Dead, I’m not doing my job if I’m not explaining the aspects of Mrs. Meyer’s writing that reflect LDS beliefs.

I doubt very much that Mrs. Meyer has “woven LDS themes into her work to promote LDS ways.” The series reads much more like a Mormon dream and wish fulfillment, re-writing and re-shaping events and ideas to resolve internal tension, which is to say, an internal, therapeutic work rather than an external, proselytizing effort.

Having said that, Spotlight begins and ends with longer discussions of what the saga means to non-Mormons because they are the much greater part of her audience. Though the first and last books were written for herself (and a sister), i.e., for Mormon readers only, Spotlight is predominantly about the meaning of the books that gentiles respond to. Some of that is LDS meaning not understood as such which is what forces a long look at Mormon beliefs and history as reflected in the texts (Mountain Meadows, certainly, genetics and South American natives, agency, Celestial Marriage, etc.).

Anyway, I hope that helps. I’m writing a longer post on this now because a Mormon blogger (BYU English major…) has decided I’m reading Twilight as if it were a 21st century ‘Dialogue between Joseph Smith and the Devil.’ Lest the FARMS polemical apologists decide to attack, I’ll try to say at length what the LDS chapters in Spotlight will and won’t be about.

Thank you for your notes.

I am not so sure that Meyer really has consciously woven LDS themes into her work to promote LDS ways. Obviously she writes her stories from within the framework of her worldview and religious philosophy. Her values, particularly LDS family themes, are necessarily going to come through, even if it is subconscience. I agree with you that Knowing a little about the LDS faith, especially family units and the afterlife, can make the books more interesting. I have read the books and am as familiar with LDS beliefs as anyone, I simply don’t see them as Mormon propaganda.

Your posts seem pretty even handed. Keep up the good work.

I agree that Bella’s conversion is the story of her hermetic transformation and LDS theosis (not to be confused with Orthodox Christian soteriology) rather than just her altar call experience.

Thank you for joining the conversation here.

Personally, I have never heard this before and I doubt that any Mormons maintain this belief. Certainly Stephenie Meyer was unlikely to have been thinking of this belief when she wrote BD. Therefore, I highly doubt that the vampire blood transformation scene has any specific connection. That is why I believe it is more logicaly to assume that she is referring to resurrection and exaltation in the next life.

Are there aspects to LDS belief nestled in the Twilight series? Most likely. However, I think you have the transformation process all wrong. I would not liken it to being converted to the LDS Church. I would compare becoming a perfect, glorious, powerful, beautiful vampire to the LDS doctrine of theosis, the idea that mankind (God’s literal children or race) have the potential to progress to be like their father in heaven. Also, the positive (and highly desirable) portrayal of the Cullen family as a functional, strong unit is probably symbolic of the LDS belief that family units (marraiges, etc) continue forever and do not end at death the way most (all?) religions teach. This procreative, family centered view of eternal purpose is central to the theosis doctrines mentioned earlier. What do children desire to become? Successful like their parents, obviously. Mormons take the Bible at face value when it speaks of a “father in heaven” Furthermore, LDS will tell you that gender, and therefore physically resurrected males and females, have specific purpose in the afterlife. Why else do we retain gender identity and form in the hereafter? That is a long eternity for resurrected men and women to be androgenously defunct physically. Of course, this is a revolutionary understanding of God, but with it a revolutionary understanding of man.

So, do Mormons believe they will get to heaven and sparkle in the sunlight? well, yeah, kind of. I think Meyer, who receieved her English degree from the same pressure cooker where I received my English degree, is merely trying to convey some sense of the elegant, glorious nature of family and the human form in it’s eventually perfected state, thanks to Christ providing the path for all to be resurrected to glory, if you believe in the resurrection.

I have heard a wide range of LDS doctrinal theories within Twilight, many are conflicting and cancel each other out. I would take much of it with a grain of salt. I think in the end Meyer has merely written an intimate romance tale to keep tweens sighing for years.