New Moon Notes #9: Meet Jacob

I find all the sun/moon contrasts in New Moon to be fascinating, especially since one would assume the wolf-man would take the moon’s part, and the golden-eyed vampire would play the role of the sun, but they are frequently blurred. Of course, Jacob is Bella’s sun, “eclipsed,” quite literally by Edward/moon, but the elements with which they are connected set them up in the opposite way. Edward gives Bella a gold(sun) ring, and Jacob gives her a silver(moon) bracelet. This blurring may also indicate the way in which Meyer is creating her own mythology, but it also dictates their (very alchemical) relationship. Jacob “reveals” Edward’s true nature just as the sun does, and Edward, as a vampire, precipitates Jacob’s transformation as the moon does in traditional werewolf stories. So perhaps their solar/lunar roles are dictated more by their relationship to one another than to Bella, the earth-bound mortal whose precarious existence is even more fragile than that of our little planet. I also like Edward’s image of Bella as meteor, transforming and illuminating his life, but like the meteor, very short-lived in comparison to him.

Great insights, everyone! I agree, Elizabeth, I think the sun/moon images are really interesting, and I also would have expected Edward and Jacob to be reversed. This reminds me that I’m intrigued, in general, by the number astronomical metaphors in the series. When Jacob explains imprinting in Eclipse, he says it’s like “gravity moves . . . suddenly it’s not the earth holding you here anymore. She does.” (p. 176) Also in Eclipse, Renee says that Bella moves around Edward like a “satellite.” (p. 68) And when Bella describes her life without Edward in New Moon, she says “I was like a lost moon—my planet destroyed in some cataclysmic, disaster-movie scenario of desolation—that continued, nevertheless, to circle in a tight little orbit around the empty space left behind, ignoring the laws of gravity.” (p. 201) So they all three are characterized as a “satellite” (like the moon) at some point: Edward with his many moon comparisons, Jacob when he imprints, and Bella in two of the examples above.

I like the multiple significances of the title, “New Moon,” too. Not only is it ironic, because the featured mythical characters are werewolves (which are traditionally supposed to be ruled by the opposite phase of the moon, the full moon), and not only is Jacob Bella’s “new moon” to replace Edward (I liked that insight, John!) but a new moon is the phase in which the moon is not visible in the sky, since its dark side is toward the earth. It’s still there, though, even if you can’t see it. And Edward, Bella’s moon, never stops loving her even though she thinks he has. It’s also, as John pointed out, a retelling of Twilight in many ways, but like the phase of the moon referenced in the title, it is a darker retelling of the story. I’m struck especially by the difference between the meadow scenes, one in the sparkling sunlight where Edward and Bella finally declare their love for each other, and the other on a gray day where Bella barely escapes being eaten by Laurent. I might argue that there are even some echoes between the Twilight meadow scene and the New Moon Volturi turret scene, as both the meadow and the turret room are conspicuously described as “perfectly” circular. That, and this is the book featuring Jacob “Black,” and, as John argues, it’s the nigredo book of the series. Dark, indeed.