Let’s Re-Read Breaking Dawn Together! Chapter 21

Welcome to the BreakingDawnMovie.org’s Community Re-read!

While we impatiently wait for Breaking Dawn part 2 to be released, we continue with our highly-popular Community Re-Read!

Every Tuesday & Friday, I’ll post a breakdown for each chapter in the book, counting down the days until the official release of the film on November 16th. Let’s get started, dig out your copy of Breaking Dawn, read the chapters together with us, and discuss anything you may find of interest that you might have missed the first or twentieth time around. Let’s continue our journey into FOREVER.

 Chapter 21: First Hunt

 “His raking claws could have been caressing fingers for all the impact they had on my skin. His teeth could find no purchase against my shoulder or my throat. His weight was nothing…”

 With Bella’s thirst growing more and more uncomfortable by the second they finally decide to go and hunt. This chapter really just details all the feelings, sights, sounds, and thirst that Bella is experiencing as a newborn. Here’s a quick breakdown of this chapter:

• Pg. 407 Edward teaches Bella how to jump out of the window in traditional vampire style lol. Bella objects, but Edward informs Bella, that Renesmee and Jacob are downstairs.

• Pg. 408 Bella remembering Jacob’s feelings about her unborn baby while she was pregnant, she then stops again. “Is Renesmee…okay…with Jacob there?” I whispered. “He doesn’t like her much.” Edward’s lips tightened in an odd way. “Trust me, she is perfectly safe. I know exactly what Jacob is thinking.”  Here we also learn that Alice has dressed Bella in white the sexy blue silk dress and stilettos lol. Not practical for hunting.

• Pg. 409 Edward leaps from the window like the professional he is, and of course Bella is unsure of herself.   Clenching my teeth as I concentrated, I tried to copy his casual step into empty air. I absorbed the impact in the balls of my feet, not wanting to snap off the thin heels. My landing seemed just as quiet as his. I grinned at him. “Right. Easy.” He smiled back. “Bella?” “Yes?” “That was quite graceful-even for a vampire.” I considered that for a moment, and then I beamed. “Thank you.”  I told him. Edward took my hand- I couldn’t stop marveling at the smoothness, the comfortable temperature of his skin-and darted through the backyard to the edge of the river. I went along with him effortlessly.

• Pg. 414-415 Bella has really come into her own! She is more aware of her body, muscles, and her senses. Bella lets loose and runs carefree through the forest.  She even surpasses Edward!  “Bella,” he called dryly, his voice even, lazy. I could hear nothing else; he had stopped. “Did you want to stay in the country?”  he asked, amused. “Or were you planning to continue onto Canada this afternoon?” “This is fine. What are we hunting?” “Elk. I thought something easy for your first time.” “Where?” I asked. “Hold still for a minute. Now close your eyes. Listen.” Edward instructed. “What do you hear?”

• Pg. 417 As Bella listens; her natural hunting instincts begin to take over. She senses a small pack of animals, but then something more serious takes complete control over newborn Bella.   The scent rules completely. I was singled-minded as I traced it, aware only of the thirst and the smell that promised to quench it. The thirst got worse, so painful now that it confused all my other thoughts and began to remind me of the burn of the venom in my veins. I was suddenly alert to the fact that I was being followed. And then I could hear my pursuer gaining, and defense won. As I spun, the rising sound ripped its way up my throat and out. The feral snarl, coming from my own mouth, was so unexpected that it brought me up short. It unsettled me, and it cleared my head for a second-the thirst-driven haze receded, though the thirst burned on. The wind shifted, blowing the smell of wet earth and coming rain across my face, further freeing me from the other scent’s fiery grip-a scent so delicious it could only be human. Edward hesitated a few feet away, his arms raised as if to embrace me-or restrain me. His face was intent and cautious as I froze, horrified.

• Pg. 418-420 Here is where in my own opinion that our newborn Bella has graduated to a level that even Edward cannot understand.    I realized that I had been about to attack him. With a hard jerk, I straightened out of my defensive crouch. He could see reason return to my face, and he took a step toward me, lowering his arms. “I have to get away from here,” I spit through my teeth. Shock crossed his face. “Can you leave?” I didn’t have time to ask him what he meant by that. I burst into a run again, a flat-out sprint straight north, concentrating solely on the uncomfortable feeling of sensory deprivation that seemed to be my body’s only response to the lack of air. Edward caught up with me after a short minute. “How did you do that?” he demanded. “Bella, how did you do it?” “Run away? I held my breath.” “But how did you stop hunting?” “When you came up behind me…I’m so sorry about that.” “Why are you apologizing to me? I’m the one who was horribly careless. I assumed no one would be so far from the trails, but I should have checked first. Such a stupid mistake! You have nothing to apologize for.” “But I growled at you!” “Of course you did. That’s only natural. But I cannot understand how you ran away.” “What else could I do? It might have been someone I know!”  He startled me, suddenly bursting into a spasm of loud laughter, throwing his head back and letting the sound echo off the trees. “Why are you laughing at me?” “I’m not laughing at you, Bella. I’m laughing because I am in shock. And I am in shock because I am completely amazed.” Why?” “You shouldn’t be able to do any of this. You shouldn’t be so…so rational. You shouldn’t be able to stand here discussing this with me calmly and coolly. And, much more than any of that, you should not have been able to break off mid-hunt with the scent of human blood in the air. Even mature Vampires have difficulty with that-we’re always very careful of where we hunt so as not to put ourselves in the path of temptation. Bella, you’re behaving like you’re decades older rather than days old.” “Oh.”  He put his hands on my face again, and his eyes were full of wonder. “What I wouldn’t give to be able to see into your mind for just this one moment.”

• Pg. 422-425 And here it is. After Edward and Bella tear themselves away from their major make-out session in the woods, Bella’s thirst takes over and it is now officially hunting time!    With a light bound, I sailed through the air and landed on the lion’s branch. He clawed the space between us, his eyes bright with fury. Half-crazed with thirst, I ignored the exposed fangs and the hooked claws and launched myself at him, knocking us both to the forest floor. It wasn’t much of a fight. My teeth unerringly sought his throat, and his instinctive resistance was pitifully feeble against my strength. It was effortless as biting into butter. My teeth were steel razors; they cut through the fur and fat and sinews like they weren’t there. The flavor was wrong, but the blood was hot and wet and it soothed the ragged, itching thirst as I drank in an eager rush. The lion was finished before I was. The thirst flared again when he ran dry, and I shoved his carcass off my body in disgust. How could I still be thirsty after all that?  Standing, I realized I was a bit of a mess. I wiped my face off on the back of my arm and tried to fix the dress. The claws that had been so ineffectual against my skin had had more success with the thin satin. “Hmm,” Edward said. “I guess I could’ve done that better.” I was covered in dirt, my hair knotted, my dress bloodstained and hanging in tatters. “You did perfectly fine. It’s just that…it was much more difficult for me to watch than it should have been.” I raised my eyebrows confused. “It goes against the grain letting you wrestle with lions. I was having an anxiety attack the whole time.” “Silly.” “I know. Old habits die hard. I like the improvements to your dress, though.”

• Pg. 425-427 This chapter ends with Mr. and Mrs. Cullen hunting more wildlife together side by vampire side. Bella then convinces Edward to let her see Renesmee.   “I want to see Renesmee,” I said. Now that my thirst was tamed off(if nothing close to erased), my earlier worries were hard to forget. I wanted  to reconcile with the stanger who was my daughter with the creature I’d loved three days ago. “Renesmee?” he asked uncertainly. “Renesmee,” I agreed, rueful, and I whipped back up onto my feet, pulling him with me.

*I still cannot believe Bella did it; she really and truly is a vampire now! And with all my love for this saga and the characters…I’m still not sure. But I’m a Virgo and we are a cautious people lol. I guess its too late now; Bella has already been made immortal. So what are your thoughts on this chapter? I have soo many mixed emotions. I feel like a proud mom, and scared teenager, all rolled into one lol. But Bella is a magnificent vampire, it’s as if she was destined to become immortal don’t you agree? Let’s discuss!

Tags: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 Re-Read

Category: Breaking Dawn Book