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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Twilight, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Lust
Self-Restraint and Morality
Good, Evil, and Perspective
Family
Summary
Analysis
Bella wakes up far too early again and can hear Alice and Jasper talking. It’s just after two in the morning, and Alice is sketching. Jasper murmurs that Alice saw that James is now heading for the room with the VCR, but it’s light enough now that Alice can see. Bella recognizes Alice’s drawing—it’s Mom’s living room. Alice gets on the phone immediately, and Jasper makes Bella’s panic feel dull. When Alice hangs up, she says that Edward is on his way; he, Carlisle, and Emmett are going to take Bella somewhere else. They’ll meet him at the airport, and Bella will leave with him from there.
James terrorizes his victims by targeting their loved ones. He may not have the strong bonds with anyone, but he nevertheless realizes that other people do—and he can use that to his advantage. Notice too that the party coming to rescue Bella consists of most of the other Cullens, more proof that they see Bella as part of the family and worth protecting—for everyone’s sake.
Themes
Hysterical, Bella asks about Mom. She sobs that Alice can’t guard all her loved ones forever, and she doesn’t want James to hurt the Cullens, either. Jasper attempts to make Bella fall asleep, but Bella snaps that she doesn’t want to and walks into her room. She slams the door and spends hours crying. Bella can’t escape this nightmare—the only good thing is that she’ll see Edward soon. Ashamed of her behavior, Bella returns to the front room and she hears the phone ring. Alice shares that the others just got on the plane and will be here in a few hours. Jasper is checking out; they’re going to get a hotel closer to Mom’s house.
It's a sign of how selfless Bella is that this is a “nightmare” because her loved ones are in danger, not necessarily because she’s in danger. When she composes herself and returns to the front room, it shows that Bella is trying to make this easier for her protectors—her pouting and refusing to cooperate isn’t going to help anything. Her emotional response, though, also shows that Bella is human. Part of that involves sometimes acting out.
Themes
The phone rings. It’s Mom this time, so Alice hands Bella the phone. Mom is clearly panicking, so Bella sighs and tells her to calm down. Mom doesn’t say anything—but James’s voice tells Bella to stay quiet. He tells Bella to do what he says, or he’ll hurt Mom. He coaches her through what to say (since Alice can hear) and says that Mom got home early. He asks if Bella can escape the Cullens and tells her to go to Mom’s house alone. There will be a phone number there for her to call, and she must do this before noon.
Kidnapping Mom shows again how adept James is at manipulating people’s emotions and ties to other people. Part of what makes him such a skilled and “lethal” tracker is, presumably, that he’s good at playing these games. He gets his victims to come to him, all on their own.
Themes
After James hangs up, Bella fixates on how panicked Mom sounds. But she knows she can’t panic. She has to get to the mirror room, where she knows she’s going to die. Hopefully James will be satisfied with Bella, since Bella can’t bargain. Bella knows she has to figure out how to evade Jasper and Alice. She tries to choke back her anxiety, so that Jasper doesn’t get concerned, and thinks about Edward. She’ll never see him again. Finally, she returns to the main room and tells Alice she convinced Mom to stay away. Seeing the hotel stationery, Bella asks if Alice would be willing to give Mom a letter. Bella takes the paper into the bedroom and writes to Edward. She apologizes and begs him to not come after her. Bella hopes he’ll listen.
With Mom’s life on the line, Bella experiences a moment of clarity. It would be unthinkable to not play along with James and leave Mom to die, so in Bella’s mind, the only option is to betray her new chosen family and sacrifice herself. Earlier in the novel Edward said that Bella would never be in the position of having to sacrifice herself to save someone she loved. But now she is, and she is willing to commit that sacrifice. That this sacrifice involves also giving up Edward’s love amplifies her selflessness. Finally, note that throughout the novel Bella has struggled to contain her emotions. Now when her plan depends on it, she does master them.
Themes
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