Heroine Comparison: In Defense of Bella Swan

    Some novels have a heroine.  Some are beloved and some are hated. Very often these heroines are pitted against one another. Each characters strengths and flaws are exploited to the point of no return. Last night, I sat down to watch a movie with a despised herione, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Bella Swan is among the hated as she the series of her genesis. Her main opponent in the heroine wars? Hermione Granger of Harry Potter , and more recently Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games.
     I have never seen Bella Swan emerge victor of any of these squabbles, and I have a few theories as to why. If we are to dissect Twilight and its characters, we must understand its origins. Stephenie Meyer's series is straight out of the "Mormon Corridor." At Meyer's alma mater, nearly 50% of the students were married before graduation. So, Bella marrying young and having children at a young age isn't really a stretch in the area of the country Meyer attended college. I think this is main problem people have with Bella, she wants to get married early and has no inclination to fight.
    Secondly, she's much more feminine than her opponents, and Bella's never faced war. Bella is considered meek and mild, but unlike Katniss and Hermione Bella never had to fight to protect her country and her race, she fought to keep her friends and family safe. So, of course she's isn't as "cool" in a violent sense, because Bella almost never has to fight with the intent to harm or kill. It's not a part of her world, which makes the whole comparison a little bit unfair. So, with this blog post I attempt to bring some sort of honor to Bella Swan's name because she isn't quite as bad as the media has portrayed her. (I'm coming at this as someone who has read and owns each book. I'm analyzing Bella's actions in the book. No where else, I mean, she does most of the same stuff in the movies but her motives aren't really explained. Also, you don't get that personal link to Bella's mind in the films, a true advantage of reading the books.)
-So, here is a complete list of reasons why I don't believe Bella to be the shimpering ninny every one else thinks she is. I'll try to defend her against each common argument against her. At the end, make your own judgement, but is Bella really all that bad? Jusr because two men like her?

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1. Bella is tough. Time and time again, Bella is ready to put it all on the line for her freinds her family and friends. I think the most poignant example comes in Eclipse. Bella is ready to get directly into the middle of a fight if she knows it can help weigh the outcome towards benefitting those she loves. In Eclipse's final battle, Bella plans to get herelf killed in an attempt to save all the werwolves and vampires lives. Bella is more than willingly toput her life on the line to save those she loves. I'd say that's fairly brave anf tough.
2. Bella is not an awful character for being depressed. In New Moon, when Edward leaves Forks for good, Bella is understandbly sad. How does she cope with her loss? By not really dealing with it and becoming depressed. If Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close taught us anything its that every person copes with loss differently. If this is how Bella copes with loss who are we to judge? Not all of those can be productive in copious amounts of pain and I don't she should have be strong. Its her right to cope as she wants to cope. No one elses and it really doesn't make her a simpering ninny. After all, she lost the love of her life, isn't that a lot to loose?
3.  Bella is compassionate and grateful for everything she has been given. These are perhaps Bella's most defining and best traits, she put the needs of others before her own and is always saying thank you. In fact, she relishes in helping her father, Charlie, around the house because she is thankful to have a home and a loving father. And Bella always cares, even if she's fighting with someone, their safety is always a concern of her's. She always wants to help, I didn't realize that a defining attribute as this one who create a hated character.