Character Love

Posted by Laura L. Johnson Jul 7, 2008

I had a conversation with a friend a few months ago about Prince Caspian. Not the movie - we had a conversation about the character of Prince Caspian. See, since she was little, this friend hid a deep crush for the lead character in C.S Lewis' book of the same name. My friend jokingly realized that she was often unfaithful to her dear Prince Caspian, though - sometimes with Jay Gatsby, often with Gene Forrester. I laughed at her, one of those nervous laughs that revealed I knew a little too well what she was feeling.

Haven't we all harbored those secret literary crushes? Who wasn't the little girl jealous of MaryAnne from the BabySitter's Club who had Logan, or of Nancy Drew and her ever-faithful, football star boyfriend? As I began to think about these little crushes throughout my life, I stumbled upon the most recent obsession of most teenage girls today: Edward Cullen.

I admit, I've never read any of the Stephanie Meyers novels, which to some of you is probably a crime, but I can recognize a well-written character when I see the obession of thousands of teens. Look at the fansites, the MySpace messages, the Facebook bumperstickers and even the tshirts out there dedicated to Edward Cullen and every girls' wih to meet the real world Cullen. But ladies, let me issue you a warning about the growing Edward Cullen obsession: stick to the books - honestly! There is no boy as sweet as Logan Bruno, there is no boy who dons a varsity jacket as well as Ned Nickerson and, even excluding the vampire characteristics, there is no one as dashing as Edward Cullen. Of cousre, that doesn't mean we should stop dreaming...