Touched by a Vampire by Beth Felker Jones

Author:Beth Felker Jones [Jones, Beth Felker]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60142-279-8
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2009-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

MORMON FAMILY HOPE

In many ways, the Cullen family reflects the hopes of the author’s Mormon faith. For Mormons, eternal hope is linked with family. Mormons believe that the family unit will last for all of eternity.

There is a crucial difference between this belief and the usual Christian expectation that we will know and be reunited with people we love in the kingdom of God. For Mormons, the family structure remains the basic unit of eternity. Salvation happens in, through, and for families. Eternal life is family life, continuous with family life as it is known here and now. People become holy through a good family life. A Mormon marriage is believed to be for both time (this life) and eternity (forever). This is the reason Mormons are interested in studying their family trees. Mormon families want to find out who among their ancestors didn’t know about the Mormon faith. They provide baptism for these dead family members in the hope of strengthening their eternal families.

Families aren’t important just for eternal hope though. Hope for Mormons in this life is also pinned on the family. Family life is supposed to provide everything Bella doesn’t get from Charlie and Renee—stability, protection, and happiness. The Mormon family is supposed to be moral and affect society for the better. God is understood to bless faithful families.

The Mormon church distributes free literature printed with rosy, glowing images of family life. Beautiful and happy children gather around tables filled with food. Mom and Dad are together, smiling, generous, and kind. Everyone is smartly dressed, neatly brushed, attractive. Family members touch each other affectionately, casually. The pictures show families that are the opposite of the disappointment we all have known in our own families.

When we think about family in Twilight, then, two very different things are going on. On one side, Meyer captures the fragility of real human families. Our families are ordinary, weak, and disappointing. As we get older, we often realize this in new ways, ways difficult for us to accept. We realize, like Bella, that the families we grew up in can’t protect us from everything or meet all our needs.

On the other side, Meyer offers a glittering image of a family that won’t disappoint. The Cullens are a family in which happiness and togetherness can be realized, a family that can “save” Bella from her mortal life.

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