Mind To Mind': The Gothic Loss of Privacy In the Twilight Saga and Chaos Walking Trilogy

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-27-2017

Department

English

School

Humanities

Abstract

The Pensieve in the Harry Potter series vividly recreates memories. This chapter examines the loss of privacy in two young-adult series: the four-book Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer and the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. In the Twilight Saga, human Bella Swan moves to the sleepy town of Forks and discovers that local family the Cullens are actually vampires who abstain from drinking human blood. Chaos Walking takes place on New World, a planet that humans have colonized after decimating and enslaving the planet's native species, the Spackle. The Twilight Saga gothicizes lack of privacy by associating it with gothic monsters – vampires and werewolves. Although Jacob admits that the 'mind to mind' werewolf pack connection proves advantageous in a fight, he mostly considers it embarrassing and invasive. He complains to Bella about the forced honesty: It's awful. No privacy, no secrets.

Publication Title

New Directions in Children's Gothic: Debatable Lands

First Page

160

Last Page

175

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