Page 1. " When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations "

by anna1990

The Reconciliation of Titania and Oberon

  A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play by William Shakespeare, in which the quarrel between the King and Queen of the fairies is linked with the love stories of four people.

Stephenie Meyer was influenced by this play, and also by Romeo and Juliet and The Merchant of Venice, in writing the Twilight saga. In fact she has said that Twilight was loosely modelled on Pride and Prejudice; New Moon on Romeo and Juliet; Eclipse on Wuthering Heights; and Breaking Dawn partly on A Midsummer Night's Dream.  

Stephenie Meyer Interview

A Midsummer Night's Dream  E-Book

Page 3. " It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue "

by anna1990

Phoenix, Arizona

  Phoenix is the capital of Arizona, the fifth largest state in America. It is also one of the hottest, with temperatures reaching 100ºF in the warmer months, and sometimes even 120ºF.

No wonder Bella feels so out of place in rainy Forks! 

Page 3. " I was wearing my favorite shirt —sleeveless, white eyelet lace "

by anna1990

Sleeveless White Eyelet Lace Shirt - Credit: Tilly's Love Squared

Parka - Credit: Stylehive

Bella's Wardrobe

Bella is described as wearing a sleeveless white eyelet lace top, a gesture of farewell to Arizona's hot weather.

She also carries a parka, no doubt to protect herself against the rain which she will surely find in Forks. 

Page 4. " It's a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks "

by anna1990

Bella's Route

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport - Credit: afagen@flickr

From Arizona to Seattle

Seattle Airport - Credit: Jordan Chark@flickr

From Seattle to Port Angeles - Credit: OpenStreetMap

From Port Angeles to Forks - Credit: OpenStreetMap

Page 5. " Well, it's a truck actually, a Chevy "

by anna1990

Bella's Truck                              

1953 Chevrolet Pickup - Credit: Corvair Owner @Flickr

This 1953 Chevrolet was chosen by Stephenie Meyer, after talking with her more car-obsessed brothers.

A different model was used for the movie.  The truck was auctioned after filming ended and is now rented out for charitable contributions.

Movie Bella's Truck - Credit: Twilighters Anonymous

Page 6. " Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push? "

by anna1990

The names in Twilight may have symbolic meaning.

Billy is short for William, which means protector. Billy Black constantly tries to protect Bella from the Cullen family.  

Edward means wealthy guard.  He spends nights guarding Bella, and certainly has plenty of cash.

Bella's police chief father is Charlie.  Charles means man or warrior. 

Bella is Italian for beautiful. 

Page 7. " He still lived in the small, two-bedroom house "

by anna1990

Bella's House in Forks - Credit: TheCabinet.com

The Forks Chamber of Commerce chose this building to represent Charlie's House in the real Forks, Washington.

The movie was filmed in Oregon, so a different house was used.

Page 9. " I looked at my face in the mirror as I brushed through my tangled, damp hair "

by anna1990

Kristen Stewart - Credit: Luke Ford

In the book, Stephenie Meyer does not give a detailed description of Bella, so that people can get in her shoes better. However, on her website she has included a fuller description:

In my head, Bella is very fair-skinned, with long, straight, dark brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her face is heart-shaped—a wide forehead with a widow's peak, large, wide-spaced eyes, prominent cheekbones, and then a thin nose and a narrow jaw with a pointed chin. Her lips are a little out of proportion, a bit too full for her jaw line. Her eyebrows are darker than her hair and more straight than they are arched. She's five foot four inches tall, slender but not at all muscular, and weighs about 115 pounds. She has stubby fingernails because she has a nervous habit of biting them.  

In the movie version of the book, Bella was played by Kristen Stewart.

Page 12. " At home I'd lived in one of the few lower-income neighborhoods that were included in the Paradise Valley District "

by anna1990

Paradise Valley - Credit: Ryan Franklin

  Paradise Valley is in northeast Phoenix.  The district is known for its open spaces, and trails in the nearby mountains.

Page 13. " The nicest car here was a shiny Volvo, and it stood out "

by anna1990

Volvo S60R

Edward's Car

The model described in the book is the S60R.

The car used in the movie was a Volvo C30 Hatchback.

Following the publicity the brand received thanks to the Twilight Saga, Volvo is now an official partner of the series.

Page 13. " I stuffed everything in my bag "

by anna1990

Bella's Bag - Credit: JanSport

Plain Black Jacket - Credit: Juicy Couture

The book does not specify what type of bag it is, but in the movie Bella uses a coppery/brown bag.  

Bella wears a black jacket with a hood, perfect for blending in with the crowd.                                                                       

Page 13. " I kept my eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given me. It was fairly basic: Brontë, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner "

by anna1990

The Brontë Sisters

Anne Bronte

Charlotte Bronte

Emily Bronte

The Brontë Sisters were Charlotte, Emily and Anne, 19th Century writers of some of the classics of English Literature. Charlotte is best known for Jane Eyre; Emily for her gothic masterpiece Wuthering Heights; and Anne for Agnes Grey.

At the time, it was not considered respectable for women to write novels. They mostly wrote under the pseudonyms of Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne all died of various illnesses in their thirties.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare is England's greatest poet and playwright, with 38 plays and 154 sonnets to his name.

He wrote mainly between 1589 and 1613, his body of work including comedies, histories and tragedies.

William Shakespeare's Works Online

Open Source Shakespeare

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer

Geoffrey Chaucer is best known for The Canterbury Tales.  He lived between the 13th and 14th Centuries. He is credited with being the father of the English Language, due to his use of the vernacular (or common English) in his tales.

Besides The Canterbury Tales, other major works by Chaucer include The Book of the Duchess, The House of Fame, Anelida and Arcite and the Legend of the Two Women. He also wrote several minor poems, amongst them Fortune, Gentilesse, and Truth.

Works by Geoffrey Chaucer Online

William Faulkner

William Faulkner - Credit: Carl Van Vechten

William Faulkner was an American Nobel Prize winner, and is today one of the best known and most revered American Authors. He wrote both novels and short stories, the latter often driven by financial need. His most popular and critically acclaimed novels are The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August and Absalom, Absalom!

Faulkner won two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Book Awards. He was also a screenwriter, contributing to the scripts of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, and Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not.

Page 22. " So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or what? "

by anna1990

This is a hint of what's to come, although Mike isn't aware of it.

Legend has it that one of the only ways to kill a vampire is to stab it through the heart with a wooden stake. The preferred wood was ash, hawthorne or oak. However this method would not work on Stephenie Meyer's Vampires:

Q&A with Stephenie Meyer (from the twilight lexicon)

Q:  How about stakes through the heart?  Reflections? Photographs? Holy water?  Garlic?  All that traditional vampire lore.

Stephenie Meyer:  Bunch of garbage.  I think all of them get addressed in New Moon except garlic and stakes.  But you try shoving wood through granite.