Jewish werewolves?

[joggerjayne]

At first, I thought is was a coincidence, but now I'm starting to wonder.

In the Twilight novels, the werewolf pack have a lot of Jewish names ...

... Jacob, Seth, Samuel, Rachel, Rebecca, etc.

They live in a confined area (La Push). They are darker skinned, described as having thick eyebrows, and portrayed as temperamentally unreliable.

The vampires, on the other hand, have "blue blood" Ivy League sort of names ...

... Edward, Carlisle, Alice, Jasper, Emmett.

Does Stephenie Meyer have some sort of "Jewish ghetto" thing going on here?

[jno]

hmmm. Interesting.

In Polanski's "The Fearless Vampire Hunters" someone holds up a crucifix to protect himself from Alfie Bass's fangs, but Alfie just says 'Oy, hev you got the wrong vampire!'.

[joggerjayne]

Both interesting replies.

I don't know what the Mormoms' angle is on the Jews.

[jno]

'Mormons see themselves as Jews of the tribe of Ephraim, one of the tribes of Joseph, whereas Jews are thought by them to be of the descendants of Judah. This means that Mormons hold themselves as coequal in status to "other Jews," which is why to them all non-Mormons except Jews are "gentiles." '

http://www.jcpa.org/dje/articles2/mormon.htm

I trust that is crystal clear.

[joggerjayne]

So, possibly, rather than being (subconsciously or otherwise) Jewish ...

... the werewolves could be Mormon ?

Is S Meyer seeing herself as part of a marginalised community.

[Davethedog]

They can also be described as Old testament names rather than Jewish. I have never read the books but who are older?

[jno]

the Old Testament is about Jews (there being no Christianity around at the time)

[Davethedog]

Jno - do you think i'm stupid

[joggerjayne]

Hmm, that's an interesting thought, Dave ...

I'm just trying to think back to a story that one of the werewolf clan told, sitting round a camp fire, about how they came into being. I think one of the elders' spirits got trapped outside his body, so he borrowed the body of a wolf, or something.

Was that before the vampires?

Well, actually, we are not told. The story is told in the First Person from the perspective of one of the characters, who listens to the story. The vampires do come along later, but I think the inference is that they had been around before the werewolves.

[saxy_jag]

Those names are also Amish names. As far as I know the Amish are more Christian than Jewish.

[boxtops]

I would say so too - that recent TV programme about the Amish showed them reading the Bible.