me: i just think that if smeyer respected her native characters to the point of actually developing them to be independent rather than the polar opposite of the cullens (and therefore highlight the cullens’ idealistic whiteness), then she would’ve made leah a good foil for bella. you know what i mean? they have parallel stories! they’re the same age and both of their first boyfriends/loves of their lives ended up being supernatural creatures, thus throwing both of the teen girls into the supernatural world. in fact, edward and his family’s presence are the reason why sam ended up phasing at all! both bella and leah were dumped by their supernatural bfs for mysterious reasons, but smeyer portrayed their reactions as obvious opposites. bella, while facing criticism from tertiary characters like jessica, was portrayed as the “right” way to cope with heartbreak: catatonic, quiet, etc. bella’s close friends (jacob and angela) gave her sympathy in the wake of her heartbreak. but leah was portrayed angry and very open about her negative feelings (similarly to rosalie). however, leah was deemed a shrew for her heartbreak by those close to her (also jacob, basically the whole wolf pack, etc) despite her anger being a valid reaction to being suddenly dumped by her bf of several years. for her cousin!!! if smeyer thought to develop leah as more than the bitter, angry, loud, undesirable-by-her-peers yet “exotically beautiful” brown girl, then bella and leah have potentially found solace in each other in reaction to their respective experiences with heartbreak, or at least openly acknowledge that the cullens and their lifestyle played a large part in changing leah’s life for the negative while bella aspired to join their lifestyle and her life improved tenfold once she did. if smeyer gave leah more character development beyond a heartbreaking and unfair backstory used to explain away jacob imprinting on renegade, the series would have improved that much more. then again, smeyer would never admit her white protagonists’ wrongdoings past new moon, and she would never acknowledge that leah’s presence as a character often undermines bella’s motivations by highlighting her selfishness. this would therefore highlight the fact that bella serves as a self-insert for smeyer and i don’t think she would ever acknowledge that either, unfortunately.
