The Others: How the Secondary Characters Stack Up

Christian's parents and Edward's parents were very different. The biggest difference being that Christian's parents really were his parents. I'm adopted too and don't EVER tell an adopted kid "oh those are your adopted parents." No, they are our real parents. While Carlisle and Esme had some parental qualities, the "parent" part was purely for show for the humans. For one thing, they were only 6-9 years older than Edward and shared more of a respect and love for one another. They were not going to tell Edward what he could or couldn't do--Edward wasn't going to be grounded or sent to his room. Carrick and Grace were clearly Christian's parents and that parental bond was clearly evident throughout the books. We are told that he was punished for his bad behavior as an adolescent. We are told that he had parental guidance growing up. Grace is clearly a mother and Carrick is clearly a father. The kids were adopted at very young ages and in Mia's case as a baby. Elliot was adopted first and we aren't specifically told at what age--baby or toddler, but it was young. Those kids were raised with parents. Grace was written as a strong, supportive, and loving woman. Esme was written as very loving, but occasionally came off as naive and bland. When she was trying to wrap her head around having enemies (James and Victoria) she just couldn't do it--why would anyone be evil? It made her seem more naive and slow than it just being a biproduct of her great love. Grace was a devoted mom, but also a career woman. Esme just had hobbies and interests that never seemed important or interesting. Carlisle loved his job, but was written as pretty neutral. Carrick had specific ideas. He was not always popular (ie the pre-nup.)but he was a strong paternal presence, a loving presence. Now in the original manuscript pre-50, the names were just used for random characters that didn't correspond between the two. The school secretary Shelley Cope became Gail Cope the housekeeper. It was just the borrowing of a name. Names of pack members and schoolmates became secretaries, receptionists, friends of Mia, etc. And when the change came to make it 50 Shades, the point became moot. The characters were completely different and had no resemblance to one another. Lily, Mia's bitchy friend, was originally named Jane...being bitchy doesn't equate you to a cruel vampire that enjoys inflicting pain. Jacob and Jose weren't anything alike. Jacob (again remember I was all Edward all the time) was understandable. It was easy to see how and why he and Bella got along and were good friends. Jose was a mystery. Because we were being told this story from Ana's point of view, all she ever did was describe him as whiny and clingy. Yuck. Their friendship didn't seem plausible and she didn't seem to care much about him, other than feeling guilty for not wanting to date him. Well too bad Jose, move on. Part of that, I believe, had to do with the writer's lack of experience. She was trying to show that he was hitting on her without her really "getting" that he liked her, but it came off as him using a whiny voice and making faces that indicated he was a little bitch. It just wasn't believable. Therefore it made it easy to forget him and not really care about him or root for him in any way--the complete opposite of Twilight where people were actually rooting for Bella to marry Jacob. Again you have another difference between the two series. The entire Twilight series centers on a love triangle--who will she pick? 50 Shades is a given. We know immediately who she is going to end up with and Jose is a non-entity. To be honest, I think Ana would have wound up with Ethan had she never met Christian. Bella isn't one to make close girl friends. In the few cases where she does, it's almost against her will. She clearly does like Angela, but not enough to spend a lot of time with her. She is aware that Jessica is a bitch, but is friends with her because she is trying to make up appearances for her dad. Ana and Kate were well written as best friends. Kate was loosely based on a combination of Rosalie and Jessica, but only in her traits--she and Ana were much closer than any relationship Bella had with any females. Bella did get close to Alice, but nothing like Ana and Kate.