Abstract:
This research explores the literary work of Stephenie Meyers The Twilight Sagaa collection of four novels including Twilight (2005), New moon (2006), Eclipse (2007), and Breaking dawn (2008). It looks at how the issues of anxiety, dream and desire are represented and how paranormal romance as a genre is an effective tool for representing these issues. The study reveals that the vampire figure found in The Twilight Saga is used as a symbol of anxiety, dream and desire of contemporary American teenagers for three reasons. Firstly, the vampire character in The Twilight Saga is much more humanlike in appearance unlike the monstrous image of vampire in the past. The transformation of the vampire character into an ideal human figure reveals the authors attempt to appropriate the vampire character to represent American youths desire and anxiety about romantic affairs. Furthermore, the vampire character as a metaphor of alienation also indicates social concerns about teenagers. Additionally, there is a link between the vampire characters role and the theme of love and relationship in the novels. The perfect relationship with angel-like vampire illustrates both the characters desire of unbreakable love and relationship, and her anxiety about identity and social acceptance. Finally, the representation of teenager characters relationship through paranormal romance genre reveals the repression of desire, anxiety and dream under the social laws. The apparent limit of laws leads the reader to re-define romantic love. This genre provides a fantastic space for temporary release of the repressed. Moreover, the existence of vampire characters inspires hope to teen readers through a narrative motif of a dream come true.