New Moon Chapter 4 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Waking Up

  • October, November, December, January – months pass by like blank pages in a book. (They actually are blank pages in the book. Check out "Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory" for our thoughts on this.) Finally Bella finally wakes up to a life without Edward.
  • Charlie is exasperated with her. He wants her to see a psychiatrist, because she’s been completely "lifeless" (4.13) for four months.
  • To get Charlie off her back, Bella asks Jessica to go and see a movie with her in Port Angeles.
  • Jessica is still sulking about Bella’s anti-social behavior these past months, but she agrees to go. She gives Bella the choice between a romance and a zombie movie. Bella chooses the zombie movie.
  • During the movie, Bella watches a haggard zombie scrambling after the last shrieking survivor, and realizes that she resembles the zombie, not the human. Lifeless. Undead. But without the vampire beauty and allure.
  • On their way to dinner, the two girls pass through a deserted street. Bella notices a group of men outside a bar and believes that one of them is the thug Edward saved her from in Twilight. Somehow drawn by the danger, Bella walks toward the men when she hears Edward’s voice in her head: "Bella, stop this right now!" (4.179).
  • Although Bella thinks she might be losing her mind, she realizes that hearing Edward’s voice eases her pain. Even better, she figures out that, by putting herself in danger, she can make the voice return again.
  • Lying in bed at night, Bella’s pain returns.

    It was a crippling thing, this sensation that a huge hole had been punched through my chest… my heart must have been beating but I couldn’t hear the sound of my pulse in my ears; my hands felt blue with cold. (4.258).

  • Nevertheless, Edward’s voice has pulled her back into life. She wonders if she might grow to bear her pain.