Crybaby Avengers in Twilight (Pt. 3--On Sam)
Sources
The Twilight Illustrated Guide
The Official Site for Twilight (FAQs)
The Purchased Books written by Meyer, especially The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner
“Native Women of Twilight“ (Burke Museum)
Sam Uley
Desire: At first to live happily with Leah. Was always to protect his tribe, family and friends. They are his priority.
Backstory and Context
Similar to Leah, he had to go through the painful werewolf transformation.
Except Sam was the first person to change and the last person who did is dead and lived two generations ago. He was completely alone, and though the legends were told, he didn’t grow up with the knowledge of them being real and the books never showed that he thought of them or remembered them as far as I remember. So he didn’t have a clue what was happening and he had a lot of trouble controlling himself from snapping at those he loved or found himself nearly hurting them.
For a guy who used his werewolf abilities to drive away a drug dealer lurking around the tribe, I imagine that he likely felt like he needed to take care of his fellow tribespeople, and then with the strength that was forced on him. It appears to me that Sam has his heart in the community, It is his life, his pride, where he seeks to make prosperous by making it safe first. He seemed to aim to be as little like his dad as possible: responsible and very involved, helping his tribe prosper rather than abandon its history and its future.
Explanation
But as a werewolf, he has also lost one that he loved and whom he hated to have hurt the most. The one person that he thought he wouldn’t have ever abandoned like his dad abandoned him and his mother. And with the problematic narrative of indigenous men abusing or leaving their families pushed forward as them being inherently unfit to parent or lead.....well.
It would have been a huge identity-fucker, his transformation and subsequent imprinting on Emily. He might have felt like he was losing himself, that he never knew who he “truly” was, or was just disappointed in himself and doubted his deserving to lead others. If a person can’t treat their loved ones with respect and care, what business do they have telling others what to do, even if it is towards their benefit? the with the stereotype I mentioned about the unfitness of indigenous men, Sam also would have struggled with how he “became” that stereotype and fulfilled the white man’s prophecy.
So yeah, Bella falling in love with a vampire and one of those that he can’t just kill throws a huge wrench in his needs/desires to assure that his tribe survives to prosper and for his own “private” life.
Finally, Sam--like every other werewolf of the pack--might see killing vampires as avenging that disconnection with self, with the friends of before, one’s own possible future.....yep.
By proxy (or the other way around), the pack’s struggles against the general vampire can be paralleled to how indigenous peoples have tried to defend their land from European and American interlopers for decades. I mean, it’s right there. The Cullens are white both as a race and literally and are real dangers to the tribe because, like with James’ coven, they still can attract more vampires. And then there are possible accidents (Esme?).
And yet, we’re supposed to see them as the obstacles/opposers of the stability of Eternal BellaxEdward?
Much of the stuff about Sam being a crybaby avenger is shared with my next entry "Jacob".
Both men are the tribe's protectors/warriors and thus share the heft of that responsibility. For both, the anger that we see will be either influenced or developed from deep feelings of helplessness conflicting with the thrill of immense strength. (Another irony: similar to the Twilight vampires and ancient and traditional werewolf narratives.) However, Sam's anger isn't as personal as Jacob and is not direct as he has no ties to any of the Cullens through any of his own relationships.