In The Host, motherhood and the power of that love is explored so much more deeply than in the Twilight series. I loved every single passage that SM wrote; putting the feeling of being a mother into words like no other author I've ever read.

""There was no bond greater than one that required your life for another's. I'd understood this truth before; what I had not understood was why. Now I knew why a mother would give her life for her child, and this knowledge would forever shape the way I saw the universe."

In the scene where Wanda is watching the family in the park and she tells Jared that she's "staring at...hope" and Wanda's bond with Jamie and her reaction to the first time that Jamie tells Wanda that he loves her moved me so deeply.

Was anyone at all surprised that Stephenie's exploration of motherhood would be so accurate and move them to tears?

I too, was moved to tears. As a new mom, I realize the depth of love that is needed to have a child. I think it is significant how Wanderer is a Mother. And the decision to have children is sacrificing your life. I think it parallels human mothers perfectly. Having children is sacrificing your life. You are giving up your "life" in essence to have them. Pregnancy can be risking your life as well. As far as pain- duh. But that love of a mother would motivate any of us to do whatever it took to make sure our children/ loved ones have whatever they needed.

Being a mom of three boys, I'd say Stephenie has a pretty decent handle on the power of motherhood. I'm sure she probably drew upon her own experiences as a mom, when writing about it in The Host. Experience is our greatest teacher.

As an adoptive mom, I can see how much love Wanda had for Jamie even though he was not her "child" (or even her brother). She was willing to pick up where Melanie had left off in caring for and raising Jamie. I think too that it was through this love that Wanda realized how great humans were as a species and that we (the humans) are a species worth saving.

This is a great thread! Great discussion topic!

The Host explores so much of what it means to be human. It talks about love, all the different kinds of love, and that motherhood love is certianly a theme in this book. That Wanda and Mel could only do what was best for Jamie.

I feel this fierce sort of love for my own children. I've always called it my "Mama Lion" mode, when I just want to wrap them up and protect them no matter what. It is a strong and powerful emotion, thats for sure.

I loved the line Wanda used at the end of the book:



I think that's so accurate of mothers, that we give ourselves to motherhood (although it doesn't destroy us as it would Wanda, most of the time anyway )

I liked what you said. I have a 2 yr old and a 3 month old and I have been kinda feeling like I've really been going through something ever since I had my second. Both boys were not planned, but the second was REALLY a surprise. Of course, I adore both of them, but I have really been feeling like I've lost myself and who I am. The funny thing is that I have ALWAYS known that I wanted children, but obviously, it's a lot harder than I imagined. Still, the themes run deep since there isn't anything that I wouldn't do for them. I just have to find ways to fit in the "me" time as well as the family time. But then, that is what TMs is for, right?

I’m not sure if this goes here or elsewhere. Feel free to move it.
I’m reading The Host again and I realized something this time that I didn’t before.

Pg 66-67
Wanderer is talking to the Seeker outside, trying to get home. The Seeker says
“..I saw in your file that you have the potential for Motherhood. If you gave yourself to be a Mother, at least all that would not be entirely wasted. Why throw yourself away? Have you considered Motherhood?”

We find out later in the book (sorry, I don’t have those pages marked) what being a “soul Mother” entails.
But on the next page (67) Mel tells Wanderer
“ I’d never thought about how you all carry on your species. I didn’t know it was like that.”

So I’m guessing that Mel finds out what other burdens Wanderer is faced with. This is the same time when they are pulled together by their similar aversion to the Seeker. Mel decides to open up to Wanderer and show her the memories of Jared and Jamie.
Has anyone else noticed this?
Do you think that this effected Mel’s choice to open up?
Any other thoughts?

I was really hit by this too, and I loved that the love and bond of motherhood was not only "the hope" of the human race, but also the thing that made a human earth worth saving. Incredible!

*OME*, I can't believe I didn't even think of this.

*palm to forehead*

Being a mom means looking at the world through someone else's eyes. Even before the child is born you have to think for two, eat for two. I know that dads have come a long way in the twentieth century, but maternal instincts tell you physical and psychological things that others don't pick up on, sometimes even the child him/herself. So, thinking of the Host, I see that described very well. Wanda can't think of herself, only of others. She will go without, not to be a martyr, but just to make sure that others have a chance. She knows what will her family needs to hear and see even before they do. And, she has earned the loyalty of her family. They are afraid to disappoint her.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, I'm just tossing thoughts around. Babbling. It's how I work things out. Don't mind me, just go on to the next post....

One of the ongoing examinations in this story is how much of a person is their body, and how much is their mind. Can the two ever be completely distinct from one another, or is a "person" always going to be the two together?

When a woman knows she is pregnant, she is as aware of the developing fetus as Melanie is of Wanderer...or do I mean as Wanderer is of Melanie? Who "has" the body? Likewise, in a pregnancy, who has the body?

An expectant mother knows her child but can't see or hold her child; she can't be separate from him, step away and look back at him...in other words, she cannot be objective. The child prior to birth can only be experienced from within, purely subjectively. Subjectively is how Melanie and Wanderer also experience each other. In both situations, two entities share a body, with neither one controlling the body completely.

The one more experienced with the body, the mother, might seem to have the most control--she determines where it moves, what goes into it, how it's taken care of--but the new, inner being, the child, has set in motion forces over which the mother has no control at all. Instincts, hormones, and physiological processes are activated that only cease when the child is removed (is born or dies).

Regardless of who influences the body most, both persons sharing it are constantly affected by each other, as are Wanderer and Melanie. Other people around them can't always know which of them is the one most affecting how the person behaves and responds.

I think in addition to the other aspects of motherhood mentioned in this thread, this one also pervades the story: the inextricable nature of the influence between a mother and her unborn child. They are entwined to the point of being almost a single entity, but with important distinctions. There is still the mother distinct, the child distinct, but while they're in it together, the body is shared, not distinct from one or the other. That occurs at parturition, just as it does for Melanie and Wanderer. Wanderer leaves the body but takes something of it with her, since whatever occurred while she was part of it has shaped all her future experiences; and the same thing happens to us before we're born. What occurs while we're in the womb has profound consequences for our entire future. Melanie loses Wanderer from the body, but remains forever altered by the experience of her having been there.

If you like, The Host can be viewed as an esoteric treatise on pregnancy. There is the alien "intruder" who is basically a parasite using the body's resources for its sole benefit...but once we get past the immediate definition there is much more involved. There is the mutuality of the experience, the intertwining of two consciousnesses, two purposes that grow together into a combined aim, that of finally separating while remaining forever connected.

Well said, Shimmerskin. I've often described pregnancy as being rather like having your body hijacked by an alien (albeit a sleepy one). It's nice to have it put in prettier words.

I remember my doctor telling me that the fetus would take what it wanted and anything left over was for me. I actually lost weight when I was pregnant, but the baby thrived.
I also remember that my child had a personality and made his ideas on certain sounds/activities/foods known to me in no uncertain terms.

I like the analogy, Shimmerskin.

You know, I'm thinking that if Melanie/Wanderer can be analogous to gestation and birth, then maybe Wanda/Pet is an analogy of adoption. Anyone want to give it a shot?