Family Quotes in The Host

Here we see that alien ideals of motherhood line up pretty well with human ideals of motherhood. A creature of Wanda's species must literally give her life to be a mother. Melanie, who sees Jamie as a son just as much as a brother, would give her life to save him. Good thing she was implanted with Wanda (well, as good as alien implantations go), since Wanda would do the same thing.

Even though they've only been together a few weeks at this point, Melanie and Jamie see Jared as family, just like that moment when you meet someone and feel like you've known them forever. Priceless.

This is one of the few instances where Wanda speaks in first-person plural voice. She considers Jamie her brother just as much as Melanie does, even though Wanda and Jamie aren't related at all by blood. They're not even the same species!

Wanda develops a motherly instinct about Jamie, even though he's a little too old for lullabies and bedtime stories. As though he's her child, he'll always be a little boy in her eyes. (Are we allowed to roll our eyes a little?)

When Jamie is in danger, Wanda's maternal instinct kicks in automatically. This instance is kind of like when your mom stops the car suddenly and puts her arm in front of you even though you're wearing a seat belt. Whether you need protection or not (in this case, Jamie doesn't) your mom (or the alien who thinks she's your mother) is there to provide it, unconditionally.

Hm, this sounds a lot like the bond between alien and host, to us. And it makes us think about the way Renesmee is, like, literally killing Bella in Breaking Dawn. Think Stephenie has some issues around motherhood?

Later, Wanda willingly chooses to die to bring Melanie back. In that way, she's like a mother to Melanie, sacrificing herself so that Melanie can be reborn.

Wanda is so attached to Jamie that he's more family to her than her own species is. She's willing to go in to Doc's room and comfort Jamie, even though some of her own kind were just slaughtered in there.

Until this point, Wanda hasn't felt part of Melanie and Jared's family. Now that Jared finally trusts her, she feels accepted.

In a park, Ian, Wanda, and Jared see an unexpected development in the human/soul relationship: a soul-possessed mother caring for a human baby. This blended inter-species family shows that there is hope for co-existence between species on Earth. We can only imagine the therapy bills when the child grows older.