The Host

In The Host, parasitic aliens called “souls” inhabit human bodies, a variation on the trope of body-snatching, popularized by the 1956 film Invasion of the Body Snatchers, itself an adaptation of Jack Finney’s novel The Body Snatchers, published in 1954. Other examples in literature are Ira Levin’s 1972 novel The Stepford Wives, Robert A. Heinlein’s 1951 The Puppet Master, and Hiron Ennes’s 2022 Leech. The premise has also appeared in numerous films, including 2017’s Get Out and 1998’s The Faculty.

Body snatching has often been used as a metaphor to explore fears about conformity, autonomy, individuality, and identity; released during the Cold War, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, for example, was variously interpreted as an allegory regarding the spread of communism and of McCarthyism. Stephenie Meyer takes a different approach, writing the novel from the perspective of one of the “body snatchers,” Wanderer. Meyer humanizes the aliens and offers a complex portrayal that explores empathy, self-sacrifice, and coexistence. In many ways, Meyer suggests that the aliens are kinder, gentler creatures than humans are, but their peacefulness comes at the expense of human passions and individuality. Meyer also complicates the relationship between “parasite” and “host,” as Melanie and Wanderer begin working together early in the novel. That said, The Host also explores the psychological impacts of “infection” and the impact of the occupation on the few humans left years after Earth is colonized. In this focus on the relationships and psychology, Meyer differs from many science fiction novels’ interest in alien technology: The novel examines the souls’ medical technology, but largely in the context of its usefulness to humans.