The Host Chapters 5, 6, and 7 (I think)

Just for future reference, because I’m pasting from a word file, the formatting is weirdy. So any time you see a weird line, those are quotation marks. I’m going to post four chapters at a time because I’m away from high speed internet. Btw, Happy Thanksgiving!

Chapter 5- Uncomforted
Uncomforted is so not a word. Also, apparently I missed like half a page in the last chapter. It’s not that important. After Wanderer sent the email, Melanie said, “I hate you” and Wanderer realizes that she is getting stronger. Wanderer has to visit her Comforter, which is someone who helps souls acclimate to their new lives, I guess. Let’s remember that in WWI, Hitler was kind of like that. He helped soldiers adjust to their lives again. Anyway, then Wanderer puts a pillow over her face. Suicide? Unfortunately, no.
So now it’s chapter 5 and Wanderer is going to her Comforter. The Comforter is kind of miffed because Wanderer is uncomfortable (ha, see what I did there?) coming to her Comforter, who is now named Kathy. Kathy asks if Wanderer continues to enjoy her Calling, which I can only assume is…inhabiting other bodies for a living? Never mind, I guess she is some sort of teacher at a university. She appears to be a history professor and someone named “Curt”, possibly a mate or something of Kathy’s, really wants to keep Wanderer at the university. Wanderer wants to know why Kathy kept her human name, and Kathy says that it is because she took her host when the invasion was still in the early stages and they had to blend in with humans. Curt was Kathy’s host’s husband, and they just stayed together because they were together all the time anyway.

“My host loved Curt's host, and that love did not die when the ownership of the minds changed.”

I know this can be taken as a beautiful love story but…is this not another instance of Smeyer not giving her characters choices in love? This sentence implies that what the Yeerks are feeling is the hosts’ love, not their own, and so they have no power over who they love.
Wanderer is unhappy because she can’t separate Melanie’s memories from her own, especially the memories of Jared. So, it sounds like it’s moving into another instance of a love that isn’t chosen.
To change the subject and attempt to dispel awkwardness, Kathy wonders why Wanderer keeps her hair short, and Wanderer says she cuts it because Melanie likes it long. Bitch. Kathy now finds out that Melanie is a very real presence inside the body and is horrified, saying they have to take Wanderer to a Healer. Wanderer asks if Kathy wants her to “skip”, which… I’m not sure what that is yet. Wanderer bursts into tears and says that she is too weak for this world. Oh WHINE little bitch. Somebody call the WAAAAAmbulance! Melanie, of course, finds this amusing and is very smug.
On Encyclopedia Dramatica, it mentions how Twilight is comprised mostly of dialogue, so your sense of time is fucked up. I totally understand that now. For instance, I thought only about two days had passed since Wanderer received her body, but it appears to be more than that. I mean, apparently she’s been going to work and talking to Melanie, so I’m not sure how much time has passed. I just feel lost. Kathy tries to convince Wanderer that she is not weak, and Wanderer says “hmph.” She fucking says hmph. WHO SAYS THAT? Oh and now Wanderer is so fucking sad that she’s just being petulant. Kathy wants Wanderer to get another host, but Wanderer is afraid that if anyone else has Melanie as a host, she’ll be able to crush the parasite. But then Kathy says that Melanie wouldn’t be reused. They would put that bitch down. Wanderer is repulsed and then goes on a long soliloquy about how Yeerks make worlds more beautiful, peaceful, and better. Humans killed each other and were basically Neanderthals, so Yeerks had an obligation to take over Earth. This sounds a little like an anvilicious Aesop about world peace.

I could have you disposed of,I reminded her. Ending a sentence with a preposition? Bad form, Smeyer. Bad form.

Wanderer is still contemplating getting a more pliant host, and then, because she NEVER gives up, decides to keep Melanie and crush her into submission.

The sun-browned skin, the high, sharp bones of my face, the short silk cap of mahogany hair, the muddy green brown hazel of my eyes– Minus the sun browned skin, does this not sound like Bella?

Chapter 6- Followed

Wanderer is still at Kathy’s, or she left and came back. It’s not too clear. Kathy suggests that Wanderer make some friends.

“You said Melanie grows bored during your working hours… that she is more dormant. Perhaps if you developed some peer relationships, those would bore her also.”
I pursed my lips thoughtfully. Melanie, sluggish from the long day of attempted comfort, did seem rather unenthused by the idea. REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY, Melanie! Did you learn NOTHING in school?

Kathy then mentions that humans have strong physical drives, and that when the first wave of Yeerks came, they had to work hard to overcome the mating instinct. Insert Mormon joke here. Aaaaand Kathy basically tells Wanderer to find a man. Smeyer’s answer to virtually everything. Wanderer asks Kathy if her choice in partners was controlled, and Kathy says perhaps. She doesn’t seem too disturbed by the fact that some of her feelings may not be her own. Seriously, this doesn’t register with her at all. If I found out that my feelings for my hypothetical boyfriend may be someone else’s, I think I would be freaked out. Oh and THEN Kathy says that if they find Jared, maybe he can receive a “soul” and Wanderer and Jared’s parasite could be together. Honestly, can no one CONTROL who they love? Wanderer and Melanie are both freaked out and Wanderer runs away.
Wanderer observes that her walk is only slightly slower than her run. Either she runs really slow, or she walks super fast.
Wanderer pukes and someone asks if she’s okay. It’s the Seeker from way at the beginning.
The Comforter's very uncomforting words pounded in my head. I see what you did there Smeyer.
Wanderer/Melanie is shaking the Seeker, who is freaking out. The Seeker wants her to go see a Healer. And holy shit, the Seeker follows Wanderer to her house! Creepy.
I could hear her shoes–high heels–tapping after me. HA HA HA HA, oh man, that reminds me of the part in My Immortal that went something like, “Volxemort was coming! We could hear his high heels clacking toward us!”
The Seeker has now made herself at home on Wanderer’s couch and is trying to make small talk. Wanderer mentions the email and Melanie takes over the body and says she was only sleep typing. Wanderer and Melanie are temporarily on the same side, as they both hate the Seeker. I would hate someone too if they came into my house and sat on my couch without permission. That’s like something Edward would do. Anyway, the Seeker is asking for information on the rebellion and Wanderer is trying to get at Melanie’s memories while Melanie is trying to guard them. The Seeker makes a snarky comment about Wanderer’s inability to conquer her host, and Wanderer is snarky back. The Seeker asks if the See Weeds were difficult to tame. I assume the See Weeds are the things with a hundred arms and a thousand eyes on each arm or whatever. But I could be wrong, because she’s talking about trees now. They tried to possess trees, which voluntarily starved to death. This was the Seekers’ fault. That’s basically the chapter.

Chapter 7- Confronted

Wanderer is lecturing. It seems that she teaches history of the various worlds she’s been on, and she usually just teaches from her host bodies’ memories. I wonder if this is another veiled look into Smeyer’s worldview. Maybe she believes that experience is a better educator than actual education.
A student interrupts Wanderer’s lecture to ask if something called a “Fire Taster” actually eats the smoke that burns from “Walking Flowers.” This is horrifying, apparently. Wanderer then mentions two other planets, “Planet of the Flowers” and “Fire World.” This is like Star Wars in that each planet only has one defining characteristic. Tatooine, the desert world, Dagobah, the jungle world, Hoth, the ice world, etc. If you look hard enough, you can find all these other influences on Smeyer’s writing.
Anyway, Wanderer is explaining about the Fire Tasters. The Yeerks took over the Fire World and because the Fire Tasters didn’t consider the Walking Flowers to be equals, the Yeerks didn’t realize that when they ate, they were killing sentient beings. They are still inhabiting the bodies, but are trying to find a replacement for their diet. The students go on a side discussion, saying how cruel and barbaric this ecosystem is. One of the students (the one who said it was barbaric. He is known as “Robert”) is getting riled up and Wanderer tries to remember that he is a young soul, and this is his first world so he doesn’t know any better. Robert wants to know if there is a reason that Wanderer skipped the fire planet. Wanderer abruptly closes the subject, and Melanie wants to know why Wanderer didn’t tell the students that she agreed with Robert. Melanie thinks its because she was ashamed that she agreed with Robert, because he was the most human of the students. Then the lecture ends and Wanderer considers making friends, but doesn’t want to do this.
The Seeker comes up and starts talking to Wanderer about the fire dudes. The Seeker wants to know why Wanderer didn’t answer Robert’s question about why she skipped the planet. Wanderer says it was personal and Robert needed to learn some manners. The Seeker asks why Wanderer won’t settle here, because she seems to have an affinity for the feelings of the humans. The Seeker then asks (here I accidentally wrote “ass”. I wonder if this is a Freudian typo revealing my feels for this book) if Wanderer pities the humans. The Seeker doesn’t and says that she has only lived on one planet, and then says she went to see Kathy. Wanderer gets pissed and realizes that the Seeker thinks Wanderer is hiding something from her. Wanderer lets it slip that Melanie is still conscious but pretends she didn’t make a mistake. The Seeker says she has permission to try to access Melanie’s memories. Melanie and Wanderer are both pissed off. The Seeker is mad because her assignment (getting information from Melanie/Wanderer) is going to take forever. The Seeker then implies that she knows Melanie is still conscious. If she knows that Melanie is conscious inside her body, why is the Seeker revealing all her plans? DOESN’T SHE READ THE EVIL OVERLORD LIST? The Seeker says that Melanie is probably going to take back control of her body.

“And you'll become some child named Melanie who likes to tinker with cars rather than compose music. Or whatever it is she does.” Why is it that when the Seeker has to think of the quintessential human thing, she thinks of “tinkers with cars”?

The Seeker then asks if Wanderer has considered Motherhood. I’m unsure as to what this is, but it reminds me of my favourite John Wyndham short story about the girl who switches bodies with someone from the future. In the future, all the men died from some disease and each woman remaining has a special job. One of these jobs (the job of the person with which she switched bodies) was just to pump out children. I’m…not sure how their eggs got fertilized without men. I just imagine a bunch of guys on the verge of death with little cups going “FOR THE FUTURE, MEN!” and then everything is done by artificial insemination. A heroic act, indeed.
Wanderer wants to know why the Seeker still cares about a few rebels when they won the war. The Seeker says that they are still killing Yeerks. Then Wanderer starts walking quickly to her house. Melanie is trying to convince Wanderer to get the Seeker kicked off this assignment, even considering murder. Wanderer decides that she is going to Chicago (sure it’s not Phoenix?) to see the Healer before she makes a decision about whether or not to kill Melanie.