Warm Bodies

In the book Warm Bodies, the author deals with the question of what makes us human. Is it our hearts beating, is it movement, what is the it? The zombies are treated as animals or creatures that are not human, even though their appearance is very similar and they move similar to humans. However, the zombies have slight differences that cause anxiety and tension, i.e. broken speech, uncoordinated movement, and eating people. The author suggests that what makes us human is not how we look or move, but humanity is defined by our ability to empathize with one another. Julie's father (a human) does not have this ability. He kills zombies with as little or less thought than the zombies have about killing humans. R is a zombie who wants to be human. He is more human than Julie's father because he is able to empathize with humans and zombies in a way that the father can't. Even though R is considered dead he is more alive than the father because he is still able to love and feel for his fellow creatures in the Earth. The author could be suggesting that humans can loose their humanity by choosing not to empathize with the rest of the world. Succumbing to hate and violence is in essence anti-human.