Speaker for the Dead

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1986

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-18

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Prologue-Chapter 4Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue Summary

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains references to domestic violence, incest, and suicidal ideation.

A group of Brazilian Catholic humans from planet Baía colonized the planet Lusitania, which was inhabited by a race of primitive intelligent beings—porquinhos, later called pequeninos and piggies. Starship Congress, the intergalactic rulers of humanity, sanctioned the colonization under the pretense that the pequeninos were to be left alone. Many saw this as a chance to make up for the genocide of the formics—or pejoratively, the buggers—an insect-like alien lifeform that, according to public knowledge, had been completely eradicated by Ender.

Chapter 1 Summary: “Pipo”

Valentine Wiggin, using her pseudonym Demosthenes, writes that the pequeninos are raman. Living beings are defined as utlanning, or humans from the same world; framling, or humans from a different planet; raman (plural ramen), or friendly sentient alien species, and varelse, or animals with which humans cannot communicate or compromise.

Pipo and Libo, Pipo’s son and apprentice, speak with the pequeninos, and Rooter, one of the pequeninos, is frustrated that Pipo is forbidden to discuss human culture. Pipo and Libo return to the lab at the Zenador’s Station. Dona Cristã, a member of the Catholic order the Children of the Mind of Christ, is waiting for Pipo to discuss Novinha.

Novinha’s parents, Gusto and Cida, were the xenobiologists who developed the Colada (Portuguese for glued) to suppress the deadly Descolada (unglued) virus, but they died shortly after their discovery, and Novinha became an outcast. Pipo had asked about her before, having noticed her isolation, but had not approached her. Libo notes that Novinha has one friend, Marcão Ribeira, whom she once stood up for. After sending Libo away, Dona Cristã notifies Pipo that Novinha wants to take the test to become an official xenobiologist. Mayor Bosquinha supports the idea, as Lusitania has no xenobiologists. Pipo agrees to supervise the examination and regrets not helping Novinha earlier.

Pipo asks Novinha to wait to take the test, which frustrates her. He questions why she wants to take the test and what community she identifies with. After quarreling, Novinha cites the classic books written by the original Speaker for the Dead (Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, though this identity is unknown): The Hive Queen, about the Formic species that Ender annihilated in Ender’s Game, and The Hegemon, about Peter Wiggin (Ender’s sociopathic older brother). Novinha wants to understand the pequeninos the way the Speaker understood the hive queen. Pipo agrees to let Novinha start the test immediately, and he will let her work with himself and Libo, as long as she promises not to cross the fence surrounding their village, Milagre. Novinha passes the test and begins her work. At first, she is cold and confrontational with Pipo and Libo, and she is shocked by how little they know about the pequeninos. The xenologers are limited by the rules of minimal interaction set forth by Starways Congress. Novinha grows closer to Pipo and Libo.

During Pipo and Libo’s research excursions, Rooter asks leading questions and makes confusing statements, such as “I know why Pipo is still alive. Your women are too stupid to know that he is wise” (17). After learning that human men and women make decisions together, the pequeninos run into the forest to speak with the wives, or pequenino females. That night, the pequeninos ceremonially beat on their trees, and the xenologers worry they have impacted the pequeninos, which could get their research shut down. The next morning, Pipo, Libo, and Novinha find Rooter’s body near the gate. He has been cut open, his organs are buried, and a tree has been planted in his body. They assume Rooter was ceremonially murdered. Pipo reports the death to Starways Congress, who advises they continue their work.

Years pass, and Libo and Novinha fall in love. While studying reeds, Novinha notices that the cells contain the Descolada virus. She shows Pipo, who makes a connection Novinha missed. He does not point it out, and he leaves to meet with the pequeninos. Hours later, Novinha and Libo search for him and find him dead outside the gate with his organs planted in the ground, but without a tree growing from his body as was the case with Rooter.

Chapter 2 Summary: “Trondheim”

News of Pipo’s death is disseminated through the ansible—an instantaneous communication network. Starways Congress sets forth new interaction guidelines, reducing the time xenologers are allowed to spend with the pequeninos. Ender receives the news of Pipo’s death from Jane—an aiúa, or soul, living within the ansible—while he is with a group of students on Trondheim. He asks his students, who do not know his true identity, what they know of the pequeninos and how humans should react if a pequenino were to kill a human. Ender tells them the scenario is real and reminds them that everyone is scared of strangers. He dismisses class, knowing that he will not return.

Ender killed the formics thousands of years ago, but his frequent light-speed travel has exempted him from the passage of time, and he is only 35 years old. He wonders if death means something different to the pequeninos, but he is stopped by a student, Plikt, who asks whether Lusitania has called for a Speaker of the Dead to come and speak for Pipo. She admits to researching Ender’s past, though the information she sought is classified, and she accuses Ender of planning to go to Lusitania. He evades the remark but knows she is right.

Chapter 3 Summary: “Libo”

In his research notes, Pipo questions why there are so few species on Lusitania, suggesting that a recent cataclysmic event may have wiped out the planet’s biodiversity.

Mayor Bosquinha arrives at the Zenador’s Station and orders Libo and Novinha to record their notes. Bishop Peregrino, the religious leader, makes Libo feel worse by talking about Pipo’s death, and Dom Cristão of the Children of the Mind of Christ questions what Pipo did to trigger his own murder. Someone acknowledges Libo as the new Zenador, or lead xenologer, and he announces that the humans will not retaliate nor acknowledge Pipo’s death as murder. Novinha scans the room and notices Marcão watching her. She wonders if the encounter years ago meant more to him than it had to her.

The Lusitanian Arbiter takes Libo to his home. Novinha is advised to go home, but she feels she does not have one. She studies her work, attempting but failing to figure out what Pipo has discovered, and she blames herself for his death. Bosquinha notices Novinha’s pain and brings Novinha to her home. In the night, Novinha returns to the lab. Unable to delete her files, she locks them and then calls for a speaker for the dead.

Libo wakes Novinha, who has fallen asleep at the terminal. He asks her what she showed Pipo, but Novinha refuses to tell him. Angry, he shakes her and screams at her, but she still refuses, telling him she doesn’t want him to die. Libo cries, and Novinha supports him, puts him to bed, and lies with him. She, too, cries as she realizes she can never marry Libo, because if she does he will be able to open her locked files.

Chapter 4 Summary: “Ender”

Pipo’s work notes discuss the four languages of the pequeninos and the pequeninos’ remarkable ability to learn human languages. Pipo notes that the male pequeninos sometimes call the females varelse.

When Ender gets home, Jane shows him a hologram of a pequenino and a simulation of Pipo’s death. She then shows a pequenino edited to look more beast-like. Ender predicts Starways Congress will eventually quarantine the humans on Lusitania. Jane—who has no physical form—displays the holographic image of a shy girl she uses to portray herself. Only Ender knows about Jane because she fears humans will destroy her if they find out about her. Jane suggests that Lusitania might be the right place to restore the last remaining hive queen in the cocoon Ender has been caring for. Ender is confident the pequeninos are ramen and that they did not mean to hurt Pipo.

Jane shows Ender an image of Novinha, and he asks why Novinha looks so pained. Jane explains Novinha’s past, and Ender sympathizes with Novinha’s isolation and guilt. He blames himself for the formics’ deaths as Novinha blames herself for her parents’ and Pipo’s deaths. Ender decides to answer Novinha’s call for a speaker, although more than 20 years will pass on Lusitania before he arrives. Jane hopes Ender can convince humanity to accept the pequeninos, and maybe in the future, he will be able to convince them to accept Jane. Jane uses Ender’s substantial funds to purchase a starship.

Valentine is married to a man named Jakt and is pregnant, so Ender will not ask her to accompany him. The hive queen speaks within Ender’s mind, acknowledging his sacrifice but insisting that Lusitania will be the right planet to restore her. He is wary because he does not want humans to discover her and attempt to kill her again. The hive queen forgives Ender for destroying her people, but he will only accept her forgiveness after he restores her.

Prologue-Chapter 4 Analysis

The prologue and first several chapters of Speaker for the Dead serve to introduce the setting, context, some of the important characters, and the primary themes. The novel is set in the distant future, around 3,000 years after the events of Ender’s Game. The time setting of the first few chapters is the fictional year 1948: “[I]t was the year 1948 SC, counting from the year the Starways Code was established, and Ender had destroyed the formics in the year 1180 BSC” (27). While this date has no direct relationship to the real-world year 1948 CE, the choice is nonetheless suggestive, tying the devastation of the Bugger Wars to the real-world horrors of World War II. The time setting of the text changes in the subsequent chapters after Ender’s starflight to Lusitania, during which time over 20 years pass for those living on the planet. The physical settings are divided between two planets—Lusitania, which is the primary setting of the text, and Trondheim, which is a secondary setting. Trondheim is cold, desolate, and covered with vast, stormy seas, contrasting with Lusitania’s warm climate and lush vegetation. Lusitania is unique in that despite its abundance of life, it has severely limited biodiversity—only seven animal species and seven plant species exist on the surface of the planet. The lack of biodiversity adds mystery and tension to the plot, as the human researchers are unable to determine why there are so few species. This tension is further enhanced by the presence of the Descolada virus.

Because this is the second book in a series, a significant task of these first chapters is to establish the connections between this book and Ender’s Game. This task is accomplished through discussions of Ender’s past. During the 3,000 years since his xenocide of the formics, Ender has come to obscure his identity, which is a critical aspect of the context. His real name is Andrew Wiggin, but he is best known as Ender—a nickname given to him by Valentine when they were very young. Valentine knows Ender’s true identity, but for most of the text, the other characters do not. They know he is a speaker—one whose role is to research and narrate the lives of the dead—but they do not know he is the first Speaker for the Dead and the author of The Hive Queen and the Hegemon. He goes by three names in the text—Ender, Andrew, and Speaker; that he identifies most strongly with Ender is suggested through the narrator—an unnamed third-person omniscient speaker—using the title Ender when portraying scenes containing the character. Valentine also has a secret identity—Demosthenes, the pseudonym she established in Ender’s Game when she started writing political essays with her brother, Peter. Peter, who went on to become the Hegemon, or leader of humanity, died thousands of years prior and does not appear directly in the text. However, Peter’s violent personality has a profound impact on Ender’s identity, so he is mentioned multiple times in the text. The context development also focuses on the events occurring on Lusitania—the death of Pipo, Novinha’s guilt, and her call for a speaker. These events introduce some of the other prominent characters, and they create the conditions that cause Ender to decide to travel to Lusitania.

All of the primary themes are introduced in these early chapters. The Importance of Cross-Cultural Empathy is depicted at this early stage largely through its absence. The limitations imposed on the xenologers by Starways Congress suggest that the distant authority is more interested in preserving human supremacy than in helping other species. The strained relationship between the pequeninos and the humans on Lusitania is largely a result of this paternalistic attitude. Meanwhile, Ender’s plan to restore the hive queen reflects his deep desire to atone for his actions in Ender’s Game, when he unwittingly wiped out the hive queen’s species. The secret identities of Ender and Valentine suggest that both are comfortable defying authority to adhere to their own moral judgment, establishing the theme of Authority and Rebellion that will become prominent later in the novel as Lusitania’s survival depends on defiance of the Starways Congress.

Both as the Speaker for the Dead and as the author of The Hive Queen and the Hegemon, Ender’s work is defined by The Need for Truth and Reconciliation. Ironically, all the secrecy in which he shrouds himself enables him to uncover others’ secrets. Through his efforts, the idea emerges that truth can reduce guilt and provide redemption.