Speaker for the Dead

Ender’s starship appears repeatedly and symbolizes multiple concepts. Jane’s purchase of the starship, demonstrates Ender’s extreme wealth. She pays $40 billion for the ship and its contents; she pays for the crew to find other means of travel, and she describes the cost as “[a] drop in the bucket” (50). Jane manages Ender’s funds, and Ender has been collecting interest for 3,000 years. His wealth, in turn, is a symbol of his power.

The starship also represents transitions. Ender uses the ship to transition from his life with Valentine to his life with Novinha. Later, it represents a similar transition for Miro. Miro will use the ship to leave Lusitania, traveling for a brief time in space while his family ages. Miro is undergoing a transition caused by the brain damage from his attempt to cross the fence and by the results of Ender speaking the truth about Marcão, and the starship offers him the chance to process his transition.

When Starways Congress learns of the xenologers impacting pequenino society, they seize Ender’s starship. On the surface, this represents Congress’s authoritarian power; they have the ability to legally seize personal property. However, Congress is unable to actually take the starship. After the Lusitanians rebel, the closest compliant citizens and Congress representatives are over 20 lightyears away. Congress’s failure to physically seize Ender’s starship—which Ender later uses to send Miro into space so he can later return when the fleet sent by Congress is closer—suggests that Congress’s power is fragile.

The Hive Queen and The Hegemon were written by Ender under the pseudonym The Speaker for the Dead. Originally they were separate books, but they were combined into one volume. The Hive Queen describes the formic species and was intended to alter humanity’s opinion. Card writes, “He was writing to humankind, who still celebrated the destruction of the buggers as a great victory. He wrote cruelly, to turn their pride into regret, their joy to grief” (95). The Hegemon describes Peter Wiggin, who rose to become the hegemon, or the authoritarian leader of humanity, after the end of the Bugger Wars. These two books have been collected into a single volume: The Hive Queen and the Hegemon. This text is alluded to but not directly cited, but the reader is to understand that the book portrays the hive queens and the hegemon from an empathetic and holistic perspective.

The Hive Queen and the Hegemon is a symbol of The Importance of Cross-Cultural Empathy, mirroring Ender’s empathetic character traits. Multiple characters, particularly those experiencing some type of oppression, are drawn to the empathy and love expressed in the fictional text. The Hive Queen and the Hegemon can also be interpreted as a symbol of redemption. Ender partially redeems himself for the xenocide by inspiring humanity to accept and love the formics. However, he finds a different sort of redemption through The Hegemon. Peter was cruel and violent, and Ender feels that he shares these traits with Peter. By portraying the hegemon in an empathetic light, Ender finds redemption for his darker traits, making it easier for him to accept himself.