Language and Communication Quotes in Speaker for the Dead

It's hard to communicate when you don't want to reveal anything about yourself. Think about it next time you're talking to a stranger—What do you tell them about yourself? What could you ask them without letting them know anything about you (even without letting them know what you don't know)? This is why spies have to be so sneaky.

This is a joke—Ender's saying he gets to speak for everyone who's dead. It's not entirely a joke though, since Ender really does get to be the one to tell you about folks who can't speak for themselves. Communication (the Hive Queen, Jane, info about the piggies) goes through him or his consciousness, which does shut down conversation, just as Ender's joke is meant to end the debate with his student. Since Ender is the one who gets to speak, it can be hard to get a word, or a thought, in edgewise.

Pipo is expressing astonishment that the male piggies refer to the female piggies as animals. But of course human males have a long history of talking about and treating human females as less than human. Since the book has so much to say about spouse abuse, you'd think it might mention this.