Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Speaker for the Dead is set in the far, far future, when humanity has spread out across the universe. Most of the novel occurs on the planet of Lusitania, but you also get to spend a little time in...
What's Up With the Title?
Speaker for the Dead refers to the central dude, the big kahuna, the one, the only, the star of interstellarness, Andrew Wiggins, a.k.a. Ender, a.k.a. the Xenocide. It's the name of the main charac...
What's Up With the Epigraph?
All the epigraphs in the book are made up. That is, they refer to documents that are part of the sci-fi world of the book, rather than to documents out here, in the world where you Shmoop. There is...
What's Up With the Ending?
The end of the novel is a rebirth. Most obviously, it's the rebirth of the Hive Queen. For millennia she's been hibernating in Ender's luggage; finally though, she's out and laying eggs and stoppin...
Tough-o-Meter
Speaker for the Dead is a sequel to Ender's Game, and like that book, it whips right along—the prose is straightforward, the dialogue is snappy, and every mystery is carefully explained… often...