Speaker for the Dead

Novinha, or Ivanova, is the daughter of Cida and Gusto, or Os Venerados, the creators of the Colada. She is also the mother of Miro, Ela, Quim, Olhado, Quara, and Grego, the widow of Marcão, and Libo’s lover. At age 13, she takes and passes the exam to become the only xenobiologist in Milagre, and she later trains her eldest daughter, Ela, as her apprentice; however, she bars Ela from taking the exam and becoming a full-fledged xenobiologist. Although Novinha loves Libo, she marries Marcão to prevent Libo from reading her secret Descolada files. She resents Ender when he first arrives, but as she comes to know him better, she falls in love with him. Her characterization is similar to Ender’s; both carry extreme guilt and are empathetic, but their methods of managing their guilt are opposed. Where Ender uses human connection to assuage his guilt, Novinha uses isolation. She isolates herself and her work to prevent others from dying.

Novinha is a multi-faceted character. In some ways, she is a deuteragonist. She is desperate for love and connection but avoids intimacy to prevent future pains. However, she can also be interpreted as an antagonist. She is emotionally distant toward her children—as Ender’s parents were toward him—and she elects to stay with abusive Marcão even though he inflicts emotional and mental harm on her children. Novinha also refuses to share critical information, and in doing so she prevents and delays important research. Despite her antagonistic traits, Novinha has redeeming qualities: Having endured great trauma, she is fiercely protective of those she loves.

The Ribeira family includes Novinha, her deceased husband Marcão, and the children they raised together: Miro, Ela, Quim, Olhado, Quara, and Grego. The Lusitanians believe Marcão is the children’s father, but Marcão was infertile because of the Descolada virus—a progressive, fatal illness. Libo fathered all six children, and during his speaking of Marcão’s life, Ender notes that Marcão’s anger at this situation contributed to his abusiveness.

The Ribeira children inherited their strongest characteristics from their parents. They all received their Novinha’s intelligence. Miro, a 19-year-old xenologist, is considered the most intelligent individual on Lusitania. He mirrors Ender’s calm, compassionate nature, but like Novinha, he is prideful, which leads him to reject the idea that the pequeninos are telling the truth about talking to fathertrees and to fall into defeatism after his brain injury. Ela follows in Novinha’s career footsteps, but she rejects her mother’s secrecy and isolation. Quim, like Miro, is prideful and judgmental; he is also intensely devout. This combination results in his cruelty toward Ender and Novinha after the speaking. Olhado, who received mechanical eyes after a childhood injury, is self-isolating. However, his isolation fades as he grows closer to Ender. Quara is similarly isolated, though her isolation appears through her unwillingness to speak outside the family. Grego, who is six, idolized his father, like many children do, and he copies the violence and cruelty he witnessed his father inflict on the family.

The Ribeira family is significantly influenced by Ender, whose presence lessens the severity of their character flaws. Although Novinha and Quim are resistant at first, they come to love Ender. Novinha’s transition appears directly through the plot, and Quim’s is shown indirectly through comments made by other family members. Olhado becomes more involved, Quara more talkative, and Grego less aggressive, and they all become less isolated and happier.

The Figueira family includes Pipo, Libo, Libo’s widow Bruxinha (Cleopatra), and Libo and Bruxinha’s three daughters, one of whom is Ouanda. Pipo, Libo, and Ouanda are xenologers who study the pequeninos and other lifeforms native to Lusitania. Bruxinha is the daughter of the Arbiter. She appears briefly during the speaking for Marcão, when she and her daughters leave after learning that Libo fathered Novinha’s children.

The Figueira family members are side characters who develop the plot and characterization of the other characters. Pipo and Libo both become close to Novinha, showing that beneath her self-isolation she longs for connection. Their interactions with the pequeninos develop the theme of The Importance of Cross-Cultural Empathy. Pipo follows Starways Congress’s guidelines, but Libo and Ouanda, along with Miro, become more attached to the pequeninos and share human technologies with them to help them thrive. Pipo and Libo’s deaths contribute to the conflicts within the plot, and Pipo’s death is the catalyst that inspires Ender to leave Trondheim for Lusitania. The relationship between Ouanda and Miro demonstrates The Need for Truth and Reconciliation, as the revelation of Marcão’s infertility leads to their realization that they are siblings and their romance is thus impossible.

Jane is a unique lifeform—an aiúa—that can be compared to artificial intelligence. She exists in the ansible, which is a computer network that capitalizes on the philotic system. Although Jane has no true physical form, she uses the image of a young woman to portray herself: “Young, clear-faced, honest, sweet, a child who would never age, her smile heartbreakingly shy” (45). Jane is highly intelligent and rational, although, unlike a computer, she is capable of nonrational thought. She is also flirtatious and sarcastic. Most of Jane’s energy is focused on tracking and interacting with Ender through the jewel device implanted in his ear. When he temporarily shuts off the jewel, Jane is injured, but she rebuilds her strength and no longer ties herself to Ender’s identity. Through this, Jane becomes more independent.

Although she is a side character, Jane provides the catalyst for the climax of the novel. Jane notifies Starways Congress of the xenologers’ impact on pequenino society. She does not do this to hurt the xenologers or the Lusitanians but to cause a disruption to speed Ender’s progress. Her hope is that Ender can inspire society to accept the pequeninos as raman, as he did with the hive queen, so that someday humanity will be prepared to accept Jane’s existence.

The pequeninos are the native sentient species living on Lusitania. They are intelligent and creative, but their technologies are more primitive than those of humans. They have a unique lifecycle that occurs in three stages: a larval stage during which they live inside mothertrees, a pequenino stage, and a tree stage. They also live symbiotically with the Descolada, which, it is theorized, caused the merging of plants and animals found on Lusitania.

The most prominent pequeninos in the text are Rooter, Human, Leaf-eater, Mandachuva, and Star-looker, the only named female pequenino appearing in the text. Rooter is taken into the third life shortly before Pipo is killed. It is later revealed that Pipo and Libo were supposed to take Leaf-eater and Mandachuva into the third life by cutting them open and planting their organs; however, not understanding the pequenino’s biology, the xenologers refused. To complete the treaty between the humans and pequeninos, Ender takes Human into the third life.