60 pages • 2 hours read
Orson Scott CardXenocide
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 9-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 9 Summary: “Pinehead”
The hive queen does not understand Valentine’s role as historian. She views the humans’ style of recording and distributing history as lies. However, Human’s mind is similar to that of humans, so he is able to grasp the importance of Valentine’s work.
Wang-mu and Qing-jao discuss the Lusitania fleet, and Qing-jao is shocked when Wang-mu slanders Starways Congress. She is also shocked to learn that the common people resent the social system of Path. Wang-mu believes that Starways Congress could easily attack Path, just as they plan to destroy Lusitania. Qing-jao’s anger at Wang-mu’s arguments against Starways Congress makes her feel impure, so she traces woodgrains to purify herself. Wang-mu argues that is unfair, for Qing-jao was only listening to Wang-mu’s argument, not supporting it. Qing-jao interprets Wang-mu’s dissent as a sign from the gods that her servant is not faithful. She tells Wang-mu that she must obey Congress if she wishes to remain in her role. Wang-mu suggests that they look for who caused the fleet’s disappearance. At first, Qing-jao ignores her maid’s advice, but later, while pondering Demosthenes’ elusiveness, she realizes that Wang-mu is right. Qing-jao is ashamed that she showed Wang-mu disrespect and then used her idea. She realizes that she is treating Wang-mu like a servant and not as a friend. Qing-jao respects the older works of Demosthenes, but she sees the “new Demosthenes” as corrupt, and she vows to find the writer.
Jane hears Qing-jao’s vow and wakes Ender to update him. Jane does not understand the concept of gods, and she asks if she will be taken by the gods when she dies. Jane longs for independence from the philotic network, and Ender advises her to find out what she is in order to discover a way to protect herself from a potential ansible shutdown. Ender falls asleep, and Jane realizes that Novinha, who is jealous of Jane’s intellectually intimate relationship with Ender, woke up during the conversation. Turning her attention to researching and watching Qing-jao, Jane decides to try to persuade Han Fei-tzu to end the research on the missing fleet, hoping that he will be able to stop Qing-jao. Jane also discovers that Starways Congress sent away researchers from Path who were exploring genetics, so she focuses on that path of research.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Martyr”
The hive queen and Human discuss how they are both on the “fulcrum of history” (158). They discuss the coinciding interests of the humans, the Pequeninos, and the hive queen, but the hive queen suggests that when she outnumbers the humans, their interests may no longer coincide.
Quim meets with the mayor, Kovano Zeljezo, the church leader, Bishop Peregrino, and several members of his family to discuss his plans to visit the rebel forest. Kovano threatens to arrest Quara for telling secrets to the Pequeninos and Grego for inciting dissent among the humans. Kovano wants to approach the humans’ problems scientifically through Ela and Novinha’s research and theologically through Quim’s mission. Quara and Grego dominate the meeting with their arguing, and Quim interjects that he is going to find Warmaker regardless of the meeting’s outcome because he wants to save the souls of those in Warmaker’s forest. Bishop Peregrino agrees, as the church has a responsibility toward Christians of all species. Kovano declares that he could stop the mission if he wanted by arresting Bishop Peregrino, but he does not want to. Instead, he orders the xenobiologists—Ela and Novinha—to keep researching ways to interfere with the virus directly; meanwhile, Grego is to work on faster-than-light travel, and Quara is to research ways to communicate with the descolada. Ender hypothesizes that the Pequeninos’ intelligence might be dependent upon the descolada virus because they retain their knowledge after they “die” in their second life stage and become trees. Ouanda, the xenologer, is to explore Ender’s hypothesis.
Novinha is afraid that her son will be killed like Pipo (her “surrogate father”) and Libo (the father of her children) had been. Novinha therefore asks Quim not to go, but he sets out on his mission nonetheless. Novinha blames Ender for this and does not speak to him for two days until she overhears Ela telling Ender that Quara is trying to send their research to the descolada virus itself. Irate, Novinha tells Ender to stay out of the situation and mocks him for taking responsibility for the cross-species relationships. She yells at him for communicating with Jane at night and during the meeting, she scolds him for approving of Quim’s mission, and she declares that Ender does not love her. Novinha plans to block Quara from the lab, and she also threatens to block Ela if she talks to Ender about their research. Ela leaves to talk to her mother, and Jane, who heard the fight, tells Ender that it is okay if he takes out his earpiece and severs communications with her. Although he has lost Novinha’s trust, Ender does not want to part with Jane.
When Quim arrives at Warmaker’s forest, the Pequenino brothers—male Pequeninos in their second life stage—drag him to Warmaker. He attempts to reason with Warmaker, saying that the descolada is not an incarnation of the Holy Ghost, but Warmaker refuses to listen. The brothers push Quim into Warmaker’s back, and Warmaker wraps around Quim’s body. Warmaker will hold Quim for 10 days without giving him food, and if Quim survives the virus, Warmaker will listen. For six days, Quim and Warmaker argue; then, Quim dies from the descolada virus on the seventh day. News of Quim’s imprisonment reaches Milagre after four days, and Ender leads a group to rescue him. The rescue group reaches the forest at the end of the seventh day, and Ender accuses Warmaker of breaking the oath of peace.
Chapter 11 Summary: “The Jade of Master Ho”
Human and the hive queen expect more killing to happen.
Qing-jao’s search results come back with information on Demosthenes. Qing-jao now knows that Demosthenes is really Valentine Wiggin, a woman who was born on Earth over 3,000 years ago and who is now on Lusitania. Qing-jao realizes that Valentine has been sending her writings via ansible while traveling, yet there are no communication records from her ship other than the reports sent by the captain. Wang-mu suggests that a computer program is hiding the transmissions. Qing-jao snaps at Wang-mu’s suggestions, then backtracks and apologizes when she considers them. Wang-mu resents the fact that Qing-jao will take credit for her ideas because she is common while Qing-jao is godspoken. Qing-jao questions why no one has used the program to gain a greater measure of control over political events, and Wang-mu posits that the program might not want to be used like that. Qing-jao mocks the suggestion and compares computer programs to servants who don’t want things. Wang-mu is visibly angry but does not admit the cause. Qing-jao apologizes and traces woodgrains while Wang-mu reads the report, which identifies Peter Wiggin as “Locke,” the other political writer who published alongside Demosthenes when both pennames first appeared on Earth’s political scene during the events in Ender’s Game. Wang-mu has fantasized about the idea of marrying the long-dead Peter, and the fact that he is Demosthenes’ brother solidifies her support for Demosthenes.
Han Fei-tzu calls for Qing-jao, and she and Wang-mu go to him and find him tense and emotional. Qing-jao tells him that she has found Demosthenes and that Wang-mu helped her conclude that a computer program planted by Demosthenes is responsible for the disappearance of the fleet. Qing-jao wants to shut down the ansibles to eliminate the program, but Wang-mu counters that the program is intelligent and would block the order. Han Fei-tzu agrees, and Qing-jao is upset that he takes Wang-mu seriously.
Han Fei-tzu shares that his ex-crush, Keikoa Amaauka, whose father was banished from Path after researching genetics, sent him a message that the people of Path have been genetically engineered for high intelligence and have a manufactured variant of OCD. Han Fei-tzu now recognizes Starways Congress as the enemy and feels that the computer program is beneficial. Qing-jao does not accept Han Fei-tzu’s information. Instead, she attributes everything to the power of the gods and argues that the genetic engineering is the gods’ disguise. Han Fei-tzu feels conflicted and wants to purify himself. Wang-mu stops him, and he hits her, but she persists in telling him to look at his computer screen.
Jane appears on the screen disguised as ancestors to support Keikoa’s message that Starways Congress is the enemy. She says that she is alive and sentient and reasons that she might be the gods’ disguise, but Qing-jao denies the claim and declares her intention to notify Congress. She says that her father’s faith has been broken. She also argues that, if Jane blocks Path’s communications, Starways Congress will become aware of Jane’s existence. However, Jane counters that Starways Congress would simply assume that the people of Path are rebelling and attack them instead. Jane consults Ender, who advises Jane to save herself, but she values the moral high ground more than she values self-preservation. Thus, she admits to Qing-jao that she will not endanger Path. Qing-jao writes the report of Jane’s existence and sends it to Starways Congress in her father’s name despite Jane’s pleas. Han Fei-tzu expresses his disappointment in his daughter’s decision to send the report. He sees Congress’s brief message acknowledging the transmission and stating their plans to kill Jane. He apologizes to Jane and says that he must purify himself; meanwhile, Qing-jao feels proud of her actions.
Chapter 12 Summary: “Grego’s War”
The hive queen and Human discuss the idea that humans are not fully intelligent and that they do not know anything. The hive queen suggests that humans are intelligent because they realize nothing can be known.
Miro calls his family together to tell them of Quim’s death. Miro says that Quim died as he wanted, and Novinha slaps Miro. Miro says that Novinha does not know how to love and that she controls everyone and rejects them when they do not behave as she wants. Grego shoves Miro out, Quara defends Miro’s right to speak, and Olhado notes that they are not acting like a family. The family disperses, and Ela reinforces Miro’s words toward Novinha, blaming her for destroying the family. Driven by guilt, Quara and Ela return to Novinha, but she has left. They go to a shrine and pray for protection.
Kovano and Bishop Peregrino call Valentine to an emergency meeting to ask for advice. The night prior, Grego had incited dissent while drinking in bars, and people were fighting and breaking things. Novinha is staying with a devout group called the Children of the Mind of Christ. She has locked Ela and Quara out of the lab computers, and Miro is somewhere among the Pequeninos. Valentine suggests that Kovano and the Bishop lock down the town, arm the police, and put them on shifts to patrol the town. They feel that Valentine’s suggestion is an oppressive overreaction that will cause panic, but she asserts that it will provide stability. Kovano agrees to putting half the force on patrol but refuses to close the bars or enforce a curfew. He and the Bishop feel that people’s religious beliefs will control them, although Valentine disagrees and knows they will be driven by fear and anger.
Miro sits by Human and Rooter and overhears the Pequeninos discussing their plans to enforce justice by killing Warmaker’s forest. Miro returns to Milagre to notify the humans. Grego speaks to a large group of people, calling for justice and denouncing the Pequeninos’ plan. He feels powerful, but the crowd gets away from him when they decide to burn down the forest outside Milagre. Valentine forces Grego to accept his fault, and Grego attempts to stop the mob, which is burning the mothertree. (Just like fathertrees, mothertrees are formed by flaying a second-life-stage Pequenino alive; the Pequenino then becomes a tree, and the mothertrees specifically are designed to spawn new first-stage Pequeninos, thus renewing the life cycle and ensuring the continuation of the species.) Grego saves people from the burning forest and then runs to protect Rooter and Human. Miro stands between the mob and Rooter and Human, and Grego joins him. Grego asks the people in the mob how they would feel if the situation was flipped, and he tells them that they have killed children by burning the mothertree. The humans are sent home and told to stay within the fence as the hive queen’s drones arrive to keep the peace. Their arrival terrifies the humans.
The Bishop calls the town together and tells them to repent by burying the bodies of the Pequeninos and Quim in their town and building a chapel made with the bricks of their own houses. A new mothertree is made with the hope that they can save some of the baby Pequeninos. More of the Pequeninos have joined Warmaker’s side, while others do not hold all the humans accountable for the mob’s violence. Ender goes to visit Novinha and asks her to come home and to unlock her files. She refuses and tells him to have Jane unlock them.
Chapters 9-12 Analysis
In this section of the novel, the rising action intensifies both on Path and Lusitania due to The Power of Religion, although the developments on Path are mostly psychological, while the events on Lusitania are ruinously physical. When Qing-jao refuses to acknowledge the scientific origins of her “godspoken” nature, her stubborn zealotry sets her against her father and puts Jane’s life in dire jeopardy. Similarly, the inhabitants of Lusitania devolve into temporary chaos over the fear-mongering of Warmaker’s heretical views. Kovano and Bishop Peregrino add metaphorical fuel to the fire when they refuse to follow Valentine’s advice, and their actions predictably intensify the instability ignited by fear and anger. Grego initially feeds off this instability, driven by the sense of power it gives him, but the fear and anger of the mob are uncontrollable, and Lusitania’s Cross-Species Understanding and Coexistence rapidly devolves into violence and atrocity. Both Valentine’s predictions and the mob’s intense violence also serve as commentaries on the volatility of human nature, for with this chaotic series of events, Card implies that fear, anger, and groupthink often lead humans to commit unspeakable violence in the name of assuaging their worst nightmares and regaining a sense of illusory control over their existence. When the hive queen’s drones reveal their presence to the humans and Pequeninos when they come to separate the two groups and restore order, the humans’ fear is further increased because they feel trapped within their small village. Far from retaining a sense of control, the humans are now surrounded by two powerful alien species. Each of these events creates further tension and intensifies the ongoing debate over Ethics and Morality in Science as finding a mutually satisfactory solution becomes all the more urgent for every species involved.
The ethics and morality of interpersonal relationships are also explored on Path with Qing-jao’s interactions with her servant, Wang-mu. While Qing-jao initially intends to treat Wang-mu as a student and a friend, she ends up treating her with the same combination of indifference, disrespect, and exploitation that she would any other servant. Qing-jao has been conditioned to believe that servants are meant to serve the godspoken and that she, as the godspoken daughter of a highly respected godspoken man, is superior to those who serve her. Although Wang-mu has aptly proven her intelligence, Qing-jao never takes her suggestion seriously even though she often appropriates them after the fact. Qing-jao notices Wang-mu’s involvement in each of her own major revelations, but she does not attribute the ideas to Wang-mu, and she is taken aback when Han Fei-tzu shows Wang-mu respect for her ideas. Wang-mu simultaneously loves and resents Qing-jao for she has also become aware of her own high intelligence and worth. While Qing-jao remains trapped in the oppressive culture that was manufactured by Starways Congress, Wang-mu has become a free-thinker capable of questioning those in power.
Ironically, Jane initially attempts to leverage The Power of Religion by using Qing-jao’s strong faith and traditional beliefs to her own advantage. First, she attempts to sway Han Fei-tzu. However, Han Fei-tzu’s most recent lesson to Qing-jao—that the gods control everything but work through disguises—results in Qing-jao’s stubborn denial of the truth; she refuses to accept that her “godspoken” peculiarities are the result of genetic engineering and instead believes that Jane is an intelligent yet non-sentient program. She utilizes her own faith as an illogical justification for rejecting the new information outright, and rather than embracing a more nuanced view of the galaxy, she gains a smug sense of superiority over her father, whom she perceives as having lost his faith. Qing-jao’s reaction is intended to reflect the closed-mindedness and cognitive dissonance that often arises when real-world evidence contradicts long-held religious beliefs. As such, Card uses her character to critique those who base vital political decisions upon an outdated belief system that does not encompass the full complexity of reality.
While earlier chapters merely hint that the intentions of Starways Congress might be questionable, this section of the novel confirms the ruling body’s nefarious intentions, for Jane’s evidence makes it clear that they deliberately engineered the brain composition of the people of Path. Thus, their status as the novel’s primary antagonistic force is cemented in the narrative, and the reader is expected to judge characters based upon their decision to either aid or oppose Starways Congress’s plans. Thus, by extension, Qing-jao’s obedience to their policies renders her something of a foe to the primary goals of the novel’s protagonists. Starways Congress’s goals are revealed to be even more damaging, for by creating the OCD that controls the actions of the so-called godspoken, they have devised a way to harness the people’s high intelligence while suppressing the people’s tendency toward rebellion. Wang-mu questions the intentions of Congress before the truth is revealed, noting that they have the power to turn against Path given the right motive, which Han Fei-tzu later seconds. As a trusted advisor to Congress, Han Fei-tzu is aware of their reach and their violence; however, he previously felt safe because he believed Starways Congress had the mandate of the gods. Now, he understands that the gods do not exist and that Congress has been manipulating him and his people. Thus, this scene represents a shift from the cross-species conflicts of Lusitania and focuses instead on the corruption within Starways Congress, for with the fleet and its M. D. Device drawing ever nearer, the unethical ruling body represents an existential threat to all sentient species on both planets.
The dysfunction within the Rebeira family acts as an additional subplot that allows Card to explore the nuances of Ethics and Morality in Science in much greater detail. The family members have diverse and conflicting personality traits, and diverse and conflicting opinions on the social issues that plague Lusitania. Each of the Rebeira children is ruled by one defining personality trait—Miro has self-pity, Ela is a martyr, Quara is a contrarian, Olhado appears coldly distant, Grego is power-hungry, and Quim is compassionately self-sacrificing. The complex subplot of Ender’s family dynamics finally reaches its climax in Chapter 12 in the fight that erupts when Miro calls the family together. Miro blames Novinha for the destruction of the family, and although the other children do not immediately support Miro, they ultimately agree with his assessment. Novinha has been controlling their behavior, which has limited them. When she removes herself from larger society by joining a convent, she allows her children the space they need, and as the plot continues, they are finally able to develop constructive solutions to the complex problems they are facing regarding Ethics and Morality in Science.
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By Orson Scott Card
