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The Mirror
Throughout Ender’s Game, Ender acts as an agent of destruction: the IF grooms him to be a perfect commander, capable of leading soldiers to glorious victory against any enemy, no matter how deadly. This culminates in the penultimate chapter of the book, in which Ender seemingly destroys the entire Bugger species in a large battle. In the final chapter, however, we discover that the Buggers have left behind a single hive-queen pupa, which they want Ender to care for. Ender, overcome with self-loathing at having exterminated an entire species, agrees to find a new home for the pupa. In a sense, the pupa—as small, smooth, and innocent as a newborn baby—symbolizes Ender’s rebirth as a force for peace, not war. Just as the Buggers will be reborn in a new planet, so Ender gets a miraculous “second chance” at being a good person.
The Hive-Queen Pupa Quotes in Ender’s Game
The Ender’s Game quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Hive-Queen Pupa. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 15
Quotes
And always Ender carried with him a dry white cocoon, looking for a world where the hive-queen could awaken and thrive in peace. He looked a long time.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Ender’s Game LitChart as a printable PDF.
The Hive-Queen Pupa Symbol Timeline in Ender’s Game
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Hive-Queen Pupa appears in Ender’s Game. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 15: Speaker for the Dead
...in which he once saw Peter’s face. Behind the mirror, Ender finds a large silky pupa. Ender intuits that this is the pupa of a queen bugger, ready to lay thousands...
(full context)
In the coming days, Ender takes care of the pupa. He also writes a book, collaborating with the Bugger queen herself. The book describes the...
(full context)
...introduces himself as Andrew Wiggin, speak for the dead. Throughout their journeys, Ender carries his pupa and looks for a new home where the hive-queen can live in peace. The book...
(full context)
