Letting Truth Have Its Day in ‘Speaker for the Dead’

Truth is a valued commodity these days. Everyone wants it. They want it from the news, from our leaders, from everyone we look up to. There is a great thirsting for truth in our time, but the problem is defining what’s true. Postmodernism decreed we should question everything; we have, and now the line between right and wrong is blurred. But the truth is still valuable and people seek it. Ironically, though, while we want the truth from people on public platforms, we rarely want truth in our own lives or between ourselves and others.

This thought crossed my mind as I ruminated on the themes of Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Speaker is the sequel to Ender’s Game and picks up a couple decades later when Ender Wiggin is an adult and hopping from planet to planet in hopes of finding a new home for the “buggers”, an alien race everyone thought he destroyed. In the meantime, Ender has embraced the profession of being the “Speaker for the dead”, a person who, looked on as a minister in the eyes of the government, travels to a planet, learns the history of someone dead or dying, and tells it all to the community without mincing words. It’s not a flowery eulogy, he doesn’t skip over the bad parts, instead he tells of the person’s life as it was. By airing the truth in such a manner, the result is often a release for the person or community. There are no more secrets, only truth, the sometimes brutal truth.

What drives the plot is a relatively new colony on the planet Lusitania where they have discovered another sentient alien race. Things get complicated when a couple of the scientists observing this race are seemingly murdered. Several people have asked for a Speaker and Ender answers the call. However, the truth threatens to reveal several deep secrets surrounding Novinha, a lonely scientist carrying a certain level of guilt for one of the deaths. As Ender digs into the colony and learns everything that’s happening, he eventually holds his service and reveals the truth. While there is shock among the members of the community, there is also healing that begins for Novinha.

We all hide things from other people, even those closest to us. In a church setting we seek truncated help by asking for prayer for an “unspoken” request. In marriages we can bottle up past mistakes or emotional baggage. In friendships we can hide some attributes to make the other person like us more. At work we can sweep errors under the rug in an effort to impress a boss. We all hold something tightly and usually that something is dark. We live in the fear that other people won’t be able to handle the truth about our past if they knew it all; no one can accept the dark hearts we carry in our chests. While there may be tough consequences for the truth being known, I find that I feel the most free when I am not hiding anything from those close to me.

“Maybe it’s time we stop trying to outsmart the truth and let it have its day!” demands Alfred in The Dark Knight Rises. It’s a convicting and scary call. The Bible talks of knowing the truth and that the truth will set us free. In context, that’s talking about the truth of who Jesus is. But in broader terms it can also be helpful. When the truth is given free reign, there may be troubling times for those whose secrets are exposed, but, handled rightly, there can also be healing.

The purpose of the Speaker was to remove the gloss that people often put on a eulogy during a funeral. Perhaps the concept will inspire you to designate a “Speaker” for your own interment. But why wait until you’re gone to have the truth be known? While you yet have breath you can speak the truth and reveal your heart to others now. It may make for some uncomfortable moments, but it may also lift a weight from your shoulders.

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Quick Critique:

The first 3/4 of this book were great. I was riveted by the story and kept reading to solve the various mysteries at play. The final 1/4, though, didn’t quite stick the landing as it felt like Card was working too hard in setting up the sequels. Still, it was worthwhile to experience. I enjoyed the new characters and Card had plenty of interesting things to say. It’s sci-fi, but it’s more intellectual than what I’m used to. It did enough to make me at least want to check out the next book.