From my understanding, both of these men have great and mysterious views of how the world should - or could - be, at any time. Having read a nice chunk of Orson Scott Card's novels, I have come to the conclusion that he might not be against the world, if not just America herself, being a relatively insular group. That, or a strong exercise in hegemony.
This is not only restricted to the Ender series; a reader can discern this opinion from his other novels, such as Empire and Folk of the Fringe. In Empire, the entire higher level of the executive branch is assassinated: the Vice President is in a car crash while the President and the other chief are blown up in the rocket-induced explosion of the West Wing (imagine if that was on the show!). The book involves conspiracy, luke-warm treaties, and secret underground lairs in the forests of Washington State. There are AT-AT-esque robots and marines so devout to the government - nay, the Constitution - of the United States of America that they will do anything to protect what they feel is right. There is also Averell Torrent, the pure bi-partisan. He of course has qualms with each party, but instead of playing off of those negatives, he entices the parties to join together and successfully nominate and elect him as president for, as the book ends, an indeterminate amount of terms. Much like Dwight D. Eisenhower was nominated by both parties, Torrent is just so perfect no one can beat his politics. However, while Ike chose to run with the Republican Party, Torrent has no contenders. The country is in turmoil, recovering from what could be seen as the "Second Civil War," although a satellite could not discern the physical sides here; rather, it was Red versus Blue. Republicans versus Democrats. Right Versus Left. Conservative versus Liberal.He saves the day, essentially.
But, this is not all that it seems to be. In the Afterword, OSC (can I call him that? I think I will), describes his initial thought process of this novel. Much like with the origin of L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics, this was discussed over drinks. Someone, a friend, suggested that were there to be a second Civil War, it would certainly not be fought on physical sides; if anything, that would turn out to be akin to Ecotopia, and pre/sequel Ecotopia Emerging, where the three Pacific states secede and create an ecological / environmental haven (heaven, maybe). Rather, as I mentioned prior, this war was on political terms. There are physical - land based - attributes to our political system, most easily discerned by CNN's "Red State, Blue State" (One State, Two State?) map. Indeed, the states who jumped on the über-Liberal takeover of the USA were some of the Bluest states out there: New York, New Hampshire and Washington. The others weren't necessarily on the "other side," it just wasn't necessary to include the physical territory of a state in this battle.Once Averell Torrent is put in charge, he creates what I believe to be a solid form of government: Hegemony. He enforces federal laws and power, but lets the states deal with themselves (rebuild if they have to, otherwise just control their own citizens). The easiest way to explain a hegemony is to say that the "Federal Government" sets out an outline for the laws, and then the States can do what they will, within the boundaries of that outline. The Federal Government (I am capitalizing these to signify their power, and that they are actual entities) also controls some form of the armed forces, but States can also appeal to use their forces separately.
Dictionary.com:
he⋅gem⋅o⋅ny: [hi-jem-uh-nee, hej-uh-moh-nee]: noun, plural -nies
1. leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation
This can lead to Imperial rulership (indeed, in the sequel Hidden Empire, I understand that is what occurs, under Averell Torrent). This also occurred in the Enderverse, under Ender's elder brother Peter (also known as Locke). OSC delves more into this in the later books, and I will discuss that later, when I finish reading Xenocide (150 pages to go).
Now, to relate this to my proposed topic: religion. Kind of.
Orson Scott Card is part of a very important lineage: he is descended from Brigham Young (y'know, one of the most important LDS members?). OSC is Mormon, and thus believes the basic tenants of the divinity of Jesus. However, they split from the greater part of Christianity because of the concept of the Trinity. If anything, they are more monotheistic, from the Jewish prospective, than the other Jesus-based religions. I don't know too much about the Christian belief structures, but I am aware that the Trinity (I capitalize for sake of recognition, not reverence), does not play such a grand role in Mormonism, although of course it does have its importance. The general Mormon belief is that there is one God, and that Jesus is the son of said god. I am not going to talk much about this, simply because I don't know so much about it, and I believe that while I might do my own research and form my own concepts of it all, what I put in words will not give the religion, nor culture, a sturdy enough placement. I'll discuss what I know.
I hope you all know US history enough to remember that Salt Lake City is the core of the Mormon religion. A possibly less-known fact, although just as important to US history, about that region, is that the state of Utah and the surrounding area was once known - for a short while - as the Mormon Empire of Deseret. This nation-state had functioning legal, political, social, economical and educational systems, all based around the tenets and history of the Mormon religion. They wished, essentially, to be to the United States as Lesotho is to South Africa: a sovereign state within a greater country's boundaries, thus land-locked and surrounded. Well, there was talk of the plan to expand the Empire to the Pacific Ocean, but the Mormons were content enough with a greater portion of what we know as the Mid-West and Rocky states.
This is very possibly where OSC's vision of a universal hegemony / empire originates. Many proselytic religions who have claimed their own land as a state, such as Catholicism (Holy Roman Empire, Vatican City) any form of Protestantism (Great Britain under Henry VIII, colonies), Buddhism (China) and Islam (many Middle Eastern countries), have also introduced their own form of imperial rule, and the countries did run fairly smoothly, prior to the modern era of mass-communication and the sense of equality for all humans, depending on their belief, wealth, and skin-color. Mormonism falls under that "proselytic" umbrella (notice the missionaries?), and it only makes logical sense for them to at least attempt to create their own empire. It succeeded until the US said no. And, as we have all learned all too often over the past decade or so, when the US says no . . . something happens.
Back to the brief biography of OSC. He is fluent in Portuguese, after spending his mission years in Brazil, and uses both the language and the culture (of both the motherland as well as of the colonies) in his books; the main planet in Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide is a Catholic Portuguese colony. As I have seen and heard of before, many missionaries return from their travels with a fascination not only with their own religion, but also with the culture from which they returned; their infatuation encapsulates not only the modern-day activities of the host people, but also the associated historical and cultural anthropology. This could explain Orson Scott Card's intrigue with native cultures and the origination of a civilization. Indeed, he spends a great deal of time explaining certain customs of the aliens Ender encounters throughout the books, even going so far back as the origin of the species.Now for a brief personal note. I find Orson Scott Card most intriguing when he is discussing the anthropological and xenopological reasons for a certain attribute of a culture; conversely, I get relatively lost whenever he discusses the scientific reasons and whatnot (I am having a hard time getting through this chapter now, for that reason. All physics and biology, no anthropology or psychology). I have always gravitated towards religion and the supernatural explanations of societies. It started when I was young, maybe even with my first introduction to the Torah and the other writings of Judaism. I became obsessed with the Egyptian pantheon, but quickly moved North, to Greece and Rome, and then across the Pond to the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. I swam through each of the humanistic sciences, still keeping my eyes on the stories of the origins of the world and life as we know it. There are of course overlaps and contradictions, but in the end, most of the myths and tales are congruent with one-another. Orson Scott Card, as well as Neil Gaiman, follows up on those stories, and use some of them to enhance a currently unknown culture's system to us readers. That is what interests me about the Enderverse and the associated novels: they have all potential to be real. They are completely and utterly plausible in my mind, if not the real "Science Fiction" aspects, but then the aliens. We share this universe, and may it be in all of our prayers that we, as Humans, do not concede to degrade the universe, let alone just the galaxy, as we have the Earth.
The Bugger Hive Queen once explained to Ender the real reason why the Third Invasion never actually happened: the Buggers realized that Earth - the Humans - were not really usable to the Bugger's taste. The Buggers use a telepathic, faster-than-light communication, and thus every Bugger knows what every other Bugger knows, currently and prior, and the Hive Queen sees everything that her workers see, as if through their eyes. Humans are too individual, too sporadic for that to work. She, the Hive Queen, saw in Ender's mind while he was at the Battle School (remember the Giant remains on the Bugger home-world?), and while she would have loved to conquer his mind, she was unable to get a good fix on his . . . synapses. She ended up just being able to converse with him, telepathically, but no Human with a conscious and determined mind could ever be taken by the Buggers. We are too inventive, too solitary in groups for our minds to ever be controlled to that extent.
I am fully enjoying this book. I hope to finish it this week; I realize that I had all potential to complete it this past week, but my days just moved too slowly, and the computer was too much of a distraction. When I do finally read the last word on the last page, I'll write a synopsis and critique of it. OSC discusses gods a great deal, whether he meant to or not. I see it, and I relate much of what he says to what I believe and what I think he is trying to say.
