Peter and Valentine Wiggin Quotes

OK, after pointing out that Ender is a dangerous kid when it comes to competing, this part always gets us because he tells Val that it’s not about competition for him. He doesn’t want to compete against Peter – he wants a totally different relationship with his brother. Unfortunately, as we know from the first quote in this section, Ender and Peter’s relationship seems like competition (at least to Peter). But this quote does remind us that there are other ways for people to relate – we don’t have to compete with each other.

OK, we’re kind of being big old softies here: instead of quoting the times when Peter fights or threatens Ender, we’ve pulled this one quote where Peter expresses some warmth towards Ender. But that’s just it – this is almost the only time that Peter does this. The rest of the time, Peter reminds Ender that he doesn’t want a little brother. The funny twist here is that Peter says he knows how it feels, so there’s actually is a very important shared feeling between them.

Now, it’s worth asking whether Peter was always a mix of builder and destroyer, or whether he’s been changing from his earlier days, when he seemed mostly to be destroyer. Val doesn’t talk about identities changing, so according to her it seems as if all three Wiggin children have been complicated all along – Peter was never a monster, even though he seemed that way to them at the time; and Ender was never wholly the saint that he appeared to be. Do you agree with that idea of identity? Or do you think maybe Ender and Peter have changed over time?