Abstract Looks at the themes of metamorphoses and transformation in Russel Hoban's "Riddley Walker" and Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game". The paper compares the characters and plots of the two novels and how the theme of transformation and metamorphoses runs through both stories.
From the Paper "Metamorphoses and transformation is a common theme in science fiction, particularly since its speculative nature may make it that much easier to consider novel scenarios and changes unlikely in more traditional fiction. This theme is dealt with in a relatively practical fashion in the two science fiction classics Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. In their process of developing from childhood into adulthood, the protagonists of both these stories stand at a cusp of vital change, and essentially live the death of an entire way of life and being. Each reacts to this loss by recreating themselves anew from a synthesis of old and new, paradoxically coming into their own and overcoming their enemies by melding with them to form new, stronger selves."
