Dorabella Santangelo Toscano was the mother of Alessandra Toscano and the wife of Quincy Morgan.[1] She was first introduced in Ender in Exile.
History[]
Past[]
Born Dorabella Santangelo, she was raised by her parents Isabella and Leopoldo Santangelo. At age 15, she ran off with a bike messenger and got pregnant, and soon married the boy. Disapproving, Isabella disowned her daughter. Dorabella took her husband's last name, Toscano.[1]
She gave birth to a daughter and named her Alessandra. Soon after, her husband died, leaving Dorabella to raise Alessandra alone. Despite her mother's disownment, every 10 days into a month Isabella would call her daughter and beg her to come live with her, and when Dorabella refused she would scream at her until Dorabella would mail her some money so Isabella could buy some junky item for her house.[1]
Ender in Exile[]
Shortly after the end of the Third Formic War, Dorabella heard about the prospect of the Dispersal Project and signed herself and her daughter up to be colonists. After breaking the news to Alessandra upon their acceptance months later, her daughter was upset and so Alessandra tracked down her grandmother Isabella to try and convince her to become her guardian. When she was rejected, she returned home, where her mother had already been informed of the meeting via an angry phone call from Isabella. She explained why Isabella was such a terrible person and why going to a colony would improve their lives, freeing them from poverty, though she admitted it was partially to escape her mother and she explained how her grandmother harassed her into giving her money. Alessandra was still resistant, but eventually gave in to her mother's idea, and suggested they go into Stasis through the voyage.[1]
Two weeks later while browsing the Nets, Alessandra discovered that the governor of her colony was going to be Ender Wiggin and the pilot would be Mazer Rackham. When she told her mother, she admitted that she had accidently checked the box to stay awake for the voyage. Dorabella proposed that Alessandra marry Ender (although she dismissed it) and Alessandra mentioned that her mother could marry Mazer Rackham. Later, they received instructions and tickets for the flight, and would take the train to Napoli and then fly to Kenya, where the colonists from Europe and Africa were gathering to take the shuttle into space. Their last few days were spent doing all the things they loved to do in Monopoli and to her husband's grave. On their last day before leaving, Isabella came to her daughter's home to prevent her from going away. After a confrontation, Dorabella and Alessandra left Isabella behind as they went to the shuttle port.[1]
Once on board the IFcoltrans1, she and her daughter opted to stay awake for the voyage instead of going into Stasis. They found out that their planet of destination was Shakespeare.[1]
While in transit, Dorabella and her daughter took classes in Common being taught by Valentine Wiggin. Some time later she met Ender Wiggin, and during their conversation they came up with the idea for a reading of Shakespeare's plays on board the ship. While Dorabella dropped obvious hints that she wanted Alessandra to get Ender Wiggin to fall in love with her, Alessandra admitted to Ender and Valentine that that was her mother's plan, irritating Dorabella. After some discussion they decided on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew for the play. After three days of planning, they were about to start the play when it was briefly cancelled by Admiral Quincy Morgan.[1]
After it was un-cancelled, Admiral Morgan took notice of her performance, as she intended, and she became involved in a relationship with him. All the while, she was manipulating her daughter into making Ender Wiggin fall in love with her, so that they would have both contenders for the governorship of Shakespeare under their control. She encouraged her daughter to make advances to Ender, which Alessandra did although she was uncomfortable with her mother's recommended style of flirtation.[1]
Once the ship arrived at Shakespeare in 41 AX, Ender was instantly accepted by the colonists and Morgan was ordered by his superiors to return to Earth with his wife instead of becoming the governor of Shakespeare. Dorabella ordered her daughter to come with them, insisting that Ender did not love her and that Shakespeare had nothing to offer her. During one last surface visit, Ender approached Alessandra and spoke to her. When Dorabella approached, she told her daughter that Ender was giving her empty promises and dragged her to the shuttle. Alessandra stopped and told her she was staying. Dorabella shoved her but she was caught by Ensign Akbar. Dorabella tried again to bring her back to the ship but when Alessandra insisted she wanted to stay Dorabella tried to grab her, but her hand was caught by Akbar. She threatened to have him court-martialed and falsely accused him of rape, but Akbar calmly reminded her that everything on the ship was recorded. Alessandra told her mother that she was acting like Grandmother, and wished her farewell. Dorabella howled something at her daughter but it went unheard. Angry and bitter, Dorabella turned away and returned to the ship heading for Earth.[1]
Personality[]
Possibly due to her traumatic childhood, Dorabella saw the world as a kind of fantasy and often referred to herself or her daughter as "fairies".[1]
While pleasant on the outside, Dorabella revealed her true colors when she falsely accused Akbar of rape and attempted to force her daughter to go back on the colony ship with her.[1]
Trivia[]
- Dorabella exhibits symptoms of Cluster B mixed personality disorder.[3]