Ender’s Game, winner of the1985 Nebula Award and the1986 Hugo Award for best novel, is a military science fiction novel written by American author Orson Scott Card. In this futuristic novel with spaceships, aliens, and war games, the world needs a saviour against an alien race called “buggers”. The military needs a brilliant mind, like the young Ender Wiggen’s, to command an army and save the world from destruction. After separation from his beloved sister, Valentine, and his terrifying brother, Peter, he is brought to a battle school that orbits around the Earth. He is then tested and honed into an empathetic killer, and begins to despise what he does as he learns to fight in hopes of saving the Earth and his family. Ender is more similar in personality to Valentine than Peter because he is compassionate, selfless, and remorseful, while Peter is not. One trait that Ender and Valentine share are their overwhelming sense of compassion, in other words, their sympathy and concern for the suffering and misfortune of others. Enders strong sense of compassion is clear when he shows his remorse to Graff, the head of Battle School who manipulates Ender on many occasions, after coming to the realization that he committed Xenocide without his knowledge. He is angry and crying while accusing Graff of tricking him, to which Graff replies explaining exactly why they needed to trick him; his compassion: “It had to be a trick or you couldn’t have done it…. We had to have a commander with so much empathy that he would think like the buggers, understand them and anticipate them…. But somebody with that much compassion could never be the killer we needed.” (Card 298). Graff clearly states why Ender’s compassion was needed in order to save the wo... ... middle of paper ... ...ly, Ender is compassionate because he feels pain when he unknowingly commits Xenocide, Valentine is also compassionate because she tells Ender she loves him no matter what he does, and lastly, Peter is not at all compassionate because he causes pain for fun. Secondly, Ender and Valentine are selfless because Ender commits his life to learning about the buggers and Valentine stands up for Ender despite the dangers, while Peter wants to use Ender to gain more power for himself, proving he is not at all selfless. Lastly, Peter embraces his manipulative ways, proving he is not remorseful, while Ender and Valentine both show they have deep remorse, Ender’s remorse coming from the pain he causes others, and Valentines from her newfound enjoyment for control and power. All things considered, Ender proves he is more similar to Valentine in personality than he is to Peter.
Alexander the Great […] Peter only to detect anger or boredom, the dangerous moods that almost always led to pain. ”(Card) From the passage I can come to the conclusion that Ender has good perception on other people’s behavior and that he feels negatively about Peter. "Let him be the astronaut for once"(Card) Ender always plays the bugger, the weak underdog whilst
Introduction: Ender is one of the main characters in this book, Ender is intelligent on and off the battlefield he is the youngest in the salamander army but he is more skillful than anyone else in the army. The book Ender’s game is written by Dr son Scott Card, This book was the Hugo and Nebula winner.
Ender is selected to go to Battle School in space because of the actions he has displayed against a bully after a device known as a monitor, which allows the leaders of the I.F. to watch and hear everything Ender perceives. Although Ender’s conception was predetermined (in this time period, families are only allowed to have two children unless stated by the government which is why Ender is often called a “Third”), he had to display the correct characteristics to be selected. Ender’s siblings, Peter and Valentine also wore the monitor, but neither wore it as long nor was selected because Peter was too cruel and Valentine was too mild. Once Ender arrives, he makes a couple new friends from the other selected children, including a boy named Alai. When Ender is alone, he plays a mind game and progresses farther than anyone has before so out of the blue, Ender becomes promoted to a group called Salamander Army, where he befriends the only girl, Petra Arkanian, at Battle School. As Ender continues to display his brilliance, he is continuously being promot...
In Orson Scott Card’s novel, “Ender’s Game”, you have a story about a young man who is called out to fulfill the needs of many. Ender has a respective set of skills that make him stand out among the others. One of them is that he has the knowledge and the compassion to understand the enemy. This wonderful skill that Ender has is the motivating force that drives him to complete his journey from the beginning to the end. On the other hand, you have Ender having the ability to be Christ, or otherwise, a Christ Figure. The leading key ideas are that “Ender, like Christ, […] acts as a mediator between mankind and the higher beings”. He is also “playing a sacrificial role to save
Throughout the novel, Peter has symbolized evil and manipulation. Valentine on the other hand stood for love and happiness, hope, future, and everything good. Taking this into account, this quote is obviously trying to highlight something much more, beyond the novel; it’s trying to illustrate the universal struggle between good and bad. Peter Wiggin has been harassing Ender his entire life, on both an emotional and physical caliber. It’s no doubt he’s become one of the more influential aspects of Ender’s life. But it’s Valentine who is always there to save him, and
Leading up to that he faces enemies and obstacles in the form of bigger kids and the games that he wins thoroughly, to the point where he cannot be beat. He always is one set ahead of whatever is thrown at him. Until Ender finds the Bugger Queen pupa.” Reached into the cavity and took out the cocoon.” (Card 321) Here in this scene Ender is going against what we have come to see as part of who he is. He has the intent to allow the Buggers to rebuild and try to live along side of humans. Normally he destroys something so thoroughly that it can never hurt him or the people he is fighting for again. This is perhaps one of the very best examples of the theme that one’s past does not define them or their
Ender’s game is a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott card it was published in 1985. This book is in the future when in the story earth has been invaded by an alien race and is almost destroyed by the invasion but wins the battle and to prevent earth from being destroyed if they return they create the International fleet which recruits kids an teaches them to be commanders. The chapter that I am going to analyze is chapter one which is called Third. This chapter shows how Ender is being manipulated since the start and how he has to deal with being different by being a third.
Most of the children know about the web of deceit and the manipulation, including Ender who works around it because of his own beliefs of his own purpose. Although he is needed in the mission to save the world, from Ender's point of view he needs to do this for Valentine. Or is he just tricking himself into thinking this? Ender realizes there is deceit by the IF and teachers. They deceived Ender into thinking that Valentine's letter was sincerely written by her. Ender realizes that he is being deceived and manipulated, his thoughts were, "It isn't the real thing because they made her write it. She's written before and they didn't let any of those letters through. Those might have been real, but this was asked fo...
This book is anti-war since it shows how war could advance someone’s life into a huge disaster, how anyone can break down from the stress that others impose on them, just to be able to produce someone who can save humanity, and how someone’s life was controlled by someone else since they were born and can not be able to change and let themselves hold on to their own life, fate, and future. War destroys everything but Ender’s Game shows how war had affected and destroyed Ender’s whole entire
He is still constantly comparing himself to Peter. In a game Ender played, he had to kill a snake in order to progress which haunts him with thoughts of killing. “‘This game tells filthy lies. I am not like Peter. I don’t have murder in my heart.’ And then a worse fear, that he was the killer, only better at it than Peter ever was.” (Card 115). He is starting to believe that he is not like Peter, however the thought of being no better and maybe even worse than his brother is still in the back of his mind. At this time in the book, Ender seems very opinionated when he compares himself to Peter, and stays that way for quite a while. In chapter eight, Ender is battling a group of boys and ends up hurting them to protect himself. He is later seen questioning why he keeps harming other boys. “I’m doing it again, thought Ender. I’m hurting people again just to save myself. Why don’t they leave me alone, so I don’t have to hurt them.” (Card 115). Now Ender is wondering as to why these people keep attacking him. This causes him to breach his morals and fight back harder so they do not think about coming at him again. Ender’s shame for compromising his morals is starting to turn into
Ender eventually goes to Battleschool and takes mass amounts of badgering and teasing from the other kids that are training too. Ender easily moves through the ranks and frustrates every instructor that he has. He becomes a commander and is given an army. He eventually goes to a planet called Eros, find the Buggers, and conclude that they are bugs, and that they have a queen like ants do. Ender finds an old man and finds that it is Mazer Rackham, his enemy. Ender finally finds that all the games he had been playing since Rackham became his enemy, was the real Third Invasion. Ender is a hero.
He uses a combination of Peter’s ruthlessness with Valentine’s compassion. “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves” (Card 238). Ender reveals this to Valentine because it is the main reason why he despises himself. Ender first uses his method against Stilson after getting his chip removed. He realizes that with the way Stilson is, the only way to stop him is to cause enough pain to deter retaliation. Learning from his enemies does not only occur on Earth. While being rejected in Salamander Army, Ender studies the good and bad techniques in the battle room. Given that, Ender ultimately beats Bonso once he is in command of his own army. He continues to do this with every person and battle he comes into contact with, making him the best commander at
In the story “Ender's Game” many interesting actions and events happen. From wars to death, to games, that are not games anymore. This story is about a young boy that lives in a world that is constantly under attack from extraterrestrials called the Buggers. In the beginning, Ender is just a young boy constantly controlled and watched by the government (The IF). In the middle, he is taken to battle school and there the people realize that he is the best person for the job and will lead the human race to victory over the Buggers. Lastly, the IF puts Ender and his group together to beat the buggers in a final war. The book “Ender’s Game” written by Orson Scott Card is a fun and exciting science fiction book that leaves the reader at the edge of its seat. The symbolism and hidden messages in the book make the reader connect to the story. The title, the characters, and the setting all have something more to bring to the table and change
Ender's Game. Dir. Orson Scott Card and Alan Smithee. Perf. Asa Butterfield. Summit Entertainment, 2013.
...is enemy, he became the most ruthless and yet most compassionate commander the world has ever seen in all the wars the human race has withstood. Above all, however, isolation is the tool that made all the attributes transparent and viable to Ender and to the I.F. Beyond the war, Ender became more than just a tool to be used; he became a savior. A savior of not only one, but two different races bent on destroying each other. Ender became the very definition of Hope.