Ender Wiggin’s mental state at the beginning of the novel was stable, but his fear of his older brother Peter Wiggin disrupted his state of mind. As the story progressed Ender was no longer afraid of Peter himself, but of the fact that he was soon becoming Peter, the person he most despised of becoming. Ender realizes his transformation in becoming Peter while he was playing one of the mind games, “ in the mirror he saw a face he easily recognized. It was Peter, with blood dripping down his chin and a snake’s tail protruding from a corner of his mouth.” ( Card 193). As the games in Battle and Command School continued he soon started to become mad, because of the pressure caused by commanding his army to victory and trying to live up to the expectations of the school leaders. An example of the stress put on Ender during the school is shown …show more content…
Ender no longer relied on his sister for protection. During a conversation Ender and Valentine had, Valentine thought to herself “I know, Ender” How will he hurt me?”(361; ch.13). Valentine’s statement shows that she now fears Ender, but this fear does not stop her love for him. Ender notices the fear within her and responds,“See what I’m becoming, Val?” he said softly. “Even you are afraid of me.”(361; ch. 13). Ender acknowledges the fear within her sister, and now truly realizes that they are just strangers to each other. Also, at the start of the story it shows that Ender is brainwashed by propaganda to believe that the buggers are ruthless creatures that brought the war to Earth. As the story progresses, Ender begins to believe he understands the buggers and realizes that they never wanted war, they were just misunderstood. Once the war was finished, and Ender found a larva with the Queen bugger within it, he devoted his life to protect these species from becoming
Before Ender got picked to fight the buggers he was just a normal boy he went to school like every other kid, one day he got put in a test and if he passed he would go to battle school in space, Ender eventually passed the test and he had a military personnel come to his door and tell his parents that he passed the test and is going to battle school.
The author reveals the relationship between Peter and Ender through Peter’s perception of Ender and the astronaut-bugger game. “Ender did not see Peter as […] 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
In Orson Scott Card’s novel, Enders Game, at the age of six, Ender is chosen by Colonel Graff and the International Fleet to help save mankind from the buggers. However, through his journey, he experiences manipulation and deception from significant figures that surround his life. This deceit from Colonel Graff, Valentine, and Mazor Rackham is focused on defeating the buggers in the Third Invasion.
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...
They wanted Ender to see that it was a game because this would insure that the humans would be victorious over the buggers. Because of this, Ender has suffered a great ordeal of losses in everything such as life, love, family, and friendship. At this point of my explanation, we can clearly see that Ender does suffice enough to be a Christ Figure because he began his journey with a full heart and now he is ending his journey with nothing left but a new world to live in with Valentine, while trying to find a safe place for the Queen Bugger to live. This is his last and most important mission of all. It looks like as if Ender is beginning a whole new journey. Truth be told, Ender is done, but he has that final step to go before he can call out to home and finally live the rest of days free of
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
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
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
Sometimes fear can come from lies. Lies about what is happening or going to happen. Lies can make you believe something that is not true, and that can be scary. When we first meet Ender Wiggin, he is only six years old. He is being monitored for a special program that trains children for the eventual war against the buggers, an alien race that almost wiped out the humans. He soon gets his monitor taken out which means he should be washed out, or didn’t pass through the program. The nurse that is helping take out the monitor tells Ender that is won’t hurt a bit. Ender knows she is lying. “…he could count on that statement as an accurate representation of the...
Therefore, Ender shows the reader that he takes responsibility as an adult for just waking up early and on time for his battles. Therefor, Ender taking that responsibility must be hard since he's just a kid and has to be responsible for
Initially, at the beginning of the novel Ender had received mistreatment and death threats constantly from his brother. “ He lifted his foot, took a step, and then knelt on Ender, his knee pressing onto Ender’s belly just below the breastbone... ‘I could kill you like this,’ Peter whispered.”(42) Ender had dealt with Peter acting like to him on a regular basis. Peter is like a abusive brother to Ender, and when there is someone abusive in your life at a young age, your mind would be scarred, and that's exactly what happened to him. Ender constantly did not want to hurt others
Throughout the novel, Ender gradually begins to realize that he is not so different from his brother Peter. Ender grew up being punished and beaten up just for being a third who was smarter than Peter. This explains why Ender wants nothing to do with him when he leaves home. The mind game periodically reminds Ender that he is not completely different from him through certain levels. On the first obstacle that proved difficult, he brutally
One key component that is produced through Ender’s struggles at his young age is self-reliance. Ender is born unto a family where he is seen as an outcast; he’s a “third.” In a world where population control is major concern, a third-born child is looked upon in disgust. He is isolated even before he is brought into the world. John Kessel reveals his insights into Card’s interpretation of Ender’s exploitation when he says,” Orson Scott Card presents a harrowing tale of abuse. Ender’s parents and older brother (. . .) either ignore the abuse of Ender or participate in it” (Kessel 1). No one contributes more to this abuse than his older brother, Peter. Along with his birth, jealousy and hatred are especially common towards Ender. This disapproving outlook is particularly apparent from Peter. Peter let’s Ender know hi...
The novel Ender’s Game is written by Orson Schott Card. It is about a young boy who is sent to battle school. He meets friends and makes adversaries. In battle school, out in space, Ender, the young boy is a genius and is taught many tactics to destroy their prime enemy the buggers. He excels in school and battles his way into command school before the required age. There he is told he is battling buggers in simulations or is he? Throughout the novel, Ender is manipulated, bullied, and isolated, which creates many themes and messages. In this novel Ender’s Game the main theme is life is a game. Three characters that best prove this are Ender, Peter, and Bonzo.
· The main character, Andrew (Ender) Wiggin is a young child who endures some of the hardest turmoil any human could undergo. He is very brilliant, cunning, paranoid, determined, and above all loving child who becomes mature and eventually saves the world. We see his brilliance from the start and through his days he has become the god-child, and messiah to all who know his name. His paranoia grows steadily throughout the book, due to his lack of trust in any figure he encounters. Any time they show any hint of compassion or any true emotion, ender assumes its all part of the game and plan to make him the best commander alive. His determination comes at us through many different wavelengths. He is at first solely determined to survive against playground bullies. It evolves into winning the battle games and soon after takes a curve and becomes determination to never play the game again. His most admirable trait though, is without fail the love he rarely but deeply shows for Valentine, his sister and partly companion through and through. He often says in the text that he is not a killer and has never meant to hurt anyone, simply to win the fight and never fight it again. He realizes his true love for the queen-bugger when he hosts her into eventually multiple buggers to start a new world of them.