Enders Game

Ender’s Game Essay

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.

One character that best supports this theme is Peter. Peter is Ender’s older brother, who is more ruthless and cold hearted. Peter is a good example of this theme because of his patience, strategic skills, and determination. Peter always wanted to take over the world, but he couldn’t do it at a young age. When playing games a person must be patient and wait for the right time to move. On page 128, Peter states “I’ve been learning things about patterns in human behaviour” Peter has been studying patterns, in order to make his move. The quote best exemplifies how Peter’s life is a game because Peter is playing a patient game; he is watching his opponents’ moves and waiting for the pieces to fall in place. Another example is his strategic skill can help make precise moves. Page 129, middle of the page, Peter and his sister have been writing columns on the internet. Peter is using his strategic skills to devise a plan to take over the world by manipulating the world it is going through war and then later on becoming to make peace. Peter’s columns are being published and that is part of his plan. He is using skills, like in games to plan ahead. Finally the last example that best proves how life is a game is Peter’s determination and cockiness. Great players are determined to win and if they are determined they are cocky. Page 181, Peter says, “ I could become a businessman and run some big corporation, I’d scramble and maneuver until I was at the top of everything and what would I have? Nothing, I am going to rule.” Peter is confident that he will rule the world. Like a champion at games they only think they are going to win a...

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... he commanded his own platoon. Those are phases Ender went through. During one battle he faced, he cheated. Page 218 describes Ender’s men passed through the gate without soldiers before the gate was reversed. He had to cheat because he was exhausted and he needed assistance. Ender was battling two teams at once, never done before at battle school.. Finally every game has a final stage or battle. In Ender’s Game the final battle was against the buggers. Ender fights them on page 297. Ender was actually tricked into fighting them. This point proves how life is a game because games have a final battle/stage and Ender fought in one. Ender as a game piece, cheating and fighting in a final stage/battle prove how life is a game.

After reading the novel Ender’s Game there are many surprises and themes. The main theme is life is a game; Bonzo, Ender and, Peter best prove that with many reasons like: cheating, patience, and enemies. Those supporting points mentioned above contribute to the theme of life is a game because it deals with traits of a game. Some games take patience, some you fight enemies and when the game is difficult people result in cheating.