Ender's Game Analysis

“A good scenario doesn’t make a good science fiction story - but it’s setting within which a good science fiction story might be told.” - Jamais Cascio, an author. Orson Scott Card definitely paid attention to descriptive words and setting while writing the novel Ender’s Game, which portrays several young boys, and a few girls too, being shipped off to space. The novel Ender’s Game contains profound ideas of what will occur in the future; however, not all of the novel’s innovations and individual elements are valuable. Portrayed as a futuristic realm of ethical issues, the setting is efficiently described as the age of peace which seemingly manipulates time, alternate universes developing and evolving in somewhat unconventional places, and

a revolutionary school generating pristine customs.
Blatantly, Ender’s Game is futuristically designed, yet several other factors of time are consistently overlooked while participating in the military boot camp called Battle School.

Between the maturity level of the children at Battle School and the label put on the time period (the Age of Peace), it is obvious that time appears to be manipulated at this prison like school for children. Page 44 of the novel states, “...The ache was there, thick in his throat and the front of his face, hot in his chest and in his eyes, I want to go home.” These six year old kids may be geniuses, but that doesn’t mean they are emotionally developed as adults. Battle School is this place where either one turns to steel or gets ejected. Imagine the anxiety and depression of living alone at the age of six, they are being molded like clay into miniature replicas of adults. Decades of time seem to pass between the occasion when landing at Battle School and a week later as they’re beginning to become ideal adult citizens. During their evolution at battle school, the children become incorporated into the Age of Peace. Instead of starting a civil war, they overcome differences twice the size of a mountain to become this elite group of advanced geniuses destined to defeat humanity’s enemy,

the Buggers. Important decisions such as debating whether to fight each other or fight the common enemy is something which only occurs as time goes on, so the idea that practically the entire world is compatible with the training of child soldiers shows how time appears to be extremely manipulative in the novel. Time is a critical portion of this novel as the maturity level of characters and battle preparedness depends solely on what’s required of the characters. Due to the fact that soldiers are supposedly required extremely soon, it appears that time is manipulated by a higher ranking officer to emotionally mature the boys and girls at the ruthless Battle School. Although time is tremendously important to Battle School, location is five times more vital to Battle School’s character traits.
Location, location, location - the three rules of real estate and apparently science fiction novels too. Without the null-gravity Battle School the novel would have an entirely different mood. Imagine if the kids were sent to a summer camp instead of the menacing Battle School, there would be no such thing as dangerous times. Replacing the steel reinforced, torus-shaped Battle School with a summer camp where kids do childlike activities (crafts, swimming, and playing outdoors). This would change the novel’s dynamic entirely as there wouldn’t be any depressing good-byes such as the one portrayed on page 26, “Mother cried. Father held Ender tight. Peter shook his hand… Valentine kissed him and left her tears on his cheeks.” Contrastingly, if Ender had been departing for a lazy two weeks at summer camp, he would have been given a few hugs and left without any tears. However this is not what occurred as Ender basically voted to never see his family again once he got on the launch with other inconspicuous kids who had no idea that the beloved Battle School would be a cold, cruel, menacing, and ruthless place where children were expected to become what they aren’t meant to be - soldiers. If the idea of traveling to the unknown wasn’t terrifying enough, the children had to face blasting off from Earth to the unexplored territory of the Asteroid Belt where the Battle School was located. An unexpected meteor could crash into the side of the space ship resulting in nobody making it to Battle School. Not to mention that finding the Battle School without a navigation system would be like attempting to find a needle in a haystack because of the other large, grey objects (meteors). Imagine, just for a moment, how drastically the novel would have been changed if the school was halfway around the world not halfway around the universe. For one fact, there would actually be communication for the kids with the outside world instead of this secluded, out of human contact school. Along with its outward appearance, Battle School could be a different place if the inside wasn’t so unwelcoming. For instance, the battle rooms, which are each ten times the size of a basketball court, are basically pitch black pits of doom with cold air penetrating through the thin material of the standardized flash suits. Without the customization of the Battle School’s elite training system, the battle room, the soldiers would feel an immense amount of anxiety, more than usual, when going into null-gravity war as they aren’t accustomed to fighting in mind boggling, stomach churning zero gravity. If the child soldiers didn’t have a simulation of real war, then they would be disheveled for battle; it’s as if a swimmer didn’t have a pool to practice in before an important meet or a bunny that can’t hop - it will result in a tragedy. Without the interesting location of the vast, unwelcoming asteroid belt and donut of cold, grey steel called the Battle School, the novel would result in a MUCH less engaging version of the novel. On the contrary, the specific customs are what truly define the novel.
All cultures throughout time and around the world have individual traditions and customs which personalize them, yet Ender’s Game is one of the few novels containing unique customs - setting it apart from other science fiction novels.

Birthdays are wondrously celebrated occasions everywhere; however this is not the case in Ender’s Game. Pages 92 and 93 state, “They weren’t much for dates and calendars at the Battle School… But nobody told birthdays. It was childish.” Battle School is so hardcore that there is no rest for a single “Happy Birthday!” It just goes to show how ignorant commanders of the school are to what’s actually significant in children’s lives. On the other hand, without elements like this, the book would have no character and just be a colossal amount of words on thin paper. In addition, readers find it peculiar that uniforms are mandatory, there is no such thing as “weekend clothes” or “after school outfits”. As if the school wasn’t unwelcoming enough, imagine wearing a shiny, colorful, and restrictive jumpsuit of aluminum foil nonstop. While this statement describes another one of the peculiar demands of Battle School, the law that a couple can’t have more than two kids portrays the complete control the mind-numbing government has over civilians. Because Ender is one of the few authorized “Thirds”, he is always bullied, the government practically set Ender up for failure as an accepted child because he isn’t supposed to be alive. Page 17 of the novel

describes an antagonist teasing Ender because of his birth order. “‘You’re a Third, turd. You’ve got no rights.’” This is not an environment any child, even an abnormally genius child, should be raised in. Instead of a nurturing, caring environment a child requires, they are given the cold-shoulder by everyone because of their birth order. Over all, the customs of this novel include being menacing figures who everyone fears as it will appear to make one stronger and ignoring otherwise significant events as they can quickly be bypassed as to not distract the children being run ragged training on a daily basis. Between the futuristic time period, secluded location, and individual customs of this novel, a thoroughly engaging novel has been spectacularly created.
Crucial to all stories, setting is extremely important to Ender’s Game as the futuristic realm of time, exotic location, and unique customs are what truly make the novel. Without these three specific elements of setting, the novel would be quite bland as it would lack the customized ideas which separate the novel from other science fiction novels. Between his surprisingly accurate futuristic predictions, innovative locations and ideas for the novel to occur, and exclusive customs, it is no surprise the novel took first place as a New York Times bestseller in 2013. Orson Scott Card definitely obeyed www.nownovel.com’s advice on writing an engaging novel, “How to write a book: setting”.