Ethical Issues In Ender's Game

President Eisenhower once said, “There’s no tragedy in life like...death. Things never get back to the way they were” (Eisenhower). In war, everything must be done to protect the lives of as many people as possible. As the war in the Pacific was being fought, the U.S. was faced with a decision to cause mass destruction and end the war using the atom bomb or to invade mainland Japan. Eventually the bomb was used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of people and raising questions about whether that action was ethical. In Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, Ender and many other children as young as 7 are recruited into an army training school. There, they are controlled by the teachers and manipulated at risk to their well-being.

Therefore, prisoners should not be mistreated. According to the American History Textbook in the Bataan Death March, “about 10,000 prisoners died from shooting, beatings, or starvation” (Dallek 297). According to International humanitarian law: Essential rules, “Captured combatants…are entitled to respect for their lives.” Although this document is not a law set in place, it is a guideline for humane actions. Finally, according to the American history textbook, Sidney Stewart said, “They fell by the hundreds in the road.” (Dallek 297). Many people suffered in the Bataan death march, and there were many that never reached their families back home. All people have moral responsibilities to be as humane as possible, and the fact that a 100,000-people died and many others were injured is unacceptable. Many times, however, soldiers are not the only ones mistreated during

When children go to war, it completely changes their life. In Ender’s Game, After the war concludes and he is talking with Valentine, Ender says, “I just want to go home.” Valentine then responds, “Ender, you are never going back to Earth” (Card 311). Ender wishes to return to Earth and continue his life in peace, but he is unable to because he decided to go to war when he was younger. Consequently, Ender now cannot live his life the way he wants to do so. In addition, war ruins children’s lives by making them depressed and influencing their mental wellbeing. After Dink leads Ender to the barracks, he tells him, “Look what it does to Rosen. The boy’s crazy” (Card 108). Rose de Nose and many other kids are slowly being driven crazy because of them participating in a war effort as