Old Man's War Manipulation Essay

How can greed, one of the seven deadly sins, be good? Military leaders in John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game gain power for themselves and for their nation, race, or other “entity” by manipulating and risking the lives of the story’s protagonists. Using this manipulation and risk, authors intricately display how the unadmirable human condition of greed can be used to promote a common good.
Various authority figures manipulated and risked John Perry’s life in Old Man’s War for their own, and their race’s benefit. They altered his life on both psychological and physical levels. At the beginning of the novel, the Colonial Defense Force recruits, including Perry, were required to participate in a series of tests performed

by multiple professionals. One of these professionals explains, “Mr. Perry, please allow me to apologize for the comments I made regarding your wife’s death. My job here is to generate an enraged response from the recruit as quickly as possible” (69).

By performing this test, the CDF psychologically manipulated Perry in order to improve the quality of his life, and the human race as a whole. After undergoing and passing the psychological tests, the recruits were transferred into their new bodies. Perry states, “This version of me looked like he was muscled like a competitive swimmer. And it had a great head of hair” (Scalzi 78). John Perry is describing the young, new body the CDF will be giving to him. This particular physical manipulation portrays Kathryn Cramer’s idea of a “self-made species” in a peculiar way, and improves Perry’s quality of life. However, he must pay a price. In order for him to be nearly immortal, he must enlist in the CDF for a minimum of two years. Lieutenant Colonel Higgee explains, “After ten years—and yes, recruits, you will most likely be required to serve a full ten years—750 of you will have been killed in the line of duty” (119). If 750 out of the 1,022 recruits parish before their ten years are up, there is a huge risk to joining the CDF. However, for John Perry, this risk was worth it. On Earth, he was age 75 and his wife had passed away, leaving him

no reason to stay.

Because of his old age and loneliness, the risk of joining the CDF was very minimal at first, and proved to be rewarding for both himself and his race in the end. Perry reflects, “Crick stared at the memory module, and then scowled at me . ‘No one likes an overachiever, Captain,’ he said. ‘No, sir, I guess they don’t,’ I said, ‘although it’s lieutenant.’ ‘We’ll just see about that,’ Crick said” (346). This dialogue occurs directly after Perry saves both the skip drive technology and Jane during the last battle scene. After risking his life by joining the CDF and being both psychologically and

physically manipulated by his superiors, John Perry becomes a war hero. One could say that Perry was greedy for wanting to stay young forever, however, in the end, his superiors are the greedy ones. They had the technology to allow him, and every other recruit, to transfer bodies. However, in order to make use of this technology, they required every recruit to fight and risk their lives for the common good of the human race.
In Ender’s Game, Andrew Wiggin was heavily manipulated by his superiors in order to promote a common good. At the beginning of the novel, Colonel Graff states, “With Ender, we have to strike a delicate balance. Isolate him enough that he remains creative - otherwise he'll adopt the systems here and we'll lose him. At the same time, we need to make sure he keeps a strong ability to lead” (Card 27). He makes this statement extremely early on in Ender’s “career”. By premeditating Ender’s life, Colonel Graff is being immensely greedy and manipulative. Even the other recruits believe the adults are devious. Dink tells Ender, “I can't believe you haven't seen through all this crap yet, Ender... These other armies, they aren't the enemy. It's the teachers, they're the enemy. They get us to fight each other, to hate each other” (108). However, this manipulation encourages Ender to grow as a leader and as a fighter. Eventually he ends up defeating the Bugger race, giving the human race power. Mazer states, “You beat them, and it's all over.' All over. Beat them. Ender didn't understand... 'Ender, you never played me... This was the Third Invasion... the battles were real and the only enemies you fought were the buggers” (296). However, this victory comes with a price. Because of the teacher’s manipulative schemes, Ender never is truly “normal”. Ender reflects, “It was the teachers who had done it... It was a strategy. Graff had deliberately set him up to be separate from the other boys, made it impossible for him to be close to them” (167). His entire life Ender has been singled out, alone, and bullied, mostly due to the environments he has been placed in by his superiors. On the other hand, at least he is alive. Card explains, "It was not his fault he was a Third. It was the government's idea, they were the ones who authorized it - how else could a Third like Ender have got into school?” (7). Ender’s superiors have been manipulating him since his birth because they believe he is the “chosen one”. This is a form of greed. It is unethical to take over someone’s life, even if they can save the human race. What if Ender turned out not to be brilliant leader he is? He would have been shunned and forgotten. This risk was well worth it however. Although he may have been bullied, lonely, and afraid a great deal of his life, he would not be alive without the use of manipulation by his superiors.
Military leaders in Old Man’s War and Ender’s Game use manipulation and risk in order to gain power for themselves and their “entity”. Science fiction author’s use the ideals of manipulation and risk to portray how greed can be used in a positive way.