نقد و بررسی داستان Ender's Game از Orson Scott Card

[Persia1]

KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS



SETTING



The novel starts off on Earth, with scenes at the school and the Wiggin home. Little attention is given to the details of this setting, not even the name of the city, and so it comes across as a standard American neighborhood. The shuttle ride introduces Ender to space environments. This involves a degree of disorientation, and it is on the shuttle that Ender learns how to change his perspective as to which direction is up in his setting.
Battle School is composed of army barracks with rows of bunk beds; dining halls one for soldiers and one for commanders, with scoreboards decorating both; the game room, with various video games for the children to play; battlerooms, where the children have practice and battles in zero gravity; and a gym with shower rooms, where Ender and Bonzo fight. There is also an area for teachers’ quarters, which the children never go to, but it is presumably in this vicinity where the conversations between Graff and other adults takes place. Although the Battle School is a very controlled setting, Ender comes to realize that the adults will use this control to put him through trials, not to prevent violence and conflict.
Back on Earth, the Wiggin family has moved out to the country in North Carolina. It is in these woods where Valentine comes across a squirrel that Peter tortured to death, and where the two have their discussion, leading to the creation of the Locke and Demosthenes identities. Hence, what goes on in the woods is seen as removed from what is normally expected in a society. There is also a scene when Graff comes to Valentine’s school, with the school serving as a place which reestablishes authority over the children, as seen in Valentine’s consent to write the letter to Ender even though she regrets it.
When Ender returns to Earth on leave before going to Command School, he too goes to North Carolina. There, secluded in the wilderness, is a large house, overlooking lakes on either side. Although there are wasps that Ender says will sting without provocation, the setting is peaceful, allowing Ender the mental recovery and relaxation he needs. Though at first, the sunlight, different gravity, and ground (which did not curve upwards like at Battle School) feel unfamiliar to him, it is here that Ender learns to love Earth.
The shuttle ride to Eros, where Command School is located, is long and Ender and Graff begin to feel enclosed and tired of the space. Eros, built by the buggers, is not much better; the low ceilings, narrow passages, downward-sloping floor, and lower gravity make Ender uncomfortable. The focus of activity here is in the simulation rooms, where, it turns out, Ender is actually commanding the real fleets.
When he leaves Eros, it is not for Earth, but for the first human colony, on a former bugger world, which will become known as Ender’s World. While looking for a location for another group of colonists, Ender discovers a landscape mimicking that in the fantasy game he played at Battle School. The setting here is used by the buggers to communicate with Ender and lead him to the discovery of their hive queen.



LIST OF CHARACTERS



Major Characters



Ender
Ender is a small boy, only six years old when the novel begins, and not much older than ten years old when he defeats the buggers. He is a Third, but permitted by the government to be born because he has the superior intelligence of the Wiggin children and a disposition that is kinder than Peter’s, but not as sensitive as Valentine. As such, Ender is able to do well in Battle School and go on to successfully command the human mission to the bugger home world in Command School, but he regrets the deaths he has caused, and is glad for the chance the hive queen presents of trying to redeem himself.


Valentine
The sister of Ender, she consistently comes to his defense, whether it be when Peter threatens him, or when she feels that Graff is suggesting that Ender is mentally similar to Peter. Although she agrees to go along with Peter’s plan for keeping the world united by taking on the identity of Demosthenes in her writings on the nets, she believes that her ability to persuade by flattery along with her other strengths (such as equal mental abilities) will, in the end, make her stronger than Peter. She is able to use that power to keep Ender from going back to Earth, where she is sure that he would fall under Peter’s control, and instead takes him to the colony, where she writes a history of the war.


Peter
The oldest of the Wiggin children, Peter uses threats and violence in order to control those around him. Despite having tortured a squirrel in the woods, he admits that he fears becoming evil, and takes on the identity of Locke in order to influence events. When the bugger war ends, he ends the fighting on Earth through the Locke Proposal, and becomes Hegemon, basically ruling the world.

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Graff
Although the character appears only at the beginning of the chapters and then sporadically through the events, he is the main adult character in the novel. It is Graff who decides what will be done to Ender in order to shape him into a commander, and although he knows that this will put Ender through a lot of difficult situations, he says that, in the end, he will be Ender’s friend.



Minor Characters



buggers
Little is known about them throughout the novel, even though they are presented as the threat to humankind. Because they are unable to communicate with humans, they are unable to explain the misunderstanding that resulted in them fighting against the humans in the previous two wars, and to avert the third one. Their home world is destroyed when Ender uses the device on it, but they create a landscape mimicking the one in the fantasy game in order to lead Ender to the hive queen, who explains the situation, leading to Ender’s promise to find a new world for the buggers.


Mazer Rackham

Rackham had been the commander who had won the previous bugger war, by taking out the ship with the queen on it. The old man becomes Ender’s teacher when he comes to Command School, and Ender believes it is him he is fighting on the simulator; Mazer is also the one who tells Ender after the war that this is not the case, that Ender has been fighting the buggers all along. He pilots the ship to the first colony on a bugger homeworld.


Stilson
Stilson is the bully at Ender’s school at the start of the novel. He picks on Ender along with a group of other boys and when Ender talks him into fighting one-on-one, Ender kills him. Although the character is thus physically absent from the rest of the novel, Ender thinks about him throughout, as the first time he killed.


Battle School children (Alai, Bonzo, Petra, Dink, Bean, etc.)
The children at the Battle School are unlike typical children, in that they all feel the pressure of commanding in order to one day defeat the buggers. Alai is Ender’s first and strongest friendship, Petra helps train him when he is not able to practice with the army, and Dink allows him to develop his skills at the game as well as warning him when he is in danger from Bonzo and his gang; Bean is similar to Ender, in that he is young and quite talented at the game. Most of his friends from Battle School end up fighting alongside Ender at Command School against the buggers, but the relationship of a commander to his subordinates remains strong.

منبع
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[Persia1]

CONFLICT


Protagonist
“Ender” Wiggin is the protagonist, the main character, about whom the action revolves. The majority of the story is told as events occur to him, and all other characters have ties to him. While he must deal with his brother Peter, and concentrated fights with a few of the other boys (Stilson, Bernard, and Bonzo).

Antagonist
The buggers are seen as the overall antagonist-the character who stands in opposition to the protagonist. Although it is unclear why, they have fought humans in two other wars, and now humans are preparing for a third war in which they hope to defeat the buggers in order for the humans themselves to survive. However, Ender comes to see the adults as the real enemy. Graff makes sure that Ender learns that he can never count on an adult to come to his aid. Ender eventually comes to the conclusion, with the influence of Dink, that the adults are manipulating him, forcing him to become a killer.

Climax
The climax, the peak of action in a story which events have been building up to, comes when Ender uses Dr. Device on the bugger home planet. Although he expects to be reprimanded for the action, instead the adults celebrate. Then he is told that the battles have been real since he came to Command School. Thus, the buggers as an antagonist have been defeated, but the adults won, having deceived Ender into once again killing.

Outcome
The following chapters summarize what occurred afterwards, the outcome. Peter comes into power on Earth, where Ender is never allowed to return. Instead, Valentine and Ender go to the first colony on a previous bugger world, where Ender finds the hive queen and, learning that the buggers wish to live in peace, promises to find her a place to live again. Ender and Valentine then set out in search of a place.

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SHORT PLOT / CHAPTER SUMMARY (Synopsis)

Ender’s Game starts out with two unnamed people talking, the one convincing the other that a boy is the one they are looking for; even if now he is malleable, they can change that by surrounding him with enemies. Then the novel switches to the story of Ender, a small six-year-old boy, who gets his monitor removed, a sign that he is no longer a candidate for a government program. This leaves him vulnerable to the school bully, Stilson, who, with his gang, surround Ender after school and begin picking on him, calling him a Third (a term for the third child born in a family, with government permission because of population restrictions). Ender realizes he must fight back, and so, when the other boys let go of him for a one-on-one fight with Stilson, Ender kicks Stilson just above the chest, taking him down. But Ender wants to end the fighting for good, so he keeps kicking Stilson, until (although Ender does not know it at the time) Stilson is dead. He warns the others, walks away, and cries because he thinks he is just like his older brother, Peter.
Back at home, Peter beats Ender up, but Valentine intervenes before it can get too bad, saying that she has evidence against him. Peter says one day he will kill Ender and although he tries to play it off, Ender and Valentine believe him. However, later that night, when Peter thinks Ender is asleep, he tells him that he is sorry about the monitor being removed, he understands, and that he loves him.
However, the next day, the arrival of a man from the International Fleet (I.F.) arrives at the house to get Ender to come to Battle School, a training school for children to fight in the war against the buggers (an alien race that has attacked humans unsuccessfully twice before). The man, Colonel Graff, says that it is Ender’s choice, that Battle School will not be easy, and that he will be away from Valentine for a long time. Ender does not want to go but eventually says he will. Ender says goodbye to his family and leaves with Colonel Graff, with Valentine crying out to him as he does.
On the launch on the way from Earth to Battle School, Ender learns how he can reorient directions in zero gravity. Because of this, Graff singles him out as the only competent one, and the other children turn against him. When one of the boys starts hitting Ender in the head, Ender grabs his arm and, because of the lack of gravity, propels him into a wall, breaking the boy’s arm. At the end of the launch, Ender is hurt because of Graff’s intentional move to make the other boys dislike Ender, but Graff tells him that he is interested in producing the best soldiers in the world, and Ender will just have to become great now. When Ender is gone though, Graff admits that he is Ender’s friend and he feels bad for what he is about to put the boy through.
At the Battle School, Ender and the other boys pick bunks and get settled in. Dap, their mother figure at the school, comes in and tells them that there is no deliberate injury allowed at Battle School, or else that person gets iced out-kicked out. Ender is isolated through dinner in the mess hall, where giant scoreboards show team standings. One of the older boys warns Ender not to end up like him, and Ender is certain that he will not, although he is missing his family and wishing he could go home. Things turn around for Ender when he is able to beat one if the older kids at a video game with techniques that had not been used before. Also, Ender is able to make friends by sending a message (something none of the other boys have figured out how to do) making fun of Bernard, the kid whose arm Ender broke and who has since formed a group like Stilson had. Bernard is furious about the message, but Dap will not do anything about it. Shen, the boy who Ender had defended by sending the message, and some other Launchies join Ender for breakfast.
The first time they enter the battleroom, where the armies fit in battles in zero gravity, the Launchies have some difficulty learning how to move about. Ender and Alai are the first to figure out how to use their guns to freeze people, and, with Bernard and Shen, they freeze everyone else. Alai thus becomes Ender’s best friend and the leader of the Launchies in Bernard’s place. Ender is meanwhile obsessed with a fantasy game, in which he has become stuck at a point when a Giant gives him a choice between two drinks and no matter which he chooses, he dies. Ender, becoming frustrated, attacks the Giant by digging out his eyes. Although with the Giant is thus dead, Ender gets to Fairyland, he is so distraught over killing in what was supposed to just be a game, that he does not bother exploring.
Ender is suddenly transferred to the Salamander Army, which upsets him because he was happy with the Launchies. Alai tells him they will always be friends regardless of the transfer, and he kisses Ender on the cheek, with the word “Salaam”. Ender does not understand, but knows it is a sacred moment. He leaves, and plays the fantasy game, in which he is able to make it to a tower room at “The End of the World”. Before he can play much farther, he is called to Salamander Army barracks. Ender is small in comparison to the others and becomes friends with Petra, the other outcast in the group because she is a girl. She offers to give Ender practice in the mornings, because it is clear that his commander, Bonzo Madrid, does not want him and will not let him practice with the army. Ender also begins practicing with the Launchies again in order to get better, despite Bonzo’s disapproval. During battles though, Ender follows Bonzo’s orders and does nothing, until he is able to turn a battle from a defeat to a draw. He is then traded to Rat Army, but not before Bonzo beats him up as a reprimand for disobeying him, which leads Ender to take a personal combat course.
It turns out that Dink Meeker, one of the toon commanders in Rat Army had requested Ender. He trains Ender and makes him a part of the toon. After practice one day though, Ender stays back and watches Dink, who floats about in zero gravity for awhile. He tells Ender that it is prevent himself from going crazy, which Battle School can do to children; they are not like the children back home. Dink does not even think the bugger war is real, but rather a ploy to keep things on Earth united. While Ender does not believe him, it does make him question things more. His additional practices with the Launchies continue but some of the older boys begin picking on them. When it turns into a fight in zero gravity, the other Launchies are able to escape and Ender fights his way out. The teachers do nothing in response but the other commanders send some of their soldiers to protect them during practice and encourage Ender to continue. Aside from that fight, Ender also becomes disturbed at the fantasy game, which shows him a picture of Peter when he looks in the mirror.
Back on Earth, the actual Peter seems to be doing better, enjoying school and getting along with others, since the family moved. Valentine knows better, having seen squirrel body in the woods that Peter had pinned and watched while it died. He has also been using his spare time to monitor Russian troop movements and is convinced that the Earth will go to war once the bugger threat is gone. He wants Valentine to help him come up with identities on the nets so that they can write to influence the public mind and be taken seriously, since then no one would know they are children. In this way, he can prevent the war from escalating. He even admits to his own fear of becoming as cruel and evil as Valentine thinks he is, and, while she is not sure if he means it or not, she is sure that she is more powerful than him, so she agrees. They take on the identities of Locke and Demosthenes, and each writes the column that is in opposition to their actual views. The columns gradually gain in popularity.
Ender is unhappy at Battle School, because he has respect but not friendship, and feels despair when he cannot beat the fantasy game. Colonel Graff therefore talks to Valentine, asking for her help in making Ender happy again. He wants her to write a letter, and this one will be given to Ender, unlike all the previous ones she had written. Although she is hesitant, she does so. When Ender gets it, he cries because it means that even his memory of Valentine has been destroyed. He returns to the fantasy game, in which the snake turns into Valentine, and he walks out of the tower room with her. Graff is pleased with Ender’s mental recovery but Valentine is upset over selling out her brother.
Ender is put in charge of his own army, a new one called Dragon Army, with mostly untrained soldiers. Ender is determined to make them good, but in doing so, soon finds himself treating his best soldier, Bean, the same way Graff had treated him. Along with other new rules, Ender is also no longer able to practice with his old Launchie friends and now things between himself and Alai are more distant as they have become competitors.
Dragon Army is put into an early and rigorous series of battles, all of which they win, which does not help maintain Ender’s previous friendships. He begins watching old videos of the bugger wars in order to learn from their techniques. He also asks Bean to create a small group and have them try out everything Bean can think of, even if it seems stupid. One of the things they discover is that by using a thin wire, they are able to change directions quickly in midair, a technique that they are able to use in battle.
Returning from practice, Ender notices a number of boys in the halls acting suspicious. Petra and Dink both warn him that he is in danger; Bonzo has a grudge against him and intends to hurt him. Ender does not think too much about it, trusting the teachers to keep him safe. Meanwhile, Dragon Army keeps winning battles, having become a united and skilled army. Tired after yet another battle, Ender goes to the gym and starts to shower, not realizing that he is alone. Bonzo and a group of other boys corner him in the shower, but, once again, Ender is able to talk Bonzo into a one-on-one fight. Dink arrives and tries to prevent the fight but the other boys hold him back.
Ender and Bonzo fight, until Ender is able to bring his head up into Bonzo’s face and then kick him in the crotch. Bonzo falls (dead), and while the medical staff and his friends rush in, Dink leads Ender away. Ender now realizes that no one will ever come to his aid, and then he cries because he did not want to hurt Bonzo. He is so upset over the fight that when his army is given instructions later that day to fight against two armies at once, he sends his soldiers over to the gate to perform the victory ceremony without bothering to fight. He thus wins, but no longer cares about the game. As he lays in his room, Bean comes to tell him that the leaders of the Dragon Army have all been given positions in other armies. Ender soon receives news of his own advancement; he has graduated and will be sent to Command School.
Before going to Command School, Graff and Ender spend some time at a lakefront house in North Carolina where Ender can relax. Graff brings Valentine out to see him in hopes that she can help with Ender’s mental recovery. Ender tells her that he is tired of the manipulation and does not want to kill anymore because in the moment he defeats an enemy, he loves them. Valentine, however, tells him that she is concerned about herself, and she wants Ender to protect her from the buggers as she used to protect him from Peter. Ender decides to return, having now also learned to love Earth. On the trip out to Command School, he talks with Graff about the buggers, of which little is known, but both agree that they want to be the ones to survive.
Command School is on a former bugger world, Eros, and its design makes Ender uncomfortable. He is given a teacher-Mazer Rackham, the commander who had been victorious against the buggers in a previous war. He shows Ender more of the bugger way of fighting, as well as about Dr. Device, a weapon that destabilizes things to the size of dirt particles. Instead of the Battle Room, Ender runs through scenarios on a simulator. As he becomes more skilled, squadron leaders (which turn out to be his friends from Battle School) are added, whom he can communicate with. Although he is not allowed to ever see them, he learns their strengths and weaknesses, and how to command them. The pressure builds, with increasingly more difficult battles, causing Ender to have restless nights, pass out during practice, and eat little. Finally he is told it is his last day, with the battle being his final examination. The screen shows a bugger force that completely outnumbers his human fleet. Ender then stops caring about the rules and sees a way out, to prevent himself from becoming a commander. He maneuvers so that he can use the device on the planet, completely destroying it and wiping out the bugger fleet. Although he expects to be reprimanded for this action, the adults around him are instead cheering. Mazer Rackham explains to him that since he got to Command School, the battles had been real, and now the buggers are gone. Ender leaves the room and sleeps, furious at having been tricked into being a killer.
He sleeps through the fighting on Earth, which is ended by a Locke Proposal, put forth by Peter. When he does awake, he sees his friends, but one by one they return to Earth, and he does not. Graff becomes the new Minister of Colonization, ending the population limitation laws and sending out people to colonize former bugger colonies. This brings Valentine to Eros, where she tells Ender that she has made sure he can never return to Earth so that Peter will not be able to use him. Instead, she talks him into coming with her to the first new colony, with Ender serving as governor.
On that colony, Ender discovers a landscape built by the buggers to imitate the fantasy game. It is their way of communicating with him, in order to lead him to their still-surviving hive queen, who explains how the buggers regret the misunderstanding with the humans. Ender promises to find them a world where they can once again live. He also starts a kind of religion, as a Speaker for the Dead, telling the true story of the buggers, Peter, and others when they die.
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[Persia1]

MOOD

The mood in the novel is one of seriousness. Even though the main characters are children, their lives are not like those typically portrayed. Peter is capable of evil acts, like torturing the squirrel, and gaining power, despite his youth. Up at the Battle School, there are few light-hearted moments, and the friendships that Ender does develop are all of a grave nature; at one point, Alai and Shen are jokingly reminiscing about the fight in the Battle Room, but Ender realizes that even then he is always to be treated as a commander. When there are fights, children get hurt and killed. Ender is even tricked into destroying the buggers’ world, and the action weighs heavily on him. He goes through periods of intense emotional turmoil, as seen when he bit his own fist to the point of drawing blood in his sleep.
Even when things seem to be going well for Ender, he realizes what he feels is “despair”. The word choice here is emphasized, adding even more intensity behind it. Furthermore, a good portion of the novel is set in the Battle School, which, as a space environment, is relatively sterile, not much of a home environment where characters can be comfortable and relaxed. The overall effect of the mood, developed by the characters, plot, word choice, and setting, helps to further the seriousness of the themes of good versus evil, destruction, and manipulation.



AUTHOR INFORMATION - BIOGRAPHY

Orson Scott Card (1951-) is best known for Ender’s Game and the other novels in the series, especially Speaker for the Dead, which have been recognized and awarded among science fiction circles. Card has also written in a variety of other genres, including plays, short stories, books on writing, the Homecoming series, other science fiction books, and nonfiction, such as articles on computer technology.
Ender’s Game first appeared in abbreviated form in a magazine in 1977. Card later expanded it into a full-length novel, published in 1985, to better establish Ender as a character for Speaker for the Dead. There is a film based on the novel currently in the works.

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Card himself was born and raised out in the western United States as a Mormon. As a youth, he read a good deal of fiction and history, and was exposed as a teenager to the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, which stuck with him. He had five children and now lives in Greensboro, North Carolina (featured in Ender’s Game).


LITERARY / HISTORICAL INFORMATION

The main literary influence on Card was the Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov. The books are based on the idea that there are predictable cycles to history, and a psychohistorian uses these to predict the future in order to shorten a dark period; on a much smaller scale, Peter does this, when he influences events to prevent large-scale war from breaking out. Also in common with Ender’s Game is the need to save mankind, and the spread of man through the universe. Fighting is seen as a last option, and trickery and deceit are often used.
The main historical influence would seem to be the Cold War. This manifests itself in the world polarization into two political spheres, Peter’s monitoring of Russian troop movements and fear of war, and weapons that can destroy whole worlds. It is even possible that the Russian image of training kids demandingly for the future formed part of the basis of Card’s conception of Battle School. Throughout the book, Card also makes numerous historical allusions, to figures such as Locke, Demosthenes, Caesar, and Alexander. This serves to ground the novel more, to make it seem more as a possible future for Earth, by giving the reader identifiable points from which to project from.
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[Persia1]

CHARACTER ANALYSIS



Ender



The novel covers much of Ender’s youth, beginning when he is a six-year-old boy who is helpless against his older brother and ending sometime after his 10th birthday, when he has learned the lessons of Battle and Command School-no one will ever come to his aid, adults will deceive and manipulate, and, under certain circumstances, he too can be driven to kill to ensure his own survival. With this last lesson, he is the average of Peter and Valentine, killing but regretfully, with all of the Wiggin children intelligence that makes it possible for him to do so. Ender rarely comes across as a child, either to those around him who treat him more with the respect worthy of a commander, or to the reader. As such, he is different, and the isolation that comes with it, is something that Ender occasionally laments. It also makes him the only person capable of understanding the buggers, who have likewise been placed in a situation where they are misunderstood. Ender is the intelligent youth who is able to accomplish all that is expected of him, though he is quietly going through his own struggles, whether as a result of loneliness, fear, or regret.



Valentine



Valentine changes from a young girl in fear of Peter to one who comes to realize her own power. By the time Ender returns from Battle School, she has changed so that she is now willing to convince him to continue training for her own good. When he finishes with Command School, she is able to make sure that Peter can never use Ender for his own purposes. Throughout the novel, Valentine consistently defends Ender as being different from Peter, often seeing the two as polar opposites, good and evil. She encounters problems when she allies herself with Peter in taking on the identity of Demosthenes. While she starts off completely in disgust with the character’s opinions, she begins to become more comfortable with it, so that, by the end, she is at ease enough as Demosthenes to continue writing under the name. Valentine is significant to the outcome of the story in that it is her that leads Ender to go to first Command School and then to Ender’s World, where he discovers the hive queen.

Peter



Overall, Peter demonstrates the themes of capable children versus adults, and good versus evil. In the case of the latter, the line blurs somewhat from the beginning of the novel to the end, as both Ender and Peter change. At the start, through Ender and Valentine’s eyes, Peter is capable of anything, no matter how bad it seems. Although he says he fears becoming even worse, Valentine is never completely convinced that he means it. Even his sensitive words to Ender at night do not seem to make a difference as Ender continuously compares his own behavior to Peter’s, as a control to prevent becoming too violent. When the bugger war ends, he ends the fighting on Earth through the Locke Proposal, and becomes Hegemon, basically ruling the world. Again, there is a parallel between Peter and Ender, who is at the same time, governor on the first colony. Few details are given on Peter’s rule, but the reader is left to assume that it was as successful as Ender’s.



Graff
Graff is significant as a kind of omniscient manager of events. It is Graff who receives the reports on the bugger expedition, knows the true identities of Locke and Demosthenes, and decides what will be done to Ender in order to shape him into a commander. Although he is put on trial after the war, he is pretty much able to do what he sees fit. For his job and the war effort, he knows that Ender will be put through a lot of difficult situations, but he says that, in the end, he will be Ender’s friend. It would seem that he cares about the boy and Ender does recognize how Graff has made him a good commander, but overall, he epitomizes the manipulation of the adults.



PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
The plot is chronologically linear, and predominately told in the third person, through the point of view of Ender. This is not the case when the story looks at events back on Earth, when Valentine becomes the main focus, or in the beginnings of the chapters when adults are conversing, usually somewhat mysteriously. Readers therefore are slightly more aware of the overall plot than Ender, but also do not know how events look from the bugger’s point of view until the end of the novel, at which point Ender does as well.
The overall problem driving the plot is that of the conflict between buggers and humans. This leads to a conflict between children and adults, as the adults manipulate the children to train them to be able to fight in the war. The plot is generally driven by the scenarios that the adults, mainly Graff, place Ender in. Although there are few relationships that are emphasized, technology has a significant role, especially through the games that become central to the children’s lives.

Characteristic of the science fiction novel, Ender, an unlikely hero, is taken to Battle School in space, where he learns to fight in battles in zero gravity. He learns that the Earth is worth saving and continues on to Command School, where he unknowingly destroys the alien civilization of the buggers through a devastating weapon. As humans push farther into space, Ender finds the hive queen and is given a chance to redeem his actions.
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[Persia1]

THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS


Children versus Adults

Ender sees this as the major conflict; once the adults tarnish his memory of Valentine and force him to fight with Bonzo, he is set on beating the teachers. Although in the end it could be seen that the adults win since they trick Ender into destroying the buggers, Ender is able to fight back in his own way by finding the hive queen somewhere to live again. Card presents the two sides in a non-traditional manner, by having the adults talk about how they do not know what to do and the children as capable of handling themselves. It is the children who act like history, who save the world from what is seen as the bugger threat and from falling into war when the buggers are gone, and it is a child who seems to be the only one who recognizes the magnitude of the murders he has committed under the adults’ control. The lesson seems to be that ability and intelligence are traits that can come at a variety of ages and sizes.
The problems between the adults and children could be more largely applied to one of intimidation by size. Not only is Ender often picked on for his small size, as are the other boys, but the buggers are compared to ants, creatures that humans often disregard.


Good versus Evil

The line between good and evil, as portrayed through Ender and Peter respectively, becomes less and less distinct as the novel goes on. The fantasy game shows Peter’s face instead of Ender’s reflection in the mirror, Ender kills a wasp that just idly lands on the raft, and Peter puts forth a proposal that prevents further war. As Valentine and Ender comment, it is unexpected that in the end Peter has saved lives, while Ender has killed billions. This ultimately seems to suggest that there is some of both good and evil in everyone.

Games versus Reality

All is not as it seems. Again, this theme returns to adults as untrustworthy, as what Ender believed to be a simulation, turned out to be a real battle. The battles between armies at Battle School also come into this category, as they become central to the children’s lives. As Dink points out, it can drive them crazy when the pressure is put on them to behave in these situations in a way that they are not in reality. Furthermore, the fantasy game that Ender plays often overlaps into his real life, as when it puts in the photo of Peter or when it affects his mental state through his dreams. The buggers building a landscape imitating the scenes brings the game and reality together once more, by using the game to make a species alive again, through Ender’s promise when he finds the hive queen.
Love and Destruction
To Ender, these two things come at the same time, and he does not see how it could be any other way; the moment he understands an enemy enough to destroy them, he loves them. Because of this, he is able to feel regret over the pain he has caused and, eventually, attempt to make things better between humans and buggers. His job as Speaker for the Dead involves both aspects-when someone dies, he tells their true story, so that others can learn to love them by becoming closer. Since these two ideas are never far from each other in the story, it leaves the reader to believe as Ender does, that love and destruction come together.


Revenge/ Deceit / Manipulation

The novel warns strongly against such behavior, showing what can happen to those who become caught up in it. Bonzo is the main character who tries to get revenge, and ends up dead. Humans as well are going for a kind of revenge against the buggers, and the result is their destruction of a species, on a misunderstanding. Although Ender does not deceive and manipulate, he is a victim of both, and it has quite a negative effect on his mental health. It is only when the truth is learned, when Ender hears from the hive queen what really happened during those battles, that things are able to move forward. He writes the book The Hive Queen and promises to find her a new place to start her species, beginning the reconciliation between the buggers and the humans.


RISING ACTION

The rising action is what takes place at Battle School before Ender is transferred to Command School. This includes his troubles with the fantasy game, the struggle to learn new skills (whether it be as an army, with his Launchies, or coming up with new ideas), and the fight with Bonzo. Back on Earth, Peter and Valentine gain respect and power as Locke and Demosthenes. Together, the events establish the characters and set up events for the battle with the buggers.


FALLING ACTION

The falling action begins after Ender is told that the battle was real, that he has killed the buggers, and then he goes to sleep. Peter comes into power on Earth, and rules with little further comment on the matter while Valentine and Ender go to the first colony on a previous bugger world. Ender finds the hive queen and promises to find her a place to live again. The novel ends with Ender and Valentine in search of such a place. The falling action provides closure and sets up events for the sequel.


POINT OF VIEW

The novel is told from the third person point of view, which is effective in a number of ways. By switching focus between Ender and Valentine, Card is able to have two plots going on at once, and combine them at the end. It also ensures that Earth remains a setting, and Peter and Valentine, both major influences on Ender, are still central to the story. Having third person perspective at the beginning of the chapters when the (often unnamed) adult characters converse, allows the reader insight into the manipulation of Ender, thus establishing the adults as untrustworthy and Ender as a kind of innocent pawn. Finally, information on the buggers is minimized until the end when they tell their story through Ender, so that the reader is in the similar situation to the characters. We are led to see them as an enemy (for the most part), and only learn more about them until Ender himself does.
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[Persia1]

Historical Allusions


This includes the mention of historical figures such as Napoleon, Wellington, Caesar, and Brutus by the adults when they discuss how the Battle School children act, and those mentioned by the children themselves,- Pericles, Demosthenes, Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin, Bismarck, Lenin-which Peter uses to illustrate how he and Valentine can make a difference. Additionally, the events in Russia draw on Cold War feelings, leading to a polarized world view. These serve to ground the novel, making events seem more probable, by providing reference points familiar to the readers’ world.


Science Fiction Elements

Ender’s Game is a science fiction novel, as seen in the use of technology (gravity manipulation, primarily), space setting, and bugger enemies. Although no specific date is ever given, the novel is set in the future, removed from the present by two other bugger wars at least. Other ideas featured in the book often associated with science fiction include colonizing other planets, space travel (along with using that for life longevity), a united Earth or at least a global political/ military organization, and unlikely heroes.


QUOTES - QUOTATIONS AND ANALYSIS

From revised mass market edition July 1994, published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
1. “I have to win this now, and for all time, or I’ll fight it every day and it will get worse and worse.” p. 7 (Ender, during his fight with Stilson)
Ender’s theory when fighting, which drives him to kill Stilson and Bonzo, as well as to fight brutally against the older boys in the battleroom, the Giant, and the buggers. He will not follow the traditional rules of combat, whether it is by fighting beyond the normal point, striking an opponent in a new way, or going against what he sees as the teachers’ rules for a game.

2. “As a species, we have evolved to survive. And the way we do it is by straining and straining and, at last, every few generations, giving birth to genius. The one who invents the wheel. And light. And flight. The one who builds a city, a nation, an empire.... Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something.” p. 35 (Colonel Graff to Ender, as he arrives at Battle School)
This seems to pretty much sum up Colonel Graff’s thinking, as to why he himself is involved. It is why he will push Ender to the boy’s limits.
3. “This was supposed to be a game. Not a choice between his own grisly death and an even worse murder. I’m a murderer, even when I play. Peter would be proud of me.” p. 65 (Ender, after killing the Giant in the fantasy game)
Although the line is applied to the fantasy game, it will become even more true when he fights the buggers. Ender also thinks that it is a game, and, being overwhelmingly outnumbered, he ends up destroying the buggers completely.
4. “Alai suddenly kissed Ender on the cheek and whispered in his ear, ‘Salaam.’ Then, red-faced, he turned away and walked to his own bed at the back of the barracks.” p. 69 (Alai, to Ender)
Peace is also Ender’s wish, as seen when he wonders what it would be like to just live and when he is at the North Carolina house. The moment with Alai is especially significant for Ender as it represents his deepest bond of friendship.
5. “‘It’s the teachers, they’re the enemy. They get us to fight each other, to hate each other. The game is everything. Win win win. It amounts to nothing.’” p. 108 (Dink, to Ender)
Although Ender does not believe all that Dink says, the conversation makes Ender question his situation as never before. Eventually, he also comes to see the teachers as the enemy and the game as nothing, which he demonstrates through such actions as his at the battle against two armies after he has just killed Bonzo.
6. “‘You’re just what the world needs. A twelve-year-old to solve all our problems.’ ‘It’s not my fault I’m twelve right now. And it’s not my fault that right now is when the opportunity is open. Right now is the time when I can shape events. The world is always a democracy in times of flux, and the man with the best voice will win.’” p. 130 (Valentine and Peter, prior to taking on the Demosthenes and Locke identities)
This represents a major theme in the novel, that of children being capable. Peter proves to be right in his abilities to shape events, using his identity on the net as Locke to settle divisions on Earth after the bugger war.
7. “I’m trapped here, Ender thought, trapped at the End of the World with no way out. And he knew at last the sour taste that had come to him, despite all his successes in the Battle School. It was despair.” p. 141 (Ender, playing the fantasy game)
This not only hints at Ender’s feelings towards being manipulated and his lack of control over his own life, but also at his fears that, in the end, he will run out of ideas and not be able to win. The feeling is represented again, when he admits it to Bean and Valentine, and when he overlooks his own uneasiness at learning from the buggers in order to come up with new tactics for his own use.
8. “‘I know what you’re thinking, you bastard, you’re thinking that I’m wrong, that Ender’s like Peter. Well maybe I’m like Peter, but Ender isn’t, he isn’t at all, I used to tell him that when he cried, I told him that lots of times, you’re not like Peter, you never like to hurt people, you’re kind and good and not like Peter at all!’” p. 148 (Valentine to Colonel Graff, about Ender and Peter)
Although Ender and Peter are presented, especially through Valentine, as polar opposites, often in the novel, they are blurred. For example, Peter says he is afraid of becoming a killer and wants to use his power for good, to unite the world. Ender, on the other hand, kills, even the wasp that lands on the raft.
9. “But I’ll be watching you, more compassionately than you know, and when the time is right you’ll find that I’m your friend, and you are the soldier you want to be.” p. 168 (Ender, thinking about Bean after the first day of practice)
As Ender himself notes, his relationship with Bean very closely parallels what happened between Colonel Graff and Ender. In both instances, the tactic works to push the boy to be a good soldier.
10. “‘In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them-..... I destroy them. I make it impossible for them to ever hurt me again. I grind them and grind them until they don’t exist.’” p. 238 (Ender to Valentine)
It is here that Ender reveals what happens to him when he fights. It also foreshadows events with the buggers, as shortly after this conversation, Ender begins trying to learn as much as he can about them, and comes to destroy them completely.
11. “So that’s why you brought me here, thought Ender. With all your hurry, that’s why you took three months, to make me love Earth. Well, it worked. All your tricks worked. Valentine, too; she was another one of your tricks, to make me remember that I’m not going to school for myself. Well, I remember.” p. 243 (Ender, thinking about Colonel Graff as they leave the house in North Carolina)
This is important for revealing the motivation behind Ender’s decisions. It also serves to solidify the tie between what had, up to that point, become two separate aspects of the novel-Valentine on Earth, and Ender up at Battle School.
12. “‘So if we can we’ll kill every last one of the buggers, and if they can they’ll kill every last one of us.’ ‘As for me,’ said Ender, ‘I’m in favor of surviving.’”
p. 254 (Colonel Graff and Ender, on the war with the buggers)
This also foreshadows events with the buggers, hinting at complete destruction if possible. It also provides a very basic, simple explanation for human actions in the war; since the intended result is the destruction of an entire species, it must be seen as necessary for survival.
13. “Real. Not a game. Ender’s mind was too tired to cope with it all. They weren’t just points of light in the air, they were real ships that he had fought with and real ships he had destroyed. And a real world that he had blasted into oblivion. He walked through the crowd, dodging their congratulations, ignoring their hands, their words, their rejoicing. When he got to his own room he stripped off his clothes, climbed into bed, and slept.” p. 297 (Ender, after defeating the buggers)
Once again, what had been a game ended up being reality, adults lied, and Ender ended up killing, when he did not mean to do so. It is Ender who recognizes the implications of his actions, who sees what he did as murder.
14. “‘I didn’t want to kill them all. I didn’t want to kill anybody! I’m not a killer! You didn’t want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it!’ He was crying. He was out of control.” p. 297-8 (Ender to Mazer and Graff)
Similarly to the previous quote, Ender is upset over being manipulated into doing something that he did not want to do. He is not malicious, like Peter, and the deaths weigh heavily on him.
15. “‘I’ll carry you,’ said Ender, ‘I’ll go from world to world until I find a time and a place where you can come awake in safety. And I’ll tell your story to my people, so that perhaps in time, they can forgive you, too. The way that you’ve forgiven me.’” p. 321 (Ender to the hive queen)
This sets up events for the sequel, as well as providing a mental closing to Ender’s trauma over having killed the buggers. It also ends the story on a note of peace and forgiveness, in contrast to the rest of the novel, which has been about war and revenge.
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[Persia1]

SYMBOLISM / MOTIFS / IMAGERY / SYMBOLS


Monitor

Although it is only with Ender for the first part of the novel, at that point it has come to represent safety and assurance that nothing bad will happen to him. It is constant adult supervision of his life. The removal of the monitor means that he is on his own and that no one will come to his aid, regardless of how serious the danger is to himself or others.

Peter

The squirrel that Peter tortures in the woods is a symbol for Peter himself-his cruelty, combined with a desire to control and manipulate those around him. Peter, as evident from his appearance in the mirror in the fantasy game as well as Ender’s talk with Valentine on the lake in North Carolina, symbolizes to Ender several things. First of all, he is an enemy that Ender cannot defeat. But he is also what Ender fears to become; he consistently compares himself to Peter to warn himself against going too far.

Giant’s game

Ender becomes obsessed with winning the fantasy game, which is designed to develop a meaning between the child and the computer. Ender’s murder of the Giant is one example of how, when faced with limited options, he wants to keep going and will strike out in any way possible. Furthermore, the scenes in the tower room symbolize Ender’s more evil actions; for example, his departure with Valentine from the room to the cheering of the people with Peter’s face, roughly parallels their leaving from Eros, where all the people praised Ender’s destruction of the buggers.

Eros

Previously a bugger world, the place symbolizes for Ender the death of the buggers, as well as the future. Ender had said that he loves his enemy at the time he kills them; Eros is the mythological figure of love and it is while here that he is fighting them. Eros also foreshadows the human spread over bugger worlds, which the hive queen welcomes as she forgives mankind. Also, Ender’s long period of sleep amidst the bugger-built tunnels and rooms parallels the hive queen’s dormant state on what will become Ender’s World.

Stilson

As the first time Ender kills, or even fights for that matter, Stilson is a reoccurring figure in Ender’s mind. To him, Stilson represents the lesson of fighting once, and taking it as far as it must go to make sure he does not need to fight again. Stilson also haunts Ender’s dreams since, even though he was not told, a part of Ender knows that he killed Stilson. Therefore, he is also a symbol of the murders of which Ender was the unwilling committer.

Historical Figures

The references made to historical figures, both by Colonel Graff and by the children themselves, symbolizes the extent of the children’s power and capabilities. It also makes them seem less child-like, but rather with a degree of aloofness and superiority that is associated with those large figures in the past. Locke and Demosthenes, the pen names that Peter and Valentine take on, symbolize Peter and Valentine to a certain extent. Although they start off representing the child’s opposite view, in taking on the identity, each comes to adopt the other perspective themselves. Peter becomes the one to put forth a compromise for peace, reflecting Locke’s reasonable views while Valentine understands Demosthenes’ need to avoid those in power in order to prevent repercussions.

Army Names

Ender’s army, Dragon, is associated with fire, showing a connection between the Salamander and Phoenix armies, both of which he served in previously. The dragon is a symbol for Ender because of its complex nature; it can capture both Ender’s intelligence and violence. Salamanders are known for their ability to regenerate limbs. This could metaphorically be applied in any number of ways. For instance, the army itself lost a toon leader when Ender was promoted into it, but Ender grows in his ability and proves himself valuable. Another way would be that Ender is cut off from his old group, as he was starting to fit into it, and now must grow as a soldier.

Games

In general, the games symbolize reality. Ender must wear a bugger mask when he plays with Peter, foreshadowing how he will come to understand and sympathize with the buggers. At Battle School, the games consume the children’s lives, so much so that they stop acting like children on Earth and assume the role of commanders. The fantasy game reveals much of the inner turmoil in Ender’s life. Finally, the games he plays at Command School turn out to be real, so that the image he sees actually does mean the destruction of the buggers.
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[Persia1]

IMPORTANT / KEY FACTS SUMMARY


Title: Ender’s Game
Author: Orson Scott Card
Date Published: 1985
Meaning of the Title: The title refers to the war with buggers, during which Ender is commanding the human fleet but thinks it is a simulation. Therefore, it is just a game to him but the adults know the whole time that it is for real.
Setting: North Carolina, Battle School (and the fantasy game), Command School on Eros, Ender’s World
Genre: novel (science fiction)
Protagonist: Andrew “Ender” Wiggin
Antagonist: Although the buggers are seen as the overall antagonist, Ender comes to see the adults as the real enemy. He also must deal with his brother Peter, and has concentrated fights with a few of the other boys-Stilson, Bernard, and Bonzo.
Mood: serious
Point of View: third person, focused on either Ender or Valentine. Also, at the start of chapters, there is a third person perspective, but while listening to often unnamed adult characters converse.
Tense: This story is written in past tense.
Rising Action: events at Battle School, before Ender is transferred to Command School
Exposition: first three chapters in which the reader is introduced to the Wiggin children and Colonel Graff, Ender is presented in contrast to Peter, and Ender decides to go to Battle School

Climax: the battle with the buggers, Ender’s use of Dr. Device on the bugger home planet, and his being told that the battles have been real all along
Outcome: Peter comes into power on Earth, Valentine and Ender go to the first colony on a previous bugger world, Ender finds the hive queen and promises to find her a place to live again, Ender and Valentine set out in search of a place
Major Themes: children (capable) versus adults (untrustworthy), the line between good and evil, games versus reality
Minor Themes: murder and redemption/ love and destruction/ love and hate, winning at all costs, being different, revenge/ deceit/ manipulation, taking on an identity, struggle for survival/ understanding, influence of memories on what a person is
VOCABULARY
malleable: likely to give in to pressure from others
maladroit: awkward, lacking skill
salaam: peace
toon: a small military unit
hegemony: leadership over others
I.F. : International Fleet
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