Analysis Of Ender 's Game By Orson Scott Card

In the 1960s, Johan Galtung posited the construct of violence as a phenomenon generated by the existence of social barriers that deny needs satisfaction in certain sectors of society. Galtung's conceptual framework illustrates the relationship between the structure of society and the inequalities experienced by its citizens. Gilman's seminal definition of structural violence reads, “physical and psychological harm that results from exploitive and unjust social, political, and economic systems” (1983, p. 8).

“The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is to a more violent world” (Arendt pg 80). Violence is contagious, like a disease, which will destroy nations and our morals as human beings. Each individual has his or her own definition of violence and when it is acceptable or ethical to use it. Martin Luther King Jr., Walter Benjamin, and Hannah Arendt are among the many that wrote about the different facets of violence, in what cases it is ethical, the role we as individuals play in this violent society and the political aspects behind our violence.

As Americans, living in a egotistical and self centered society, we often think that we are the best, the top 1 percent in every aspect. However, When compared to other countries of the world, America is ranked 14th in education, 44th in health care efficiency, and 101th in peace. But it ranks first in incarceration, 2nd in ignorance, and 3rd in global competitiveness. One can see how the rankings that America is top in are those that promote violence in one way or another. In the book Violence and Culture: A Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Approach by Jack David Eller, the author discusses violence in American society in one of his chapters. In this chapter, he mentions some social characteristics that represents and plays a role in

Often, authors often use literary techniques to convey a particular effect, which can range from a tone, a message, a sense of danger, a feeling, etc. Portraying these techniques throughout a text allows the reader to develop a deeper understanding of said text. In the book Ender's Game, the author Orson Scott Card, uses foreshadowing, comparison, and inner dialogue to convey a sense of danger that renders the readers feeling.

Mankind has long accepted violence as a fair means to achieve equality. In human history, the most thorough changes are brought in by the most radical overthrow of the old structure, knocking down the walls that separated the silent majority from the minority, sweeping aside the commands of the oppressors, tearing down the chains of oppression that once trapped them away from their inherent rights of freedom, in an effort to achieve justice for themselves and their countries. Revolutions in particular illustrated that the groups that desire reform but are willing to compromise for stability, take longer to implement changes, while the groups that are more devoted to revolutionary change and are often unafraid to use violence, could implement

David Nirenberg talks about two types of violence, “cataclysmic violence” and “systematic violence”. The first part of the book discusses “cataclysmic” violence, while the second part of the book focuses on “systematic violence.”

In this TEDTalk, Steven Pinker introduced an interesting trend in societal violence. The talk began by presenting fax that showed a dramatic decrease in the amount of violent crime beginning as far back as the earliest human hunter-gatherers. In many places during that time period, the chances of dying at the hands of another human were as high is sixty percent. Although the media and people tend to believe we are living in a time of extreme violence, we are actually living during one of the most peaceful times in human history. Even though the 20th Century witnessed tragedies such as the Holocaust, Rwanda, Stalin’s mass executions, and two World Wars, the chances of a human by violent means was less than three percent.

These examples of senseless violence only serve to widen the perceived gap between the “classes” of people.

Structural violence is the way in which social structures systematically and negatively affect individuals. Paul Farmer’s concept describes it as “social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm’s way”. Literally analyzing the concept, he explains that it is structural because it involves political and economic organizations, which are social structures, and the violence comes from the injury caused to people who suffer it. Like Acephie Joseph and ChouChou, many people in Haiti are victims of the structural violence. Their social locations make them vulnerable, limiting their choices and causing them deeply terrible pain, and even dead. Also, structural violence can be linked to behavioral violence. As well as the Farmer wrote

Some of the secondary causes of this violence as espoused by Phillips (148) include despair, racism, powerlessness and poverty. Many youths have struggled in despair as they struggle to meet their daily bread. In the desperation, many children were therefore introduced to violence at a young age in order to meet their needs. This despair has brought with it powerlessness that has also made life difficult for the children.

In order to discuss the modes of violence inherent in any symbolic order, a discussion of violence must precede its effects. It is easy to observe what I will call ‘subjective’ violence; however, doing so taints an ‘objective’ assessment. By subjective violence, I mean acts that we can describe as breaking the status quo or utterly unacceptable; spewing a spit ball, punching a friend, engaging in armed conflict, and so on. Objective violence is the status quo, or systemic acts maintaining the existing order; profit schemes enabling the last recession, government institutions that motivate resistance, etc. For the sake of brevity, I only wish to note that I am conceptualizing the notion of violence in an operative sense, as, I believe, it is the only way to provide an effective critique of

“You won’t fail, Ender. Not this early in the course. You’ve had some tight ones, but you’ve always won. You don’t know what your limits are yet, but if you’ve reached them already you’re a good deal feebler than I thought.” (Card 286). Ender’s Game is a dystopian novel by Orson Scott Card that follows the training and thoughts of the protagonist, Ender, ultimately ending with the destruction of an alien race, the buggers. Ender’s militaristic and desperate society forces him to unwillingly commit genocide to an extent where Ender’s withering and empathetic mind begins to question the consequences of his actions.

Violence throughout our time has been evident ever since the beginning of our human species. From verbal to physical, one will not go through his/her lifetime without understanding the violent nature of other people. Richard Wilkinson brought up a point that “More unequal societies tend to be more violent” (Wilkinson 2). Wilkinson shows that there is a prominent correlation between income and homicide. Lower incomes shows higher rates of homicide. In A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens shows how violence can flourish due to the inequality seen in the lower classes. Dickens uses violence to portray that a society filled with inequalities can lead to violence.

The problem with the ways of the Nuer in today’s society is that their approach to violence through the absence of domination may only be effective because of the way their lives are structured and of their lack of technology. It is argued that these sort of social forms are only possible in low-technology and unindustrial situations like that of the Nuer.

Structural violence can come from individual, social and political bearings. Although structural violence is not derived from anyone