Why is a Fantasy & Science Fiction Class Useful? In Michigan, the legislature has a history of questioning the purpose and value of university courses. For example, a University of Michigan course called “How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation,” was put under scrutiny in 2003, claiming it goes against “family values.” Michigan legislature is now questioning courses based on fantasy and science fiction, claiming it is not useful to sit around imagining and fantasizing about one thing or another. Being called to testify, I would argue that fantasy and science fiction courses are useful because science fiction and fantasy works allow students to analyze how these works are quality as well as find the social commentary behind these works. …show more content…
One theme of Ender’s Game is the importance of youth. The youth of the children recruited for battle school is ultimately stolen from them by the leaders in exchange for saving the entire human race, justifying the loss in their eyes. However, childhood is important to our development, and that is a major focus in Ender’s Game when we see how Ender becomes ultimately depressed through his time at battle school and after. Another common theme that Card places an emphasis on in the novel is the effects of isolation. Although Ender is usually surrounded by others at battle school, he is isolated by Graff from the beginning, setting him apart from the rest and allowing him to become hardened by the isolation, making him into the warrior they want him to be. Graff even explains to Valentine why Ender has been isolated, claiming that “’isolation is – the optimum environment for creativity’” (Card 149). This tells us that Ender is being manipulated by Graff who put him in isolation for his motives and his purposes, even with Ender’s sanity at
Ender’s mom, dad, sister, brother, and friends, how would it feel to leave them all behind?Would you wanna be in that situation? If so, you should think back at all the memories that you had with them. Well, Ender had to go through all of that and had been tricked by a bunch of teachers. Graff didn’t tell Ender the truth and Ender got confused, “So my parents love me and don't love me?” (15). I think that Graff should have told Ender the truth about the secret inside the game. Ender went to the Battle school with Graff and leaving all the sad memories behind. Ender was also being treated badly while he was there. Ender probably made the worst mistake in his life.
In the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card the book itself is a science fiction. In the book it is based in the future were they where attacked by aliens and soon Earth was prepared for another attack from the aliens. The brightest minds go goes to school to train to be a fighter pilot Ender was one of them. Ender's brother and sister Peter and Valentine used to go to school like ender did but were cut. Peter is a boy that likes bullying and killing things. Valentine on the other hand likes is very fond of Ender.One of the conflicts is when Ender is stripped of and sent home when he leaves he finds bullys conering him into a classroom he fights his way out and keeps on kiking the bully till he promised him that he would not bother him
2 major and reoccurring themes throughout Ender’s Game is manipulation and deception. Much of this novel is about how adults manipulate Ender into fulfilling their needs. They trick him, lie to him, and tell him just enough so that he can defeat the buggers. Ender pretty much sums this up when he says, “I've spent my life as someone's pawn" (Pg. 97). On one hand, it seems wrong to lie to and cheat a kid. On the other hand, the adults manipulate him to ensure the survival of the human race. Besides the manipulative relationship between the adults and Ender, there are a number of other relationships full of manipulation: Peter manipulates Valentine, Peter and Valentine manipulate the world, and
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is about a boy named Ender Wiggin. When he is 6 years old he is taken from his home to go train in a place called Battle School to fight aliens, or “buggers”. He learns to command an army and plays games to train for the battle against the buggers. When the game is over, Ender learns it isn’t a game at all and they have won the war against the buggers. Two themes in this books are “Life isn’t always going to be fair”, and “Make the best of what you have.” These two themes are in the book because Ender has to deal with having a horrible army to train and the teachers aren’t fair to Ender at all.
Young kids can be easily affected by their surroundings. They learn from the roles of their teachers and their fellow students and peers. This is clearly demonstrated in Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card. It shows how Ender Wiggin, a very young boy, is put into a position of leadership and what he learns through this experience, Through a computer game, Ender learns that he is a very clever killer. Through his experience as commander, Ender learns that being strict will help him be a better leader and win games. Finally, his experience with Shen and Bernard teaches Ender that having humor will easily allow him to make friends. Overall, Ender’s experience in Battle School teaches him many things about
The novel Ender's Game expresses that Ender being isolated in multiple situations is the cause the of his lost childhood. Ender's isolation is caused by the characters in the Battle School and the removal of the monitor. All of these situations prevent him from getting close to others. Hyrum Graff indicates that he will isolate Ender before he arrives at Battle School. He does that by telling the launch group Ender is the only excellent mind there, Graff does that to make Ender stand out from the others and to form him into the best
Throughout Ender’s Game, Ender is isolated, kept apart from other children that could be friends. Ender is not the only one separated in the book though as there is Bean, Graff and Mazer Rackham. I am, writing this essay on how Isolation changed the people in Enders games behaviour and how it is the central theme of the book. The first paragraph will be on Ender's isolation, the next article will be on beans isolation, and the last one will be on Graff and Mazer. I will provide a quote then explain on each paragraph.
In the beginning of the book Ender gets his monitor removed and gets into a fight. The way he handled the fight is what caused colonel Graff to offer Ender to join battle school. In the start of battle school, Ender got picked on a lot, until he killed Bonzo, he was promoted to commander, commanding his own army, he defeated a lot of other armies in the school. In the commanding part of the book, he was getting stressed and losing sleep, he went back to Earth because he didn’t want to be in battle school anymore, then his sister convinced him to go to Eros to train for the bugger war, when he was playing simulations of a bugger invasion, he finally defeated the buggers and Graff told him that the games were actually real, not simulators. After he beat the buggers, another war started on Earth, his sister met with him where he was and told him that he should be governor at another planet and went around to find a new planet for a new era for the buggers.
Firstly, once Ender arrives at the Battle school, at the age of only six years old, he initially faces many difficulties with assimilating into his launch group, along with the other children, "The other boys talked and joked and bragged and laughed. Ender kept his silence. He toyed with the idea of trying to be like the other boys. But he couldn't think of any jokes, and none of theirs seemed funny. Wherever their laughter came from, Ender couldn't find such a place in himself."
When Ender gets to Battle School he is already disliked for being so young and small. Graff calls him out in front of everyone multiple times. The other kids do not like that at all and they pick on Ender for it. He likes to get under Enders skin because he is just pushing him. Ender gets fed up with Graffs games when he finds out he tricked him about the final battle. “Why you gotta be so rude? Don't you know I'm human too” are lyrics from a quirky song about a girl that annoys a boy, like Graff seems to do to Ender. On page 35 Ender says to Graff “You made them hate me.” “So? What will you do about it?” responds Graff. Knowing what he just did annoyed Ender.
"Knocking him down won the first fight. I wanted to win all the next ones, too. So they'd leave me alone" -Ender Wiggin (Card 14). Ender’s Game can be connected to the world through the theme of games. Throughout the book, Ender plays many games that have extremely important effects. For example, the war games in the battle room. Ender plays these game to stay in shape and train him to become the commander for the Third Invasion. In the world today, children and adults play games to stay in shape and to train as well, such as in football. Football players stay in shape as they play football as well as train for the next game. The war games are also used for Ender to learn topics such as strategies he could use to win. This can be related to
Throughout the novel, Ender is situated to play various games both at home, and at the Battle School. First he was introduced to “Buggers and Astronauts,” by Peter who forced him to play the bugger, while Peter himself took the role of the Astronaut. Though this game would be mistaken as simply a child’s game, it represents more than that. It shows the inferiority between the brothers, and also the negative connotation Card places on the role of bugger. Card explains through Ender that every time he played bugger in “Buggers and Astronauts,” it always meant that he had to lose. Ender, having to play along as the bugger, also welcomed Peter’s constant bullying. As opposed to life at home, life at Battle School provided more freedom for Ender.
In the book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, it starts with ender in school and being made fun of. After he beats up a bully, he goes home to deal with his brother Peter who also bullies him because Ender is a better specimen than Peter was. But what no one expected was that a representative from the military came to invite Ender to Battle School up in space. Ender accepted and went to live up in Battle School for years to come. At first, Ender was hated for being such a talented student at the age of six but was soon respected after he was able to beat all the other armies with just a bunch of little kids. Ender became the best soldier at Battle School and was moved up to Command School where he would learn to command
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is one of the most celebrated books in the twenty-first century. It is also one of the few books to receive the Hugo and the Nebula award. Ender’s Game is about a young mastermind named Ender, who has been given the responsibilty to command the IF fleet to end the war with the formic. Throughout the book many of the kids have been put under extreme amounts of pressure. The adults have stated many times that they could not bear this pressure. If the adult who is bestowing pressure, can not bear it him self, what is the effect on the child. A lot of this abuse and a pressure is hidden or justified by Orson Scott Card. Ender’s Game with closer examination is a story of the abuse, brainwashing, and premature development in the Battle School.This essay will examine the effect of taking children away from their homes at such a young age, and methods used in the Battle School that better prepare the children for their future.
One of these themes is isolation. Ender is isolated not only to let him prove that he is as good as the other students, but to show that he is far superior. Isolation is vital to the plot as Ender’s isolation is what drives his brilliance where, no matter what the challenge is, he always finds a way to succeed. Also, without the help of adults, Ender learns to fend for himself once he realizes no one will help him. Another theme in Ender's Game is the relationship between children and adults. Children are often controlled and manipulated by the adults, but can be more pure and intelligent than their mature counterparts. The teachers recognize Ender’s brilliance, and use it to do things that they are not capable of. The concept of mercy also plays a large role in the story. When Ender beats his enemy, he destroys them to stop them from ever attacking him again. These subjects play a huge role in Ender's Game, and without them the plot would be