In Ender’s Game, Colonel Graff shares with Ender his perspective on individual freedom and humanity’s demand for survival. He claims that individual liberty may be sacrificed for the greater good. In context of the book, I agree with Graff’s evaluation. Human beings have a responsibility to contribute to humanity, because the development of society depends on our individual benefactions.
Disregarding the fact that the buggers were innocent, humanity’s need for survival easily overrode Ender’s personal life. With the entire human species at risk, individuals should have dismissed their own interests and assisted the community. After all, freedom wouldn’t exist if everyone were dead. For example, during the Roman Republic, Cincinnatus, lived his life contently on a small farm alongside his wife. However, when Rome was under the threat of an enemy, the citizens urgently searched for a strong leader. They agreed to nominate Cincinnatus as their dictator, for his integrity and initiative. Although Cincinnatus was
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He was the most capable human being in determining humanity’s fate; therefore, if Ender couldn’t defeat the buggers, then no one else could. That is to say, Ender was remarkably intellectual and gifted. Furthermore, he was able to derive both Peter’s ruthlessness and Valentine’s compassion. The two characteristics established a spirit perfect for a military commander. With humans conceiving the bugger threat, it was mandatory for Ender to do his duty, because not everyone else was as brilliant and ingenious as him. His talents and skills were humanity’s only chance for survival. It was rare to find a common citizen with the aptitude to defeat the buggers, so when there was someone, like Ender, who retained the potential, people relied upon them to contribute. In today’s society, people with the strongest traits and abilities are expected to strengthen and aid the
After Ender’s important battle, they tell him that all of it was real and that he had actually defeated the buggers. Ender thinks to himself, “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” (Card 297). When Ender realizes that they have been lying to him and using him as a weapon, he becomes angry. Ender yells at Graff and Mazer, “‘ 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!’” (Card 297). If Ender would have known that he would have killed people and creatures, he would not have gone to battle school in the first place. Death is very hard on Ender and he does not know how he can live with such a burden. Ender’s change in character is due to him being a victim of
Despite the negativity behind Ender’s thoughts, he is a strong leader because “his isolation can’t be broken. He can never come to believe that anybody will ever help him out, ever”(Chapter 5, page 38). Being in isolation from others has made him an independent person. He is able to overcome any obstacles on his own, like a strong leader,
Ender has been made an easy target because he is an outcast. His character is a smart boy who is constantly being bullied for something that can't be controlled by him. “No, no, I don't want your help. I can do it on my own, you little bastard, you little third” (Card 2). Ender is described from his brother Peter not important. That Ender is just a third kid and nothing else is important. Peter calls Ender a bastard only because Ender is smarter than Peter and Peter wants to be the smart perfect child.
Ender made a choice to go to battle school because Graff talked him into going like on page 22 when Graff tells Ender “that no one wants a third”, and he was smart enough to win the war against the Buggers on page 296 when Mazer said to Ender “Ender you never played me. You never played a game since I became your enemy.”. He wanted to win the whole war not just one fight because on page 19 Ender said “knocking him down won the first fight. I wanted to win all the next ones, too. So they’d leave me alone.” Because of the decisions Ender makes he becomes a hero and a soldier. This has to do with us because we will probably have other wars and there will be soldiers who train and fight for us much like Ender trained and fought for the world. Ender at the beginning of the book is weak and not a leader. By the middle of the book Ender was strong and almost the leader of an army. By the end of the book Ender is a hero and the leader of a
Ender does not want to be Peter, who was a cold-hearted killer. Ender was beginning to understand the buggers and find out their reasoning behind the war, but before he could fully understand, the I.F. made him defeat the buggers without even knowing. It also made Ender upset when he found out that he not only just killed one queen, he killed an entire colony and world of queens. Another situation that also upset Ender was when Ender killed Bonzo. Ender didn’t mean to hurt him, but he had to, for self-defense. “’Why should I want to beat anybody?’ Ender pressed his palms against his eyes. ‘I hurt Bonzo really bad today, Bean. I really hurt him… I knocked him out standing up. It was like he was dead, standing there. And I kept hurting him… I just wanted to make sure he never hurt me again’” (222). Although Ender disliked Bonzo, Ender loved him because when he truly understands his opponent to defeat them, he also cared for them. This not only disconcerted him, it made Ender despise the
Another thing about Ender is he’s a commander of his own army after he was professionally trained. Ender was also sent to Eros which is a place Ender absolutely hated, when he arrived there he also met Mazer Rackham who was also known as Ender’s rival. Ender also gets bullied by his older brother Peter, Bonzo, Stilson, and Mick. Ender even had to fight during the bugger war with his army.
Ender’s rocky journey to becoming a great commander can be broken into three specific periods; separation from everything he was familiar with as a child, initiation into his new life to school in space, and the life he lives after the final battle.
Ender is totally on his own and the only respect he gets is through the awesome strategies he is constantly making. He is excelling in his battles and is making great progress in becoming what the military wants from him. Even though all of this is going well for him, he is still hated, and it isolates him. The hatred from his peers makes Ender dive deeper into exactly what the adults want him to, his battle skills. Ender
Most people in the story were jealous of Ender at some point because of his skills or ranking within the battle school. People are kept from their full potential when they conform to worldly ideals and views. Luckily Ender did not fall into that category. The ambition to conform begins at a young age, and can grow if not kept under control.
What really caused Ender to really think about; the account of people that he can really risk losing people, horse power, and the opponent's strategies and weakness.With the weakness and strategies this can cause the Ender to find the solution. An example in the book , is when Enders tram had to face 2 teams at once. They thought that this wasn't fair but they still managed to win
Ender is using his old experiences to teach his army, which shows him intelligent. When he was practicing alone or sometimes with Petra, he learned many moves and tricks, and now when he is a commander he can use those experiences to teach his army how to play better. Ender is being smart. He is been learning from other people and when he has his army he can use those tricks, so they can be better soldiers. He is making his army strong enough, and that shows that Ender is being smart. However, Ender never knows why he has been isolated and manipulated by Graff. For example, Ender thought that if you are a leader/commander you should isolate or manipulate only one person in your army, just because they are smart. One day Ender was talking to Bean and said, “Graff had isolated me to make me struggle, to make me prove, not that I was competent, but that I am for better than everyone else. That’s what I am doing to you, Bean. I am hurting you to make you a batter soldier in every way.” (167). Ender thought that what all commanders do. They always push one soldier, so they can make him/her a good commander in future. As he is doing to Bean. Ender never knows why Graff had isolated and manipulated him. These are some reasons that makes Ender a blended character in the novel Ender’s
Ender Wiggin was a timid boy who wanted to have his brother and parents to love him. Prior to joining the Battle School, Ender did not have the belligerence that he would soon possess. He did not want to be like Peter, so
When Ender is at the battle school, it is evident that the training and harsh atmosphere is taking a toll on him, “Since becoming commander, he never slept more than five hours a night…Sometimes he worked at his desk…straining his eyes to use the dim display. Usually, though, he stared at the invisible ceiling and thought” (Card 174). Later, he is not even able to get a joke, “therefore Dr. Device. It was a joke.’ Ender didn’t see what was funny about it” (Card 273). When Ender discovered he was tricked into destroying the entirety of the buggers, he became depressed thinking about the genocide that he had just committed, “Real. Not a game. Ender’s mid 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 he had blasted to oblivion” (Card 297).
Ender is a intelligent leader because he understood the value of developing and empowering others, showing courage and, staying focused on the greater good, rather than his own success.
Ender did not have a good childhood. At the age of six he was changed from a little boy into a soldier in a six year old’s body. He was worked to the breaking point and even had a mental breakdown. Ender was take by th I.F. so that he could be trained to save the world, but he didn’t know that this involved, blocking all forms of contact with his family and being pushed to be perfect at everything until he had a mental break down. Somehow he managed to win the war, but as a result he became a young man with no friends and no life. Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, demonstrates the effects of taking away children's rights by working them too hard, forcing them to solve every problem themselves, and are forced into armed combat against each other.