ender's game power essay

Ender's Game

77 pages • 2 hours read

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Peter and Valentine Wiggin adopt online political personas—respectively, Locke and Demosthenes, who are based on historical figures. How do Locke and Demosthenes’s real-life counterparts compare and contrast with their views as described in the novel?

Ender’s Game was a major influence on the Science Fiction genre in its themes and tropes. What influences permeate the genre? Describe how these elements contribute to the genre’s purpose.

Peter and Valentine were close to taking on Ender’s role in Battle School. Using knowledge of their respective personalities and leadership styles, describe how Peter and/or Valentine would have handled Battle School differently from Ender.

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Ender's Game

By orson scott card, ender's game themes, everybody lies.

Ender does not trust anyone, and one of the manifestations of that distrust is the suggestion that everyone lies, especially the adults (and in particular teachers) towards the children. For instance, Graff lies to Ender multiple times, the most obvious time being when he and Mazer pretend that the battles Ender is fighting against the buggers are actually just Mazer's battle scenarios. Ender ended up destroying almost all the buggers while thinking that he was just winning games. Even the young Valentine is insincere insofar as she writes under the pseudonym Demosthenes

Sometimes, lies are more dependable than the truth

This idea is submitted by Ender very early in the novel, when the nurse tells him that taking his monitor out will not be painful. Ender points out that since adults only say such a thing when it is going to hurt, children can always depend on the lie to warn them of the pain. In this way, the idea that everybody lies almost becomes a good thing, since it means that they are easier to figure out. A lie reveals a truth about a person's motivations.

You can't trust anybody

Ender is brought up not to trust anyone, and he often feels betrayed. For instance, Ender trusts Valentine implicitly, but she becomes the tool of the International Fleet in order to get him to continue with his training. Also, Ender realizes that he cannot always trust his friends, such as Petra--when he becomes commander and Dragon Army destroys her army, she is furious with him for months, being not much better than the other jealous commanders. Ender is not given many opportunities for friendship or trust so that he becomes fiercely independent and thus, it seems, a better commander.

Individual initiative versus central planning

Ender is chosen to be the commander who leads the fleet to victory, thereby saving the world. The principle here is that a single mind can direct the war effort better than a number of individual commanders. The military leaders have decided to follow this principle as they have sought the one most promising child to become the supreme commander. But Ender does not really want to be such a savior, and he prefers to have squadron leaders who can think and act independently with just a few organizing principles to follow. In fact, Ender's decentralized approach proves superior to that of the buggers, which is centralized in that a queen commander makes all the decisions while the workers simply follow orders.

Identity conflict

Ender Wiggin's personality is a combination of his brother's ruthlessness and his sister's compassion, which are constantly fighting each other for control. Likewise, Valentine and Peter share, to some degree, each other's characteristics, and all three siblings struggle to realize an integrated identity. In Ender's case, he chooses to win thoroughly against his enemies, but his compassion for them makes him hate himself for hurting them. Graff also struggles with his isolation of Ender for military purposes despite his real affection for Ender, wanting to be compassionate and practical at the same time.

Individual needs versus the common good

Colonel Graff 's sense of duty to the human race leads him to reason with Ender, on multiple occasions, that Ender should see himself as a "tool" for the human race. He notes that "Human beings are free except when humanity needs them." Graff argues that humans become tools whenever the species needs them. Card seems to support this point of view in that we may feel sorry for Ender, but we can hardly imagine another way that the war could have been won. The happiness of one boy, it seems, should be forfeited for the sake of the race. Ender understands this point, so he makes a free choice to suffer for the sake of humanity. One thinks here of Plato's philosopher-kings in the Republic who would prefer not to rule society but who do so anyway, leading less satisfying lives in order to make the society function well enough for others to live more satisfying lives.

Friends and enemies

At every level the novel rests on antagonism: everyone is a friend or an enemy or both. The buggers and humans are enemies. Among humans, the world alliance is undermined by antagonism between, basically, the Americans and the second Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw alliance is undermined by antagonism between Muslim and non-Muslim allies. In Ender's experience, nobody can be fully trusted, but everyone is basically a friend or an enemy. This does not mean that e is always right in his identifications. He believes that Graff and Mazer are his enemies, mainly because they tell him so, but in reality they both care about him very much. For a while, after Ender becomes a commander, he cannot be sure whether Dink and Petra are still his friends, but they definitely are. In contrast, Ender thinks throughout the novel that the buggers are his enemy, but by the end of the novel, they have become his friends.

Isolation yields individual strength

Throughout the novel, Graff and Mazer isolate Ender from all of the other students at Battle School and Command School. Graff explains his reasoning multiple times; in his isolation, Ender will grow strong enough to beat the buggers. Graff thinks that Ender cannot expect anyone to help him at any time, or else he will not develop the willpower and strength to win at critcal points. Thus, Graff believes that the isolation teaches Ender to be strong. Ender reflects this idea in his treatment of Bean when Dragon Army is first created. Also, while Graff, Mazer, and Ender all hate the fact that they have to isolate their protégés, they continue on the path of isolation in order to develop them.

Ender’s Game Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Ender’s Game is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What does Ender mean when he says he wants to keep practicing with the Launchies because “From you I can learn what nobody knows”?

For Ender, some of the other students do seem to be the enemy. Some commanders suggest that Launchies who practice with Ender will be blackballed, and those who do practice with him get bullied. Ender is a unique boy who learns from the people he...

How does Ender inspire confidence and loyalty in the soldiers in his army?

Ender devises a whole new way to play the game. Instead of the same old uniformity and top down power structure, Ender gives Dragon team their own responsibilities. The team is split up into five toons that work independently yet are aware of each...

how does ender defeat Bonzo's army?

Study Guide for Ender’s Game

Ender's Game study guide contains a biography of Orson Scott Card, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Ender's Game
• Ender's Game Summary
• Character List

Essays for Ender’s Game

Ender's Game literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Ender's Game.

• Homophobia in Ender’s Game
• The Mark of Isolation in Adolescence
• Maturity in Ender's Game: A State of Mind, Not a Physical Quality
• How Manipulation Functions in Ender's Game
• Empathy for the Buggers: The Change in Ender Wiggins’ Morality

Lesson Plan for Ender’s Game

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Ender's Game
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Ender's Game Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Ender’s Game

• Introduction
• Creation and inspiration
• Critical response

Ender’s Game

Orson scott card, everything you need for every book you read..

Love, Empathy, and Destruction

Halfway through Ender’s Game , Ender Wiggin tells Valentine , his sister, his views on love and hate: “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.” This sentence can be said to sum up the paradox of Orson Scott Card’s novel: the deadliest warrior isn’t a warrior at all. Ender is a good, kind child who sincerely loves…

Games, Computers, and Virtual Reality

Ever since Orson Scott Card published Ender’s Game in the 1980s, he’s been praised for his book’s descriptions of “futuristic” technology. Critics point to Card’s interest in games, computers, and virtual reality and how, in the last thirty years, these things have all become increasingly important parts of life. Children develop a taste for combat by playing violent video games, journalists express their political views to millions over the Internet, and even in the military…

Morality and Survival

At the beginning of Ender’s Game , Ender Wiggin faces a difficult choice. He’s bullied by a schoolboy named Stilson , and one afternoon, Stilson pushes Ender, and Ender decides that he has no choice except to fight back. Ender gains the upper hand in the fight, and knocks Stilson to the ground. Ender realizes that he can either walk away and expect to face Stilson tomorrow, or kick him while he’s down, effectively winning…

It’s no surprise that Ender’s Game deals extensively with the theme of a leadership. Almost all of the characters are in the military, so their very existence depends upon leading and following orders.

Early on, Card makes it clear that leadership can only be gained over time. When Ender arrives at Battle School, he has a hard time gaining his peers’ attention, let alone their loyalty—on the contrary, he’s bullied for his youth and because…

Childhood and Growing Up

In interviews, Orson Scott Card has argued that adults simply don’t understand children. There was never a point in his life, he’s said, during which he felt like a “child”—in other words, he never thought in the simplistic, sentimental ways that children supposedly think. It’s no surprise that the author of Ender’s Game feels this way—there’s not a single child in the novel who thinks in the “simplistic terms” Card derides. Indeed, it takes us…

Control, Manipulation, and Authority

It’s clear from Chapter 1 of Ender’s Game that Orson Scott Card’s novel takes place at a time when the governments of the world exercise harsh control over their own citizens. There seem to be three major powers in the world: America, controlled by the powerful Strategos ; Russia, controlled by the equally powerful Polemarch ; and the IF, supposedly controlled by both the Polemarch and Strategos, but in actuality controlled largely by administrators like…

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Ender's Game — Manipulation in “Ender’s Game”

Manipulation in "Ender's Game"

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Words: 771 |

Published: Jul 17, 2018

Words: 771 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Card, O. S. (1994). Ender's Game. Tom Doherty Associates.
• Clareson, T. D. (Ed.). (2002). Understanding Contemporary American Science Fiction: The Formative Period, 1926-1970. University of South Carolina Press.
• James, E. (2018). Science Fiction in the Classroom: Ender's Game as an Exemplar Text. English Journal, 107(5), 84-91.
• Bloom, H. (Ed.). (2009). Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Infobase Publishing.
• James, E. (2017). Trauma and Recognition in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. Children's Literature in Education, 48(4), 366-378.
• Rabkin, E. S. (2014). Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy. Yale University Press.
• Gunn, J. (2002). Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. Oxford University Press.
• Guffey, G. (2007). C. S. Lewis: The Use of Allegory in His Last Novels. Ender's Game and Philosophy: The Logic Gate is Down, 83-93.
• Westfahl, G. (2005). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders (Vols. 1-3). Greenwood Press.
• Brians, P. (2010). Nuclear Holocausts: Atomic War in Fiction, 1895-1984. Kent State University Press.

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Works Cited Blackmore, Tim. “Ender’s Game.” Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 115-118. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s [...]

Ender’s Game, a novel by Orson Scott Card, is a form of anti-homosexual propaganda. The essay “Kill the Bugger: Ender’s Game and the Question of Heteronormativity” by James Campbell goes in depth regarding the ways in which [...]

A big government can create dangers in people's lives by taking away their rights. In Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, a young boy is taken away from his family at the age of 6 and is sent to a battle school in space that is [...]

The fear of a dystopian future that is explored in both Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis and George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four is reflective of the values of the societies at the time and the context of the authors. As [...]

The power of words is enough to control an entire nation. Although many would consider physical power and brute force to be absolute power, George Orwell’s 1984 demonstrates a dystopian society where language is the ultimate [...]

In order for one to exist in a totalitarian society whose government is successful in its control, one must deal on a day-to-day basis with strong persuasion and propaganda. These totalitarian societies have an iron grip on [...]

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Aspects of “Ender’s Game”: A Sci-Fi Story Essay

Introduction.

Ender’s Game is a sci-fi story where the protagonist is Ender Wiggin, who can save the world thanks to his creative, strategic skills. The protagonist studies at a particular school where students use simulation games for further advancement. Ender performs better; because of this, he faces cruelty, non-dualism, and betrayal from his colleagues. In addition, he begins to realize that even higher military leaders are lying to him. Thus, the three main themes of the book are games, relationships between adults and children, and ruthlessness.

The game is the central concept, and its theme is traced throughout the novel. Ender constantly goes through training and does not give much meaning to games, thinking this is part of the learning process. However, in the aftermath, the line between the game world and reality becomes less noticeable and significantly affects his health. As a result, Ender completely loses his sense of truth, and his last simulation turns out to be not just a game but the destruction of another race. This theme shows how much a person can fall into oblivion and lose a sense of reality.

The second topic is the relationship between adults and young students. The reader sees the opposition between the way of thinking of children and adults. Even though the latter tries to control the students, two children succeed in manipulating their teachers. Ender is different in that he does not want to dominate but falls under the manipulation of superiors who recognize his intelligence. Thus, children and adults in the book have almost no differences. They all have their own emotions and experiences, taking each other’s words seriously.

Finally, ruthlessness is an essential theme in the novel, which is overcome by compassion. Ender is treated ruthlessly by both his readers and some of his students. However, the military commanders justify their actions with the desire to save humanity, while the children envy the boy. Ultimately, compassion helps to break the vicious circle, and Ender tries to keep the remnants of the race he destroyed.

In conclusion, the novel raises such essential themes as the loss of reality, the relationship between adults and children, and cruelty. Ender is forced to play simulations that significantly affect his condition. In addition, he does not want to manipulate anyone, from which adults influence him. Finally, the protagonist constantly experiences the ruthlessness of both teachers and students and tries to atone for this with compassion.

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IvyPanda. (2024, February 19). Aspects of “Ender’s Game”: A Sci-Fi Story. https://ivypanda.com/essays/aspects-of-enders-game-a-sci-fi-story/

"Aspects of “Ender’s Game”: A Sci-Fi Story." IvyPanda , 19 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/aspects-of-enders-game-a-sci-fi-story/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'Aspects of “Ender’s Game”: A Sci-Fi Story'. 19 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "Aspects of “Ender’s Game”: A Sci-Fi Story." February 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/aspects-of-enders-game-a-sci-fi-story/.

1. IvyPanda . "Aspects of “Ender’s Game”: A Sci-Fi Story." February 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/aspects-of-enders-game-a-sci-fi-story/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Aspects of “Ender’s Game”: A Sci-Fi Story." February 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/aspects-of-enders-game-a-sci-fi-story/.

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