Ender's Game Orson Scott Card's Novel

Ender’s game is a novel written by Orson Scott Card published in January 15, 1985. Ender, the main character, is a mere six years old when he is chosen to go to Battle School, a school for the gifted minds of this advanced civilization. Ender quickly shows his excellence in the war games and is moved up the chain of command. However, throughout this time we hear another group of people discussing Ender’s potential and the idea of keeping him in total isolation which ends up being very hard for Ender, cutting him off from his friends.

The main threat to Ender are the monsters that are supposedly coming for his home planet. Ultimately he figures out the system and accomplishes his end goal.

A large part of Ender’s Game is through the lives of children, and at many parts throughout the story they are compared with those of the adults around them. While the adults often try to change the way the children think and act, essentially controlling the children, this is not always the case.

Peter and Valentine, Ender’s siblings, find a way to control the worldwide political system through their control of adults essentially do the reverse of what is happening to Ender. Ender, who does not want to hold power over anyone, is cruely manipulated by the echelon of adults above him, although even they are aware of his incredible intellect. Children in Ender’s Game appear lesser than adults in size, but that is about the only difference.

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The relationship from these thoughts are legitimate, and their emotions are valued just as highly valued as their older people. An example of this is when the International Fleet commanders use them and are even aware of this.

This is primarily because the leaders are so willing to accept Ender’s geniuses and his ability to basically solve the world’s problems. Ender’s Game shows that children must be valued equally as adults, for they are not confined by the restraints and critical thinking that adults are tied to so they can come up with creative ideas that no one else could process. Ender’s Game also is a prime example of compassion among enemies and friends. Compassion is the theme that embodies Ender’s whole life. The reason that Ender plays the war games so well is his ability to understand the enemy and anticipate their moves before they even know what they are thinking. On a deeper note, compassion that saves Ender and in turn the human race from his civilization.

If not for his compassion he would have become either a killing machine with no heart or turned into a power-hungry animal similar to his brother Peter. Ender’s compassion for the buggers makes possible for him to create up for destroying their race by giving them an opportunity to start out fresh. Graff’s compassion for Ender causes him to seek Valentine’s help, and her compassion in part is what saves Ender when he despairs. Even those characters who don’t seem to be allowed to point out their compassion, like Mazer Rackham, later demonstrate that they are capable of it, and it makes them human. Finally, the buggers demonstrate compassion to Ender, and this convinces him that he must make it his mission to see that their queen is found a safe home to start anew. Compassion provides hope for the future.

This is the harmful theme of the book, the one that, if not overcome by compassion, will lead to the destruction of humanity. Ruthlessness is typically necessary, as in Ender’s treatment of Stilson, but it is a last resort, something to be avoided at all costs. Colonel Graff, Major Anderson, and Mazer Rackham are forced to be ruthless in their treatment of Ender, but they do so in order to save humanity, and they have compassion for the boy even as they act. Only Peter is solely unmerciful, and in him the danger of pure manipulation without conscience comes into full effect. Peter is ready to achieve what he desires as a result of he doesn’t care regarding others, and he will stop at nothing. Ruthlessness is that the human condition barren of its humanity, and it’s the danger that threatens total destruction.