Think about what it means to have and/or be leader and to have/be "controlled" - as well ls how much of Orson Scott Card's "science fiction" turned out to be a "science fact" BACKGROUND - this book was first published in 1984, but the short story was published in 1975, and the idea was conceived in 1967! The Internet became widely used in 1992 and portable laptop computers in 2000. The movie rights/idea has been in the making for almost as long. Orson Scott Card was asked to write a screenplay, but the first one didn't have the umph he wanted for Ender, given that Ender is a strong silent type and a lot of his conversation is internal. Card didn't want to have the character talking over the actions. Once Card wrote Bean's story into a book, Ender's Shadow, he then had a character who could "tell" Ender's story without sacrificing the strong, silent, Ender character. Given all this, the reason there is no movie is because the author insists that the character be played by a 12 year old (or younger) and that limits the acting pool. Every once in a while you get an Elijah Wood (his words), but how can you get a dozen for all the battle school children? The story only works when you have a pre-pubescent adolescent who is able to be controlled by adults. A 16 year old would tell grown ups to "get lost" and refuse to participate in the manipulation. Every contract he has received has a clause somewhere that the director or producer has "final say on casting" or "can cast within 4 years of any ages described in the contract." Well, they aren't looking for a 6 year old, so that leaves looking for a 16 year old, and Card will have none of that.
The snow held off long enough for a few of us to talk about the book. We all loved it and had each given it to another person in our lives and that person had read the book, too! Several of us are reading the next book in the series on our own.
Orson Scott Card is a prolific writer with over 50 published books, many part of a series. For what it’s worth, he also wrote the Abyss – which was made into a movie. His website is below:
What’s it like to be a “third”?
Valentine was empathetic
Peter was ruthless
Ender had a little of both
Peter saw what others hated about themselves and made people FEAR what he wanted them to fear. Valentine saw the “good” and what people liked best about themselves. She could flatter them and make them WANT what she wanted them to want. Locke and Demosthenes were their alter egos. Even though Peter created them both, eventually, Valentine’s personality came through in Demosthenes – the voice of reason, the voice of the people.
How do you feel about Ender?
"Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to be controlled by good people, by people who love you." (Valentine)
“There was no doubt in Ender's mind. There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill you are always subject to those who can, and nothing no one will ever save you.”
"Human beings didn't evolve brains in order to lie around on lakes. Killing is the first thing we learned. And a good thing we did, or we'd be dead, and the tigers would rule the earth." (Valentine)
We talked about how it takes huge leadership skills to earn the respect of your enemies as well as your friends. That Ender’s behavior towards those who “bullied” him was a lot like battered women who kill their spouses. It came down to a mentality of “it’s them or me.” We also came up with some words and phrases to describe Ender: compassionate; strong and effective leader; manipulated; defensive but not violent; lonely; controlled. Ender is a child who gets treated like an adult, and controlled like a puppet. He has a gift from bringing groups together. He gains respect from his friends AND his enemies. He was also kept solitary, lost his childhood from age 6 onward, and maybe even has an attachment disorder.
From Sparknotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/endersgame/ Ender can be a killer like his brother. But Ender hates himself for that quality. Other people put him in situations where his negative side emerges, but Ender always wishes for events to be resolved without violence. His compassion is his strongest trait, and it binds people to him; his ruthlessness wins their unswerving faith in him as a commander.
What did you think about Battle School?
"Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive." (Graff)
"There is no teacher but the enemy." (Mazer Rackham)
"It wasn't a dark game, but it wasn't a bright one either-the lights were about half, like dusk. In the distance, in the dim light, he could see the enemy door, their lighted flash suits already pouring out. Ender knew a moment’s pleasure. Everyone had learned from Bonzo's misuse of Ender Wiggin. They all jumped through the door immediately, so that there was no chance to do anything other than name the formation they would use."
We talked about how the Battle School Game was a soldier’s (children’s) status, identity, and purpose. The teachers, commanders, and/or adults were in control. Even though they pushed the young boys, they did get punished for allowing one to die. We wondered if Mazer Rackham was really a hero? Was Earth really attacked by Buggers? Why aren’t there more details?
What did Card “get right” in his premonition of the future?
Card had avatars in the video games, which he called “figures,” and let’s not forget that video games were nothing in 1984 compared to what they are now! Everyone had their own personal “desk” which meant they had a laptop computer. He called the World Wide Web, the “Net,” but he knew it would exist about twenty years before it became an everyday reality and modern convenience. He even understood its power to disseminate information anonymously through articles and chat room comments.
Themes quoted from Sparknotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/endersgame/
THE GAME
The concept of a game is the novel's major theme. All of the other important ideas in the novel are interpreted through the context of the games. Ender wins all of the games, but it is not so clear what that means. He thinks for a large part of the book that the games are no more than they appear, and he does not realize the real meaning of his final game until it is far too late. The difference between what is a game and what is reality becomes less and less clear as the story unfolds. The very first game played in the book is "buggers and astronauts," a game that Peter makes Ender play, and it is a game that all kids play. However, in Ender's case the game is more than it seems, because Peter's hatred for him is real, and he inflicts physical pain upon Ender in the course of the game. This is one game that Ender never wins.
At Battle School, Ender faces two different types of games. On his computer he plays the mind game, a game that even its creators do not properly understand and one that effects Ender's life in direct ways. It is through the mind game that Ender is able to come to terms with the changes that are occurring in his life and it is the images of this game that the buggers use to communicate with Ender at the end of the book. In the battle room Ender plays war games. These games are everything to the kids at the school. Their lives revolve around playing games, and so the meaning of the word itself shifts from a voluntary fun experience to a necessary and crucial aspect of life. These games and their implications cause Bonzo's death and create rancor and jealousy throughout the school.
Finally we come to the greatest games that Ender plays, while he is the commander of the Third Invasion. Playing these games is debilitating to Ender's health. He cannot sleep, he barely eats, and he is forced to be a leader and not a friend to those whom he cares for. Ender destroys the buggers because he wants the games to end, and he is successful, but if he had ever known that it was not a game he never would have participated. In the end it is not very clear how to separate a game from reality, for the playing of a game can have a profound impact on a life, and sometimes the game itself is reality.
ADULTS & CHILDREN
Much of Ender's Game details the lives of children, and at every point they are contrasted with those of the adults around them. Although the adults often manipulate or control the children, this is not always the case. Peter and Valentine, two kids, manage to dominate the worldwide political system through their control of adults. Ender, who does not wish do exert influence over anyone, is brutally manipulated by adults, yet even they are aware of his superior intelligence. Children in this book are smaller than adults in size, but that is about the only difference. Their thoughts are just as real, and their emotions just as valid as their older counterparts. In fact, even the International Fleet commanders who use them are aware of this, because they are willing to place the fate of humanity in Ender's hands. Children must be taken seriously, for they are capable not only of killing, manipulating, and hating—the worst features of adults—but also of creating and helping.
COMPASSION
Compassion is the redeeming feature in Ender's Game. Compassion is the theme that runs through Ender's life. It is the defining feature of his existence. The reason that he plays the games so well is his ability to understand the enemy and to inspire loyalty. More than that, it is compassion that saves Ender. If not for his compassion he would have been turned into an automaton; he would have become either a killing machine or a power hungry creature like Peter. Ender's compassion for the buggers makes possible for him to make up for destroying their race by giving them a chance to start anew. 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 are not allowed to show 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.
RUTHLESSNESS
This is the dangerous theme of the book, the one that, if not overcome by compassion, will lead to the destruction of humanity. Ruthlessness is sometimes 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 purely ruthless, and in him the danger of pure manipulation without conscience comes into full effect. Peter is able to gain what he wants because he does not care about others, and he will stop at nothing. Ruthlessness is the human condition devoid of its humanity, and it is the danger that threatens total destruction.
FRIENDS & ENEMIES
In Ender's Game it is never entirely clear who is a friend and who is an enemy. Graff, Anderson, and Rackham, who are undoubtedly Ender's friends, appear to him as enemies and are forced to do so. Peter attempts to befriend Valentine merely to get what he wants, but she never forgets that he is not a real friend. Petra Arkanian and Dink Meeker are always Ender's friends, but at times he is uncertain of where they stand. But by far the most striking juxtaposition occurs with the buggers. The only enemy that Ender truly fears, the buggers in the end prove to be friendly. The earth's greatest enemy, the alien race it was at war with, turns out not to have been intentionally hostile. Card constantly proves that friends and enemies are not clear distinctions.
HUMANITY
The question of what it means to be human is taken up several times in Ender's Game. In the first place, children are affirmed to be just as real human beings as adults, even as the children are robbed of their youth. It is, after all, a group of children who save the world. But more fundamentally than this, to be human is to have compassion. The ability to feel for others is the mark of humanity. Peter's humanity is questioned, while Ender's is what saves the planet. In the end, the buggers themselves suggest to Ender that if things had gone differently both races could have celebrated the other's humanity. Their compassion for the humans they killed and their sorrow over the war means that they are human, and this is why Ender feels the need to do something to help them and why he so keenly mourns his destruction of their race.
ENDER
Ender is very much a representative of all that is good. He is filled with sorrow for any destruction he causes and wishes no ill to any other creature. He is good because he is kind, but he is also good because he makes the sacrifices that he has to make. It is good to do what is needed, even if what is needed does not seem right. Ender does not hate Graff or Rackham for what they did to him, because he realizes that they did what had to be done. At the same time, he is crushed by the thought that he wiped out an entire race. He is good because he is forgiving—he understands even those who hate him. Finally, Ender is good because he sees his evils and tries to remedy them. There is no idealized, perfect good in this novel. Ender represents the best that a person can do, given the circumstances of life.
PETER
Peter does what he wants. He takes power because he desires it, and other people's thoughts and emotions are only important to him insofar as he can exploit them. It is true that he makes a good ruler because he is not evil incarnate. Evil in this book is acting for the wrong reasons, regardless of the outcome. Although Peter saves lives by coming to power on earth, he is evil because he did so only out of expediency. Good can come out of evil, but that does not make the evil any better. Peter is an awful human being, but it just so happens that he makes a good ruler. What is scary is that an evil person does not care whether their actions are good or bad.
From: The little-known dark side of Ender’s Game by Fabius Maximus
12 September 2010 http://fabiusmaximus.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/21238/
Ender gets to strike out at his enemies and still remain morally clean. Nothing is his fault. Stilson already lies defeated on the ground, yet Ender can kick him in the face until he dies, and still remain the good guy. Ender can drive bone fragments into Bonzo’s brain and then kick his dying body in the crotch, yet the entire focus is on Ender’s suffering. For an adolescent ridden with rage and self-pity, who feels himself abused (and what adolescent doesn’t?), what’s not to like about this scenario?
On the same webpage is a creepy comparison of Ender to – wait for it – Hitler!
Let me tell you about a book I just read. It’s the story of a young boy who was dreadfully abused by the grown-ups who wanted to mold him into an exemplary citizen. Forced to suppress his own emotions in order to avoid being paralyzed by trauma, he directed his energy into duty rather than sex or love. In time, he came to believe that his primary duty was to wipe out a species of gifted but incomprehensible aliens who had devastated his kind in a previous war. He found the idea of exterminating an entire race distasteful, of course. But since he believed it was required to save the people he defined as human, he put the entire weight of his formidable energy behind the effort to wipe out the aliens.
You’ve read it, you say? It’s Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, right? Wrong. The aliens I’m talking about were the European Jews, blamed by many Germans for gearing up World War I for their own profit. The book is Robert G. L. Waite’s The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hilter.
Ender’s chastity until his marriage at the age of 37 is puzzling. But, again, when we look at the Hitler connection, all becomes clear. Probably because of his childhood trauma, Hitler remained chaste for an unusually long time. He isn’t known to have felt love for any woman until — are you ahead of me here? — age 37.
