Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
The cover is one that evokes the interest of those
invested in the world of Science Fiction.
The spatial warfare evident really catches the attention. The title is not obvious, but it is something
that fits what happens within the story to a slight degree. It is what is important and what is
insignificant all at the same time.
The whole premise is of the adults making the children
into soldiers. The little geniuses who
could and would be the future of the human race or be the end of it. Everything depended on the end game of the
war with the alien Buggers. The games
within the different military schools were to prepare the children, but the
games were rigged. Only the really
intelligent children were able to figure out that the games were not important
and unfair, at first. It started to
become more evident when Ender was quickly being progressed through the
ranks. The games being run by the school
were the unfair and insignificant ones. The
ones that really mattered were the battles when Ender was aware of what was
happening. It made what was happening
into something so much more and to match the importance of the end game of the
war with the Buggers.
The game that Ender plays is that of psychological
warfare. This was his great power that
made him the perfect commander for the army.
He was capable of an extreme empathy which meant that he was able to see
the world as they did and “walk in their shoes”. Because he was capable of this, he was able
to anticipate the moves of the enemy before they could even make it. He trained his army to function not in
formation, but in squadrons. Each squad
specialized in a certain task and the character of Bean was the one with the
truly special squad. Bean trained his
men to be truly flexible to every situation.
They are the fastest and can not only work as a cohesive squadron that
followed his mind, but individuals with their own thoughts of how to defeat the
enemy.
Ender’s whole life became that of defeating the
enemy. The adults were all about separating
Ender from the rest of the children when he was always separate. Even in the group of genius children, he had
to be made separate so that he could be their commander. This was their goal for him; to be the
commander, but not the true friend. They
could trust each other with their lives, but they could not trust him with
their thoughts. This was because of his
being separate and higher than them, in position and in mind. He loved and hated those that he
commanded. He loved them for what each
of them gave him not just in the games and under his orders. He also loved them for what they gave him
individually. He hated them because he
was separate and they could not see that it was the adults that made it that
way. He just wanted to be one of them
and he was denied that because he was expected to be more. He was wrong.
Bean was aware
of what the adults were doing and he was the one with the real power. Ender had to think that it was all up to him
and that there was not a backup, but Bean was the backup. He was the one that even Ender would compare
himself to and yet, not be able to realize that he was surpassed by this
incredibly young and small child. Ender saw
his group as something devastating when he was given his small army for the
games. This Dragon Army was, in fact, not
random inexperienced launches. They were
children that Bean picked out for their potential. This group was ideal for Ender because they
were quick learners who did not have any bad habits to break. They could learn and grow together in this
regard and all come to easily accept Ender as their commander.
The ending was set years later. Ender believed that he had done something
that could never be forgiven. He would
do what needed to be done in order to right this wrong. His whole life became about atoning for what
he had done even though when he did it, he believed that it was only a game.
A child’s game for those that were not children in many
respects. The only aspect of their
childhood they were allowed to keep were their games. The problem with this was that the games were
the real tests for the children to see what types of soldiers they would
be. The desk games was made to test
their psychology and the battle games were made to test their capacity for
battle strategy. These games were what
allowed these child soldiers to keep their sense of adventure and entertainment
while actually serving to test them on a deep psychological level. A child’s true testing was by their responses
to these games and how they played them and not in how they approached their schoolwork. The games became their lives because it was
their source of power, but it was a controlled power. The adults had full run of it and could
change the rules. The adults could do as
they liked while the children would only blame each other. There was not a way
to please everyone. Those that played
solely for the game were not liked at all, but feared by others. They had lost their sense of self within the
power play of the games. Ender was
allowed to have the most power because he knew that he could do it, but he did
not want it. He knew those that were
driven by power were, in fact, fools that he would have to work around for the
rest of his life.
