Ender's Game; Post 2

Ender's Game
By: Orson Scott Card
Post 2

So I've made it part way through the book, and I am really enjoying it so far. The concepts of the futuristic Earth are enthralling, and the character development Ender has been going through has continually intrigued me, as his entire perspective and mindset evolves with each change to the environment he finds himself in.

SPOILER ALERT: (I will be posting summaries and descriptions of book plots, and I will do my best to alert you readers and viewers when I will be revealing crucial plot details).

To give a brief background, Earth has been attacked by aliens, known as "Buggers." The humans were able to prevail and repel the first two invasions of the aliens, and, anticipating more attacks in the future, began recruiting, or even, breeding, human children to become brilliant and innovative soldiers and commanders. Ender is one such child, who is accepted into Earth's Battle School, in which he will learn about space combat and strategy in war-simulation games, in addition to his normal school subjects. He quickly excels, and progresses  his way through the ranks until he becomes the commander of his own team, or army.

Throughout the story, I have noticed that a re-occurring theme is manipulation, especially psychological manipulation. Ender comments on how tactically and manipulatively, his mind is toyed with by the Battle School administration. He comes to this realization shortly after being assigned to lead a team of young, inexperienced, unfamiliar recruits. "It was the teachers who had done it. And it wasn't an accident. Ender realized that now. It was a strategy. Graff had deliberately set him up to be separate from the other boys, made it impossible for him to be close to them. And he began now to suspect the reasons behind it... Graff had isolated Ender to make him struggle. To make him prove, not that he was competent, but that he was far better than everyone else. That was the only way he could win respect and friendship. It made him a better soldier... It also made him lonely, afraid, angry, untrusting. And maybe those traits, too, made him a better soldier" (Card 167, 168). Looking ahead, I think that this manipulation and the way that Ender will respond to it will culminate in situation in which Ender finally is free of manipulation, and will be controlling his actions for himself, hence the title "Ender's Game." After being manipulated by games for the majority of his life, he would finally be able to "call the shots."

Overall, I think that I will definitely see this book through to the end. I find it captivating, with enough action to keep me enthralled and enough symbolic and underlying messages to stimulate my mind as I read. It's also fairly complex, to an extent, which keeps it interesting. The first story arc in which Ender has been living at the Battle School, and it climaxes as he and his team win victory after victory. A different arc appears as Ender is graduated from Battle School early and put into Command School (School specializing in the training of commanders). This arc I am only just beginning to get introduced to, and I am excited as ever.

Well, that's it for this post. The third and final post about Ender's Game and its conclusion will be coming soon!

Until next time,
Josh C.