Ender Wiggin is the hero the world has been waiting for. He is smart, hurting, a Third, and a leader. And the world needs a hero: the aliens, called buggers, are preparing for the Third Invasion, and to stop them they must be completely annihilated. Ender is sent to the Battle School when he is six, where he trains with other children. They live to fight. When he is twelve, he is sent to Command School. He thinks he is merely playing games on the simulator, but what he is really doing is fighting the buggers.
Ender is a very interesting character. He used to be afraid and lonely, but they turned the fear into hatred. He turned into Peter. But is this good or bad? The world doesn't mind; he killed the buggers, but the buggers were never the enemy. Possible Hypothesis #1- the buggers are simply weak antagonists. #2- Ender is his own enemy. #3- Card didn't like the social system and wanted it to be communist. #2 is most likely in my mind. Perhaps the ending is his trying to redeem himself- he certainly didn't like being tricked into killing the buggers.
Please help me out on this. I'm confused. It seemed like such a simple story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
#2 is better than you think!
Ender says:
"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. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves."
So, by killing the buggers, what is Ender doing to himself? (He beats them only when he understands them and when he understands them he loves them!)
So, what if I told you to think of the buggers as a part of Ender? That is, what if they were metaphorically a part of him. A part of him that is misunderstood by the adults and that makes him more like Peter and the government when destroyed. Follow this train of thought and see where it leads. And be happy that there is a little redemption at the end!
Post a Comment