Ender's Game

I have recently read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It is about a boy named Andrew Wiggin (more commonly called Ender Wiggin) that was sent to “battle school” in space. This book takes place in the future where two races, the Humans and the “Buggers” fight a war in space. Ender was one of the chosen gifted boys to train in battle school for a chance to become a commander. Life in the school is hard and unpredictable. In his years there, the other children viewed him with hate, because he was younger and more talented than they were. His ability was far greater than the others.

Ender has learned a valuable lesson from his experiences. Ender has spent 4 difficult years at battle school. Obstacles have been thrown in his path and he has to try and get past them. The teachers have long recognized his ability and singled him out. They isolated him and tried to make his life as miserable as possible. This is how he learns that his problems can be only solved by himself. He realizes that no matter how dire the situation is, he must never seek help. He would handle it his own way. The teachers did this to bring out the best in him, but they are his enemy at the same time, by refusing to give him help and discouraging him, trying to shatter him into pieces.  They believed that if he were to be the commander of the Human fleet of ships, then he would have to think of new ideas himself. He must not rely on his inferiors. This life lesson helps him by teaching him how to take care of himself, and giving him the ability to work hard, to overcome obstacles, and to achieve goals, alone.

Ender also has the ability to understand others. Battle school has made him do thing he never wanted to do. He has accidentally killed 2 people in his 11 years of life so far, and he has hurt people to keep himself alive. After he has wiped out entire Bugger population, he regrets doing what he did and goes to colonize the Bugger worlds, but with humans. He wants to salvage what is left of them and keep them in history. He believes that all things deserve to live and be honored. He doesn’t want the memory of the war to die. I think that Ender has completely changed from what he was 5 years ago, the time he was taken from his home on Earth. He used to be a frightened little kid that depended on his older sister for protection. Now he is a person who solves his own problems and seeks help from no one but himself. I believe that people has the ability to change and become what they want to be if they try. If a mind is set on something, don’t give up on it.