Ender's Game 2

In the book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, a young boy, Ender, is destined to save the world from an intergalactic war with an intelligent alien species called the Buggers. Ender is always pushed and forced past the limits. Even though he succeeds everything that is thrown in front of him, more challenges of the near impossible are given to him.

“Young as he is, we've never had a boy better prepared for command. Usually they go at eleven, but at nine and a half he's top flight.”(Page 154)

Ender's commanders are always making Ender do the impossible. They planned to make him go to command school one and a half years before he is supposedly allowed to go. They switch up the rules just so they can get their hands on a good commander in battle. I find this extremely selfish and unfair to Ender even though what they are doing is for the fate of the whole planet Earth.

“You have known for eight days that there is a conspiracy among some of the more vicous of these 'children' to cause the beating of Ender Wiggin... Ender Wiggin, an inestimable important international resource, will be placed in serious danger of having his brains pasted on the walls of your orbiting schoolhouse. And you, fully warned of this danger, propose to do exactly-” “Nothing” (Page 201)

This quote shows the how inhumane Colonel Graff, the person who said to send no help to Ender, is when trying to make Ender tough enough for the job of destroying the Buggers. He trusts Ender to succeed in saving himself so much, that he makes no effort in helping him. He believes that it is beneficial for Ender to face unfairness in the extreme. Colonel Graff's confidence in Ender can be viewed as thoughtful and meaningful, but it personally makes me think that he is just simply mad and not sane enough to teach children.

“I already had a battle today, I had two battles today- the bastards know what I've been through, and they're doing this to me. William Bee, Griffin Army, Talo Momoe, Tiger Army, 1900. He sat on the edge of the bed. The note trembled in his hand. I can't do this, he said silently. And then not silently. “I can't do this.”

This quote shows how extremely heartless Colonel Graff is. He is making Ender fight a battle even though Ender had fought two gruesome battles already, and had to kill Bonzo, an egotistical commander that hated Ender's success, out of self-defense. The regular battles for a regular army is one battle per week. Ender has been fighting two battles per day ever since he started leading his own army. This next battle is Ender's third battle in a single day, but what makes it worse is that he has to fight two entire armies at the same time! This is about the most monstrous thing that Ender has to face. It is so impossible that Ender breaks. He doubts himself in sadness of fear that he will finally satisfy the other armies' wishes, that Ender finally loses a battle. In the end, Ender does fight the battle, and surprisingly wins. This shows how tenacious Ender is, and how much of a fighter he really is.