Empathy In Ender's Game

He learned that the buggers never meant to start to war with the humans and the whole thing was a misunderstanding. One example of when the theme was shown was in the quote where Ender said, “In battle I killed ten billion buggers…who had not even launched a third attack against us, and no one thinks to call it a crime” (Card 309). Ender regretted killing the buggers, but made up for it by letting the new bugger queen live and revive the species.

When given a dynamic setting and plot, change is inevitable. In the novel, Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, the author tells the story of a dystopian society which focuses on the task of defending itself from extraterrestrial creatures. Through the course of the book, the protagonist, Ender Wiggin, faces challenges that influence his actions and attitude. Although there are many characters who undergo change in the novel, Ender’s dynamic personality traits are more evident, being that he has a larger impact on readers. Due to being manipulated, Ender Wiggin changes from an ambitious young boy, to a subdued and wary character.

The only enemy that Ender truly fears, the buggers in the end prove to be friendly. The earth's greatest enemy, the alien race it was at war with, turns out not to have been intentionally hostile. The author constantly proves that friends and enemies are not

Ender illustrates how he feels like a puppet of the officials, fully controlled by them as they disregarded his opinions and forced him to participate in the games. The official’s manipulation of Ender led to his loss of

In many novels there are characters that manipulate other characters into doing something they will regret which creates sympathy for the reader. One of these novels is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card as explained in the article The Victim Hero by Alice Miller. In the article, Alice Miller successfully proves that Card creates a deserving sympathy for Ender.

Card in the novel demonstrates that a component that a person can control another is one’s humanity. Ender develops attack strategies to defeat the buggers by studying them. The last time that Ender visits the Earth, he reunites with his sister, Valentine. The two of them start to talk about what has happened throughout the years and Ender tells her that he has study the buggers for a while because Ender has an interest in them and as well, that someday he might fight them. Ender mentions to Valentine, “I used to study them… It’s the buggers themselves. I don’t know anything about them and yet someday I’m supposed to fight them” (237). Studying the enemy shows the humanity of Ender because he does not want to attack the buggers without knowing

Thesis: Some interesting themes to explore around the topic of manipulation in Ender’s Game relate to Ender’s life, whether manipulation is ever justified and the biblical perspective. Paragraph 1: Relation to the book Manipulation is possibly the most important theme surrounding Ender’s life. Major Anderson, Mazer Rackham, Valentine, Peter and Colonel Graff, each crucial characters to the story and all influence Ender at some point in

Ender Wiggin, psychologically, should not be held at fault for committing mass genocide. The novel Ender’s Game illustrates Ender

We haven’t seen each since you were left at the age of 6. I know you hate me, hate my violence, and you have never thought that I would become the alliance commander in chief, the Hegemon. It was true, I had plans for you, and I took advantage of your appearance to reach my popularity peak. But, Ender, you have to admit, you know me likewise yourself, Ender, I’ve been watching you for a long time, I know you have been the hero who saved humanity, and I have seen your video about The Last War with Buggers more than once, you destroyed all of the hive queens, hence, you would understand that we have the same temperament fluids in our blood. Now, I’m 77 years old, I have been ruled the earth nearly 60 years, it is time to tell my story to people. Ender, since you can speak for the buggers, surely you can speak for me. No one can understand more about the meaning behind my decision except you.

Ender’s Game is centered around a boy named Ender, who gets chosen to go to a military training center by the government, which is called Battleschool. As he grows his mind and skills, as well as his confidence, he gains friends and enemies along the way. In this novel, Ender shows the reader, and myself, that central message is that everything can be treated as a game, but, in the future, you will have to learn to acknowledge the world around you and realize that accidents and mistakes are real. You can’t just start over, you have to live with your faults, no matter how bad they are.

I don’t have murder in my heart” (Card, 84). Because Ender is afraid of becoming like his brother, he struggles with what he is and the things he did since he left home. Man vs. Society: “Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given you by good people, by people who love you.” (Card, 219) Valentine tells Ender that the government can control everyone. Families are not allowed to have more than two children unless the government gave them permission. The government allowed Ender, a third child, to be born in order to put an end to the bugger invasion. Man vs. Technology: The Battle School invented a computer mind game that challenges the children’s mind. Ender tries multiple times to beat the game, but the game always presents new obstacles. Man vs. Supernatural: “It’s the buggers themselves. I don’t know anything about them, and yet someday I’m supposed to fight them.” (Card, 167) The buggers are a race of aliens who invade Earth. They are a mysterious species that seem to possess one mind altogether. Several decades before Ender was born, the buggers were defeated, but they are invading again. The buggers’ Third Invasion is the reason Ender is taken to Battle School.

Ender was determined to find a new home for the buggers because he didn’t want anyone else to get hurt. For example, it says, “Your children are the monsters of our nightmares now. If I awoke you, we would only kill you again” (Card 320). Ender knew that reviving the buggers would only lead to another war because the humans would still not understand the buggers intentions. Additionally, Ender knew that the buggers had their own lives to live and wanted to convey this to the humans. He was able to prevent more bloodshed while also educating the humans on everything he knew about the buggers by writing a novel, on everything from their faults to their intentions, as the speaker of the dead. Specifically the novel says, “‘I’ll go from world to world until I find a time and a place where you can come awake in safety. And I’ll tell your story to my people, so that perhaps in time they can forgive you, too.” (Card 321). Ender decided to spend the rest of his life dedicated to the buggers to enlighten people on the reality of the genocide they forced him to commit. This helped him explain to the human kind how wrong it was to commit genocide against the

Empathy can be defined as making a connection to someone during a situation. In the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, empathy is a main part in some of the characters’ lives. Without empathy, the novel would lack many components that make the main characters, Jem and Scout, who they are.

Ender grew up in a harsh and belligerent society, run by a secretive and overly patriotic government. Because of Ender’s personality, he began to empathize with his own enemies, but still fought them, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Due to the conflicting emotions of empathy and hostility, Ender’s mind began to wither with the thought of the damage he had done to another race. Ender’s militaristic and desperate society forces him to unwillingly commit genocide to an extent where Ender’s withering and empathetic mind begins to question the consequences of his

Sympathy is a word many hear, but few accurately understand. It is often confused with empathy, and many times true sympathy is occasional. Many people take a moment to feel bad or sorry for someone, yet they rarely give it another thought. As a class, we read a short story by James Joyce called Eveline. The first time reading this story, it was a bit confusing and quite irritating. As a woman of the 21st century, one whom is “fierce” and independent, I found it tough to sympathize with Eveline. “Stop your pity party and create a happier life.” This is what I found myself saying, after my initial reading. However, I took a step back and actually looked at the story. I remembered the context it takes place in. The year, country, and how different things were back then. Placing myself in Eveline’s shoes, a woman from the early 1900’s, assisted me in sympathizing with her.