Book Blogging - Ender's Game: Chapter 4

In this chapter Ender meets Graff, the school superintendent, on the way to IF training school.  We find out what Ender's education is going to be like: the training is going to be harsh, possibly fatal, but it's necessary.


Graff starts giving personal attention to Ender by calling him the best which aliens him from his classmates. His classmates then start picking on him and Ender understands that is what Graff wanted to do. At first Ender tries to ignore the teasing but then fights back and breaks a kid's arm. The training to make Ender into a military leader has begun.

As a leader, Ender cannot become part of the crowd, he must stand apart. Graff tells Ender, "Individuals human beings are tools that others use to help us all survive." Leaders must see people as tools otherwise they may not do all they can to achieve the mission. Ender will be made into the finest military commander and the fate of the world will be on his shoulders

Graff also warns Ender not to be ignored that he should be too good to be ignored.  


Ender discovers about himself that fear makes him serious. This seems to foreshadow an ability to perform well in high stress combat situations. 

Looking back at Earth on the way to the training school in orbit, Ender sees it as just another planet and not as his home. Ender has become detached from his home completely.

Book Blogging - Ender's Game: Chapter 3

An officer from the International Fleet (IF) shows up to talk to Ender and gives us the overview of the world in which all the characters live.

Eighty years ago there was an attack by the "Buggers," an alien race, from space that nearly wiped out all of humanity. The only thing that prevented extinction was an under appreciated  genius by the name of Mazer Rackham. The Buggers had superior numbers and technology so the humans needed something to balance that and the global fighting force was then structured to find and train genius kids that could win with strategy. The world government sets up a system of population control and manipulation to advance that end and creates the implant program that we saw in the first chapter.

The IF officer informs Ender that he has passed the last phase of the test, which was what happens after the implant is removed, and invites Ender to IF officer school. There are no toys or games in school except the War Game, the greatest game of all. If Ender accepts and completes the training he is guaranteed to be a ship or fleet commander but he can never see his family again.

Next we see the framing, lying and manipulation of the IF officer and the IF in general. There is the removal of the fear of bullies because the school will not have any and getting away from Peter, his biggest bully. Next the officer tries to disconnect Ender from his family, he tells Ender that Ender was baptized in defiance of the law and his existence is a reminder to his parents of that shameful act of disobedience. He says that Peter hates him because he is living proof that Peter wasn't good enough, that he had potential but it didn't work out. The simple fact that Ender was born was proof that Peter and Val were promising but didn't make the cut. The officer conspicuously says nothing about Val. Of course all of this is mostly lies but "necessary" to cleave Ender off from his family.

Once Ender is framed as being an outsider to his own family, the IF officer next frames Ender as the next big savior of humanity. The Buggers will attack again and there is a very real possibility they will be successful in eliminating every human being that is mass death including the death of Ender's family.

Ender gives his answer and it ends up being a reflection of the officer's spiel. He says yes because he can protect humanity for its bullies, the Buggers. Also, it's his raison d'être and he wasn't meant to be part of his family because he was an extra birth. He says he doesn't want to go but he realizes that he has to grow up and do what he has to do, not want he wants. It is a very grown up sentiment from quite a young kid.

At the end of the chapter Val tells Ender that he loves him and she always will, Val tells Ender to come back to her. Even though Ender is going to school, Val's words makes it feel very much like a send off to war.

Beyond the revelations and the plot development, this chapter also gives us philosophical and political points to dwell on:

First is the value of genius. After the end of the Second World War, the planet was divided into three parts, the First World (America and her Allies), the Second World (the USSR and its allies) and the Third World (unaligned nations). The Soviet Union recently destroyed a very large part of the Nazi war machine at the Battle of the Kursk, the largest battle in history, using overwhelming numbers and abundant war materiel manufacturing. A line was drawn down the middle of Europe between Soviet occupied territory and First World nations called the Iron Curtain. If the Soviet Union wanted to march across Europe to the Atlantic Ocean there wasn't much stopping them except certain technologies owned by the US and UK, namely the Atom Bomb. A stalemate was in place and the Cold War was born. 

Knowing that it was very unlikely that the First World could match the Second World's numbers and geographic superior position, the USA developed the counter strategy of technological superiority (including Sci and Tech education emphasis) and extinction stakes (nuclear weapons program). In Ender's world we see two large foes in an extinction stalemate with capabilities on each side that doesn't directly match each opposing capabilities. We see the Earth peruse a genius program just like the West sought to create better scientists and engineers, including the West's efforts to find the next Einstein or VonBraun.

Second, knowing that the generals tend to prepare for the last war makes us feel uncertain about humanity's fate because the IF is so invested in their genius program almost as if putting all their eggs in one basket. We cannot presume that the book ends with the Ender winning and saving humanity, the obvious plot direction at this point. There is a possibility of Ender becoming an Adama like character trying to save a defeated humanity.

Third, we see this unsettling power that the government has over breeding and religion. People are forbidden to follow religion or have more than two kids by law. The IF views all kids as potential IF personal as if they have eminent domain over people's bodies and lives. This also echoes the Cold War, especially physically education programs that prepare kids for army training. The President's Physical Challenge has kids compete in events that are all common in Army Basic Training; this program was instituted by President Kennedy who was an active Cold Warrior and WWII vet. 

The America founded on the Enlightenment principle of the People creating a government with their power and their consent (the source of America Exceptionalism ) does not exist in Ender's world. People exist to serve the government, its needs are supreme and it has the power over people's minds and bodies including what they believe and how they breed. All this is done in the name of possible and perhaps exaggerated threat of extinction which is an echo of Nuclear Annihilation. 

The stage has been set, the basic outline of Ender's world has been revealed to us. Now we get to see how it changes Ender and how Ender changes it. 

Book Blogging - Ender's Game: Chapter 2

In this chapter we first see Ender interacting with his brother, Peter, and his sister, Valentine, and how his brother bullies him. It's interesting to see that Ender actually has empathy with the Buggers (the alien enemies) because they are seen less than human and Ender being a third child is seen as unusual, strange and a little less human.

The salient thing about this chapter is the bullying. When Card describes Ender watching Peter like someone watching the sky from bad weather it felt very familiar. I think this part really draws readers in and gives them something to relate to very early in the book. Peter treats Ender as a reminder of Peter's previous potential and eventual failure. In this chapter we see Peter dwelling on these failures and Ender reflects this by his own insecurities about failing even though everyone had high hopes for him. There's this weird pairing of Peter being jealous of Ender's achievements and Ender not having any.

We also learn that the experiment isn't over and when Peter apologizes to Ender, who he thinks is sleeping, we suspect that Peter is part of the experiment. I enjoyed how Peter tells Ender that he loves him, it gives Peter depth and makes him not a flat character.

Bonus: First mention of Mazer Rackham. Peter's ambition for public office

Book Blogging - Ender's Game: Chapter 1

I have previously read this book but that was many years ago. My plan is to completely re-read before the movie comes out in November and then see the movie. 

The first chapter is a short chapter which quickly introduces the main character, Andrew (the eponymous Ender), and talks about both his home life with an overbearing older brother and his school life which involves boredom with the subjects being taught and the inability to fit in with his peers. We find out that at school and at home he is bullied but having a monitoring chip that he had for three years removed has changed his life and who he is is also changing. Ender is confronted by a classmate and for the first time he fights back and he fights back viciously.

Personally, being the youngest of three, like Ender, is something I can relate to. I have an older brother who wasn't always friendly to me and I remember being in a house where it seem there was a constant competition among the children. I also remember being in class and being bored with material that I already understood (less often than half the time though). I remember getting picked on and bullied by other kids so I feel like I can relate to Ender.

With a strong opening chapter, I look forward to the next chapter and reading the rest of the book.