Ender's Game ch1-6

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is a futuristic science fiction with the theme of space battles. It’s similar to the other ordinary sci-fi space war stories but different in its main focus dealing with the concept of the space wars which, I think, was unexpected and interesting to point out. This book leads the reader through the whole process of an ordinary boy who was far beyond from being involved in any types of battles, to well-trained battle leader.  

In the beginning of the book “Ender’s Game”, it starts with Ender getting his monitor taken out. He felt a little strange as to why, but moved on. At school, he was the type of guy that often got beat up by a group of bigger people. It was no different from any other ordinary day where Ender just stood there and let them beat him up. However, Ender got a strange sense of confidence and beat them back hard, really hard that even after the guy he was beating up was knocked down, he wouldn’t stop. Later that day, some officers came over to Ender’s house while he was chilling out with his brother and his sister, and he thought that they were here for his violent act earlier in the day. Unexpectedly, Ender heard news that he was invited to attend the battle school. The officer explained that it was the best he could do both for himself and his family. Pursued by the office, speaking with sole confident that Ender could only have imagined, he decided to follow the office to the battle school. 

As the officers discussed, Ender was placed alone. They did so to gain him skills to not rely on other people, but to stand by himself. Nevertheless, he surprised the officers with some friends he made through the strategic games in the school, which he was extremely good at, by the end of the day, also showing the officers his ability to find solutions very quickly.

In the beginning, as he was an introverted guy, he didn’t really plan on attending the battle school, but I think he is starting to realize that he was a third child, which means he is a burden to his family. This is one of the biggest reasons why he changed his mind which reveals that family means a lot to him, and he relies on them a lot. 

At the battle school, he struggles at first because he is not used to being alone and not having anyone around to overcome the loneliness as the officers purposely separated him. However he shortly solved those internal problems by his own way which surprised the adults. This indicates that Ender is more capable than the officers think, foreshadowing to show his unlimited abilities throughout the book.