Ender’s Game Character Analysis Essay
A mission that decides the destiny of humanity, its survival or obliteration, is a challenge many will succumb to. Failure is not an option. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who fights in the Third Invasion with the fate of humanity at his hands. Ender was constantly bullied and harrassed all of his childhood partly due to being a third child in a family violating government’s two child policy.
Being an interest to the International Fleet, Ender is taken by an optimistic commander Colonel Graff to Battle School in order to be trained into the role of a commander. Through much of the pain he endured, it was all in pursuit of stopping the threat of the “buggers.” Living in constant fear and being abused by his older brother Peter, Ender strived to never have the same personality as his brother and acquired compassion. Valentine Wiggin, Ender’s sister, defended him from their violent brother and motivated him to persevere through his training. Even with Ender’s hatred of Battle School, he still learned the skills to be a leader, which proved essential to any chance of preserving humanity.
As the plot of the novel progresses, Ender Wiggin develops from an inexperienced child into an effective commander and leader through his interaction with other characters: Colonel Graff, Peter Wiggin, and Valentine Wiggin. Colonel Graff was in charge of Ender from the beginning, and threw different kinds of challenges towards him in order to build Ender into a leader. With the role of managing the Battle School, Graff made decisions that would shape Ender into a leader, creating challenges for Ender with many being opposed by almost every member of the International Fleet. Graff isolates Ender from his group by constituting him as the greatest in the midst of the army. Bitterness arises in his classmates at the Battle School and they quickly turn against him. Graff makes it sound as if Ender is an angel when compared to the others proclaiming, “There’s only one boy on this launch with any brains at all, and that’s Ender Wiggin. Take a good look at him, little boys.” (Card 32) This led to other students already setting him as a target and forced Ender to defend himself against his envious classmates. In isolation, Ender had to work harder to excel above the rest. Ender learned to stand up for himself and take control of the situation. He later applies this skill when he becomes a commander of his own troop.
Later in Ender’s time at Battle School as a commander, Ender repeats this technique on his own soldier Bean since he is noticeably better than the rest of his assigned army. Unfortunately this made Bean a target and while he is considered the greatest within his group, everyone tries to outperform Bean. This is evident as Ender praises Bean in front of his team, “Excellent. At least I have one soldier who can figure things out.” (Card 161) Ender used this method because when it was exercised upon him, he saw others became his competition which increased both his and their interest in becoming superior within the group. Even though Ender knew it was the wrong thing to do, he still understood that the positive would outweigh the negative when it came to strengthening his troops.
Being hateful is not what everyone wants to be, especially for Ender who tries to be the opposite of his brother Peter to achieve respect. Peter’s constant threats shaped Ender’s mind to never have the same characteristics as his belligerent brother. Peter explains, “I could kill you like this… Just press and press until you’re dead. And I could say that I didn’t know it would hurt you, and that we were just playing, and they’d believe me, and everything would be fine.” (Card 12) Peter was always jealous of Ender’s life, especially when he found out that Ender was chosen for Battle School while he was considered insufficient to enter.
Peter was rejected due to having a low tolerance of the things that were around him and was believed to be insufficient enough to lead a fleet into battle. Yet, Ender was seen as the ideal leader, one who would gain the respect of a fleet. Ender saw what his brother had become, and strived to never become as evil as him, promising himself to be compassionate and never kill anyone. Ender later upholds this commitment when he becomes a commander and is extremely cautious of using the same aggressive temper exhibited by his brother. This allowed Ender to establish friendship with members of the Battle School who would later join his fleet. Ender took unconventional approaches with great strategy which no one else thought of and was contested by many.
Yet, Ender’s kindness earned him the trust of the fleet. When Ender unknowingly defeated the buggers, he is told that the whole time he was actually killing them. Ender gets extremely upset by the way they used him to fulfil their own needs. Ender is disappointed in himself as he broke his own promise and he laments, “I didn’t want to kill them all. I didn’t want to kill anybody! I’m not a killer! You didn’t want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it.” (Card 293) Ender desired to be the opposite of his brother. Even though the promise of not killing anyone had been broken, his difference in personality allowed for him to be a strong leader to the fleet and destroy the opponent. Instead of being aggressive, Ender first made sure to receive the assurance of his fleet, taking a strategic approach with the rest of the army following his commands.
Never giving up was hard for Ender who had went through so much stress at Battle School, he was on the verge of falling apart and wanting to leave the school because he was not physically and mentally strong enough. The teachers saw Ender’s hatred for Battle School and decided to use his most trusted friend as a tool to nudge him back into the path of being a commander. To achieve this, they used Ender’s sister Valentine attempting to influence Ender into changing his mind back into their preferred direction. Valentine explained to Ender that if he does not try in the battle, then the world they live in would end. As she expressed, “If you try and lose then it isn’t your fault. But if you don’t try and we lose then it’s all your fault.” (Card 241).
Ender learned that he must persevere and never give up. The only person he could blame if he sat back idle would be himself. Ender later applies this belief when he becomes a commander by knowing that if he does not do anything he will be the one to blame. He was placed in the position and now he must succeed at it. During a “simulation, ” Ender argues with himself as he is battling his thoughts over following his teachers instructions or throwing it all away to see anger in their eyes. Furthermore, this is all happening during the so-called simulation which is actually a real-life battle for the fate of humanity. As he was having a feud with himself he declares, “No, that isn’t true, he told himself. They need me and if I fail, there might not be any home to return to.” (Card 292) Ender sees that he has people who love him, but if he does not try they would be lost.
Valentine motivated Ender to stay on track through his fight to protect humankind. Instead of having Ender breakdown on purpose, Valentine directed him to persist instilling in him that there are people who love him and count on him for their future. Ender would not have been able to serve as a successful commander if Colonel Graff, Peter Wiggin, and Valentine Wiggin were not there to influence his journey of becoming a leader. Graff taught Ender the ways to command his troops, separating him from the army in order to make him work harder, a successful practice that Ender tried to emulate when he himself became a leader.
Peter’s threats and open hatred lead Ender to become kind and compassionate towards his army which earned him their trust. Ender’s confidant, friend and sister Valentine motivated Ender to complete the mission by explaining to him that the world would be lost if he did not try to protect it.
All of these characters took part in Ender’s transformation into a commander of a fleet destined to protect their planet. Being a leader is extremely demanding, and rigorous tasks must be completed which are driven by both hardwork and dedication. Leadership demands many skills, and much physical and mental stress was put upon Ender to strengthen his personality so he would not break in the battle to save humanity.
