Author's Purpose
Orson Scott Card didn't write "Ender's Game" to be a stand alone novel and actually wrote it so people would understand a book he had already outlined before writing "Ender's Game". He wrote it to establish the character of Ender in a book he was going to write called "Speaker for the Dead" (Wired). Card didn't anticipate the book to do so well and when asked why he responded, "If I knew, I would do it again. I don’t, but I have some ideas.". Orson Scott Card had no intention of writing an award winning novel but it turned out to be a huge success. In fact, it's become suggested reading for many military organizations including the United States Marine Corps (Wikipedia). Orson Scott Card commented, “I certainly was not conscious of it as I was writing him—I’m not much of a follower, and I’m not a good team player—and yet I created the kind of guy that I would follow” (Wired). Card accomplished a lot while not really trying to accomplish much more than establish a character. Orson Scott Card wrote “Ender’s Game” merely to set a basis for a future book that had not been written and the book that he wrote to set it up became a very well know book and highly rated among critics. Although most fictional books are written for people to enjoy, writing an enjoyable book was second on the list or second in Card’s mind while writing it though it turned out to be a very good book. Orson Scott Card wrote a book, “Ender’s Game”, that sets up a series but is also a good book stand alone. Although it wasn’t originally written, he adapted some parts of it to reflect political climates of the time and changed details in chapter fifteen in order to better match material in the later books in the series (Wikipedia).
Literary Analysis
Ender’s game takes place in the future with the constant threat of alien invasion. The whole world is locked into a peace treaty while they prepare their international space fleet dedicated to defending earth and wiping out the aliens, which they call buggers . The book starts out on earth when Ender is only 6. He’s a third child which means that he was given the opportunity to go to battle school which is on a space station, and he does (Chapter 3, pg 26). After a short time in battle school he progressed faster than anyone has before. And he did because he’s smarter and a better soldier than the others. When he first gets put into an army, he was resented and given orders not to shoot during the battles (7, pg 87). He proves he’s a capable soldier but because he’s younger than everyone he gets no respect. During his time in an army he practiced with his friends from his launch group and develops skills and tactics never seen before. When he gets put in charge of his own army he is only 9, nobody became a commander that early. Normally, commanders are replaced when one graduates but no one had graduated (Chapter 11, pg 191). They changed the rules, not only that but he was given Dragon Army, a name that hadn’t been used in years because of a superstition. Dragon army had the worst win-loss record of any army for years, that changed when Ender was commander. Normally commanders have three months to train their army before any battles, he was given a few weeks. They kept changing the rules trying to trip up ender, they gave him battles everyday, then later several battles a day. By the time he graduated he had a perfect record, his army had never lost a battle. When students graduate they take three years of pre-command schooling. Not for Ender, they sent him straight to command school but he first had an earthside stay. After that he meets a former war hero, Mazer Rackham.He is told that he’ll be taking part in battles on a simulator, what he isn’t told is that they aren’t in fact simulations but he is actually commanding real human spacecraft. Ender becomes depressed by the battles and when he finds his fleet outnumbered and surrounded at the queen’s homeworld he tries to get himself expelled for his ruthlessness he sacrifices his fleet to blow up the planet. After this fact, he’s told that it’s over, that it wasn’t a simulation and that he won the war. Meanwhile, earth is in turmoil and Ender’s sister Valentine is among the first colonists. Ender and Valentine leave to inhabit one of the empty bugger planets where they find an unhatched queen egg.
Reader's Journal
I didn’t start off the semester reading Ender’s game, I only picked it up after the book I was reading disappeared. In general, I am not a huge fan of reading but I genuinely enjoyed this book. This semester was the first time in years that I actually sat down and read when I didn’t have to and wasn’t forced to. Ender’s Game did a very good job of captivating the reader and making them read more. Some books are predictable, you spend another 45 minutes reading the end with everything panning out how you expected it to. Ender’s game wasn’t however, with every twist and turn you are right along side ender in his mind and nothing was predictable. The end of the book was strong enough and sad enough to make us reflect on past events and turns in the book. I believe that some books are only enjoyable if you can sit down for a while and read long enough for something to happen, but even when I would read Ender’s Game for only a few minutes between classes, it was action packed enough for things to happen and change in the plot. The book starts off in an unknown situation and slowly, over time things are explained into a clear picture of Ender’s past and present. The book takes place in Ender’s mind which lets us know what ender is feeling and thinking, from outside his mind it would seem that Ender is just a violent kid but ender doesn’t like hurting people. I really enjoyed reading Ender’s Game in class and at home. I’m not a particularly fast reader and being over three hundred pages it took a good portion of the semester to read. It doesn’t mean much coming from someone who doesn’t read very often but I would rate Ender’s game a ten out of ten.
Additional Media & Resources
http://www.wired.com/2013/10/cardqa/
http://grantland.com/features/ender-game-controversial-author-very-personal-history/
http://www.endersgamemovie.com/
http://enderverse.wikia.com/wiki/Ender's_Game
http://grantland.com/features/ender-game-controversial-author-very-personal-history/
http://www.endersgamemovie.com/
http://enderverse.wikia.com/wiki/Ender's_Game