Ender's Game

Genres: Science Fiction

Synopsis

Ender's Game (SparkNotes Literature Guide) by Orson Scott Card
Making the reading experience fun!

Created by Harvard students for students everywhere, SparkNotes is a new breed of study guide: smarter, better, faster.

Geared to what today's students need to know, SparkNotes provides:

chapter-by-chapter analysis
explanations of key themes, motifs, and symbols
a review quiz and essay topics
Lively and accessible, these guides are perfect for late-night studying and writing papers.

Publisher: Union Square & Co.

Print pages: 80

Sample

Born in 1951 in Washington and raised on the west coast, Orson Scott Card attended Brigham Young University and spent two years as a Mormon missionary Brazil. Highly influenced by his Mormon upbringing, in his introduction to Ender's Game Card mentions that Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy inspired him to write science fiction. He claims that in high school he was fascinated by military strategy and especially the crucial role that a leader plays in an army. The idea of the Battle Room, the game around which the novel Ender's Game is organized, came to him when he was sixteen years old, but he did not begin to write the story until years later. Since Card came up with the basic concept of the book at such a young age it is not surprising that his young characters have considerably more penetrating thoughts and complex emotions than children in most other stories. This emphasis on children is one that Card very consciously molded, and he states that one of his goals was for everyone to have to see things from their point of view.

Although Ender is undoubtedly an exceptional child, in many ways he is very similar to all of the other characters in the book. In Ender's Game, Ender and the other children have the complex emotions and relationships that adults have. Card states that the military histories that he read described soldiers who appeared to be children engaged in deadly games. So while emphasizing their very real feelings and ideas, Card is always conscious of the fact that these are, after all, boys and girls thrown into an adult world in a time of desperation. Although the idea of battle games permeates the book, Ender's Game itself is anything but a game, and its strong emphasis on moral issues no doubt reflects its author's religious background.

The winner of the 1986 Hugo and Nebula awards, Ender's Game is Orson Scott Card's best-known work. Since its publication in 1985 the book has been considered a science fiction classic. Although the innovative military strategies that form the heart of the story date can be traced back to his high school days, the book itself is the work of a mature author. Card, who has a master's degree in literature from the University of Utah, has continued to write at a rapid pace, producing five other parts to the Ender series in addition to creating several new series, many plays, short stories, and a handful of other novels. The sequel to Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, won the Hugo and Nebula awards in 1987, making Card the first author to win both awards twice.

Card's writing is deliberately lucid, almost to the point of simplicity, and it is for this reason that his books may be read by people of all ages. His simple style is especially appropriate as he describes the world of children rather than of adults. However, the fact that Ender's Game is as fun and informative for an adolescent as it is for an adult means that the book is destined to be read over and over again by people at various stages of their lives. Card's book conveys a timeless message, as there will always be children who can relate to Ender and adults who both remember what they once were and realize how similar that still is to what they are now.

Ender Wiggin, the third in a family of child geniuses, is selected by international military forces to save the world from destruction. Before being chosen Ender wears a unique monitor that allows the heads of the military to see things as Ender does. Ender's brother Peter and his sister Valentine also wore this monitor, although neither was selected, nor did they have it for as long as Ender, and Peter will never forgive Ender for this. Peter hates Ender, and even when the monitor is taken out it does nothing to decrease Peter's anger. The same is true of Ender's schoolmates, and he is forced into brutally beating the leader of a gang of bullies in order to protect himself. Although Valentine tries to protect Ender from Peter, he is only saved from his brother when Colonel Graff of the International Fleet comes to take Ender away to Battle School. Ender leaves behind Valentine, who loves him, in order to help save the world from the buggers.

Battle School is located on a ship far from earth. On the flight there Ender demonstrates his ability to brilliantly visualize gravitational effects, and Graff begins to isolate him from his fellow classmates. Ender lives with the new recruits, called Launchies. He makes a few friends among the recruits and ends his isolation, although his brilliance will never cease causing resentment. Inside the battleroom, Ender figures out how to maneuver in null gravity, along with another recruit named Alai. Ender and Alai become friends, and this helps Ender fit in with the rest of the group. Ender manages to get farther in one of the computer games, called the mind game, than anyone ever had before him, and although he does not know, the military commanders take notice.

Ender is abruptly promoted to Salamander Army. There Ender is befriended by Petra Arkanian, the only girl in the army. The army commander, Bonzo Madrid, does not like Ender and does not want him around. Ender practices with Petra and begins to teach his launch group what he knows. Ender helps the army by disobeying Bonzo, who hates Ender, but fortunately Ender is traded to Rat Army. Ender is put in Dink Meeker's platoon. Dink is an excellent toon leader, and Ender does well in battles. He continues teaching his Launchies, even though this causes resentment among other soldiers. Ender gets into a fight and he hurts four older boys who attack him. It is clear to Ender that the teachers are leaving him to fend for himself.

Meanwhile, Peter has convinced Valentine that it is time for them to assert themselves. Peter has unlimited ambition, and he is intelligent enough to try to manipulate world events. Valentine agrees to work with him because she wants their impact to be a positive one. Disguised on the information networks they. . .