Ender has been getting bullied by a boy in his school named Stilston. Stilston and his corrupt friends decided to pick on Ender and make him feel lonely. Having only himself to rely on, he feels that no one will be able to help him. As a result, Ender beat up Stilston to help himself. When he sees what he has done, Ender relates the situation to him and his brother, Peter. Peter bullied him, and now he bullied Stilston. CHAPTER THREE “GRAFF”
It would keep him away from Peter– that was more important, that might be a matter of life itself. But to leave Mother and Father, and above all, to leave Valentine. And become a soldier. Ender didn’t like fighting. He didn’t like Peter’s kind, the strong against the weak, and he didn’t like his own kind either, the smart against the stupid (Page 24). This quote shows Ender’s personality. He doesn’t like to hurt others because it reminds him of how Peter treats him. This also shows Valentine’s importance in Ender’s life. Ender learned to have empathy towards others from her. Now that Ender has to live without her, there is nothing stopping him from becoming like Peter. Ender must be morally strong and from becoming like Peter at battle school. CHAPTER FOUR “LAUNCH”
Just as the next blow was coming, Ender reached up with both hands, snatched the boy by the wrist, and then pulled down on the arm, hard…Ender felt sick. He had only meant to catch the boy’s arm. No. No, he had meant to hurt him, and had pulled with all his strength. He hadn’t meant it to be so public, but the boy was feeling exactly the pain Ender had meant him to feel. Null gravity had betrayed him, that was all. I am Peter. I’m just like him. And Ender hated himself (Page 32). Ender is put into a situation where he is getting hit in the head by one of the soldiers. He feels like he must attack to defend himself. Ender does the wrong thing but has good intentions for the reason that he wants the bullying to end. Ender doesn’t see that though and he sees himself hurting others for the fun of it as Peter does. CHAPTER FIVE “GAMES”
The fear stayed, all through dinner as no one sat by him in the mess hall. The other boys were talking about things– the big scoreboard on one wall, the food, the bigger kids. Ender could only watch in isolation (Page 38). Ender feels fear because Bernard is gathering a gang of bullies while Ender has no one to protect him the way Valentine protected him from Peter. He is vulnerable, and has no friends to watch his back. If he were to be attacked, no one would save him. CHAPTER EIGHT “RAT”
Instead, he found a mirror. And in the mirror he saw a face that he easily recognized. It was Peter, with blood dripping down his chin and a snake’s tail protruding from a corner of his mouth (Page 88). This is probably what Ender hates thinking about most. Being the same kind of person as Peter.The game Ender is playing is the same game in which he killed a giant and a snake so the game is sending the message to Ender that he is a killer. The game tells Ender that he’s like Peter so he can become more ruthless during battle. CHAPTER NINE “LOCKE AND DEMOSTHENES”
Now he knew what he hated so much. He had no control over his own life. They ran everything. They made all the choices. Only the game was left to him, that was all, everything else was them and their rules and plans and lessons and programs, and all he could do was go this way or that way in battle (Page 110).
Although Ender is the by far the best and most talented soldier, he’s still doing what someone else wants him to do. He has a great amount of pressure put on him from constantly overcoming obstacles. Instinctively, he views the battle as him against the I. F (the people controlling him) instead of him against other armies. CHAPTER TEN “DRAGON”
Graff had deliberately set him up to be separate from the other boys, made it impossible for him to be close to them. And he began now to suspect the reasons behind it. It wasn’t to unify the rest of the group — in fact, it was divisive. Graff had isolated Ender to make him struggle. To make him prove, not that he was competent, but that he was far better than everyone else. That was the only way he could win respect and friendship. It made him a better soldier than he would ever have been otherwise (Page 121). After he starts to treat Bean badly, Ender realizes what the advantage of isolating a single person out is. He now understands the reason Graff isolated him when he was first starting out at Battle School. He wanted Ender to stand out and outperform every other boy in the program. This shows that Ender is humanity’s only chance of survival. CHAPTER ELEVEN “VENI VEDI VICI”
I will remember this, thought Ender, when I am defeated. To keep dignity, and give honor where it’s due, so that defeat is not disgrace. And I hope I don’t have to do it often (Page 128). This quote shows Ender’s greatness in the way that he has respect and pride even towards people who he is battling against. Ender has a large amount of dignity even towards his enemies. It also demonstrates Ender’s competitiveness and his unwillingness to lose. CHAPTER THIRTEEN “VALENTINE”
“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them–” (Page 167). In this quote Ender is explaining to Valentine the reason he hates himself. He is able to have a great amount of empathy for them, but at that moment he must kill them.When he does this he is also hurting himself emotionally.In the situations Ender has been in he has no choice other than destroying those enemies, but he wishes for there to be another. CHAPTER THIRTEEN “VALENTINE”
“I don’t want to beat Peter.” “Then what do you want?” “I want him to love me.” (Page 169). Ender tells Valentine that doesn’t want to compete against Peter. He wants a loving relationship with his brother. Unfortunately, to Peter, his and Ender’s relationship is like a competition.Ender shows that he prefers affection over war. CHAPTER THIRTEEN “VALENTINE”
“So the whole war is because we can’t talk to each other.” “If the other fellow can’t tell you his story, you can never be sure he isn’t trying to kill you.” “What if we just left them alone?” “Ender, we didn’t go to them first, they came
to us. If they were going to leave us alone, they could have done it a hundred years ago, before the First Invasion.” “Maybe they didn’t know we were intelligent life. Maybe–” (Page 176-177). During Graff’s explanation on how he thought the war against the Buggers began he tells Ender that since the Buggers are only able to communicate through their mind, they aren’t able to understand that humans don’t want war. Ender wants to know why this can’t be fixed. This shows Ender has empathy towards all living things. CHAPTER FOURTEEN “ENDER’S TEACHER”
Ender grabbed Mazer’s uniform and hung onto it, pulling him down so they were face to face. “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!” He was crying. He was out of control (Page 205). Ender is angry that he was manipulated and is sad that he wiped out an entire species of intelligent life. He had finally understood the Buggers, but it was too late for him to do anything then. He feels that it was a terrible thing to do even though he didn’t know he was doing it and had no other choice. Ender feels betrayed and doesn’t care about what happens to him. CHAPTER 15 “SPEAKER FOR THE DEAD”
“I’ll carry you,” said Ender, “I’ll go from world to world until I find a time and a place where you can come awake in safety. And I’ll tell your story to my people, so that perhaps in time they can forgive you, too. The way that you’ve forgiven me.” (Page 220). Ender learns that people manipulate him and use his talents without his consent. In the end, he wants to help the Buggers after wiping them out. With this opportunity, Ender can put his kindness to good use and repay the Buggers by helping rebuild their species.