Ender's Game - Reflections Pp 200-end *spoilers*

[J-Lynn Van Pelt]

Pg 200 is right after Ender appoints Bean as a toon leader and Colonel Graff is being reemed by General Pace because Dap filed a report against him.

And the book ends with the often debated chapter "Speaker for the Dead."

I reread the last 100 pages more often than I reread the entire book. I think the story arch could be its own book.

What do you think?

[Brooke]

I have to admit I didn't see the end at all, I got to this point and thought, "Wow, there's not much book left, he must be setting up the sequel to be the actual battle against the buggers."

I did not like the end chapter - not because of the content, but simply because the tone shifted so much. I've had issues with other books that do this (The Keep being a recent one). I understand he was setting up the sequel, but it really does just feel so jarringly different from the rest of the book.

[Angie]

I didn't expect the end either. I didn't expect Ender to be sent to commander's school. And I was pleasantly surprised by the ending... with it being real rather than training. I realize that the end was kinda setting up for a sequel but then again I probably won't read the sequel and don't feel like I have to. I kinda like how Card left it up in the air if Ender will find a planet for the buggers or now.

[Travis]

The end was a shocker to me. The realization that it was real and not a simulation....was incredible. I remember the day I read that chapter a year ago. It was 2am and I said out loud, "wow" waking up my significant other and me having this silly grin on my face. I had to tell her the whole story right then and there before she went back to sleep, haha.

[Nick, Founder (In Absentia)]

I was also shocked at the end. I read this first in tenth grade and remember having to reread it to make sure I got it right. I rushed out the next day to get Speaker for the Dead.

[J-Lynn Van Pelt]

Interesting posts. I actually figured out the ending right after Ender got to commander school. I don't remember exactly what tipped me off, but knew that the intensity of the adults and the intensity of Ender's training had to mean that they were "playing" for real.

That said, I still loved the ending.

In the introduction to the book, Card mentions that he originally thought the book Ender's Game was just a set up for what he thought was the stronger story of Speaker for the Dead. Yet, a lot of people have issues with the final chapter.

Ideas? Comments?

[J-Lynn Van Pelt]

So, I just reread the last 100 pages. Boy, are they brutal. I forgot that Ender got to the point that he chewed his own hand in his sleep until it openly bled.

I know Rackham and Graff wholeheartedly believed that Ender had to defeat the buggers in order for humanity to survive. But, I don't think I could have watched Ender's spiral.

It is interesting how time changes the way you read a book. When I first read Ender's Game, I was a bitter teen who had just spent a terrible year at a military academy and I completely understood Ender's emotional descent.

Now, rereading it as a (somewhat) older reader who has the benefit of relative perspective, I just kept thinking about what bastards Rackham and Graff had to be. Don't get me wrong, I love Graff's character and his weight gain and arguments with other military leaders show us that he suffered. And the conversation between Graff and Rackham after Ender passes out during battle shows us that they love him. Maybe I am weaker than they were because I would have fought for another way to train Ender. I couldn't have watched it happen and done nothing.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

This will be our full spoilers thread for the reread!

[Kateb]

I love this book, as each of my grandkids reached 17 and would ask me to advice them on a "good " book it was one I would give to them.

I feel it opened their minds to books that make you think, but are also entertaining as you read it.

6 grandkids later and all love the book . Didn't like the next in the series but the 3rd was great

[Jen]

I love this book so much. My fourth read and I love it just as much as ever. It is very nearly a perfect sci fi novel to me, and kicked off my interest in reading sci fi. I love it so hard. I know the author's social and religious views are problematic for some people but beyond that I don't know anything about Card, nor do I really care to. In this instance the art speaks for itself. I don't feel this book is Mormon propaganda or any such thing. If it is a little light on female characters, well, its certainly not the only military-type book with that problem. Not all militaries are built like the Malazan military.

This book has everything for me. A hostile but misunderstood alien race. A plucky and brilliant group of children who achieve the impossible - yet its not a YA novel but very much adult. The love between Ender and Valentine; its nice to have a book without a romantic plotline once in a while, and yet this book has so much heart.

The first time I read it, I was surprised that Ender had been fighting the war but didn't know it, and I loved the twist. This time of course I knew but it was just as powerful, and was paying close attention to notice when the real war actually began.

This poor little boy, what they did to him, and yet what greatness he achieved. I love this fictional little boy.

Speaker for the Dead is an excellent read too but in a very different way. I haven't read any other books in the series or any other books by Card for that matter, and I've never really felt the need to.

[Gary]

It's been a while since I read this book, but when I did it was a hard copy. I mention it because I wasn't shocked by the ending because of the hard copy, among other things. I remember physically being towards the end of the book and thinking, "Well, he's going to have to wrap this up pretty quick. That's going to make it a 'it was all a dream...' or 'you've been played this whole time...' ending." Just me?

[Kira]

One of the things that impressed me early on with this book was the emotional depth and analysis that Card inserts as part of the story. He wasn't just talking about what a character was feeling but why.

The ending of the book wrapped it up together so well. Yes, I'll echo what others have said, it did feel a little abrupt. But it also felt right, like it was the only way it really could have ended.

I'm glad I was an adult when I first read this book. As brutal as it was to watch Ender deal with the ramifications of what Graff and Rackham put him through, I felt I could understand why they'd done it. And what Ender did with what he'd experienced... man, I felt so proud of him.

[Chris]

The writing is not so good — clunky dialogue, Gary Stu, hard-to-believe plot points — but I do like the themes. The moral issues are central from the start. It's a stark contrast with the gung-ho attitude of Starship Troopers.

[Sabrina]

I’m going to be in the minority here. I’ve read this book for the first time and did not really like what I found. On a positive note, it was very fast-paced and the story really kept my interest, but oh the morale from this book? I honestly don’t know what the author wants to tell us. I’m pretty sure it would be something along these lines: You’re only worth something if you’re smart. Always fight back harder, never lose, if you get knocked down you can’t get up. Your female genes will always be against you. Your mentors will never have your back. I really hope humanity will be smarter in the future.

[Chris]

What is Ender's game? It's not the war against the buggers; that is the adults' game. Ender is very good at being what the adults want him to be — a killer and a genocide — to his ultimate regret. Becoming a Speaker for the Dead and promising to find a new home for the surviving bugger queen show the person he chooses to be.

More generally, every child is born into a world run by adults, but ultimately the children will have to take over and run things. They often inherit points of view, not all of them worthy to continue.

[Sabrina]

Chris wrote: "What is Ender's game? It's not the war against the buggers; that is the adults' game. Ender is very good at being what the adults want him to be — a killer and a genocide — to his ultimate regret. ..."

I like that interpretation way better than mine! Unfortunately, Ender’s feelings never really came across that well. Sure, he often felt remorse afterwards but sometimes his feelings were also described as exhilarating. I guess my main problem was that Ender did not seem like a kid but more as a teen to me. I guess I also had trouble to have some compassion with Ender’s trials because no matter how stressed he was he never suffered one defeat.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

My takeaway was that Ender was immensely skilled at strategy, thinking outside of the box. He loved it for itself, and then it was turned on him. The things he thought were games were real, the play time actually war training, and he unwittingly became a part of something he wouldn't have done if he'd known. He was able to figure out how to talk to them, after all. If they'd pointed him at that, maybe he could have been a hero without all the death.

So the moral is that anything can become a weapon and children are what the adults make of them. Also, those who are smart enough to destroy are usually also smart enough to build.

[Gary]

Chris wrote: "What is Ender's game? It's not the war against the buggers; that is the adults' game. Ender is very good at being what the adults want him to be — a killer and a genocide — to his ultimate regret. ..."

There's are interesting grammatical and vocabulary possibilities in the title. It could be "Ender's" as in the possessive, meaning this is the game of/by/for Ender. Or "Ender's" could be the contraction of either "Ender is" or "Ender was" meaning "Ender is game" or "up for it" if you will.

In either case "game" could be read differently. It could mean something more along the lines of "prey" or "victim(s)" rather than a game that is played. As in, "Ender's prey" as in his targets/victims or if "Ender's" is the contraction that he is himself prey or the victim.

Personally, I don't think OSC is quite that much of a linguistic master. I've seen no evidence for it. I suspect that, like a lot of the prose in Ender's Game, it might be an unintentional revelation on the author's part. I found most of the book to be a rather manipulative exercise in self-insertion and wish fulfillment by the author, and it has all the flair of listening to the recordings of a patient lying(*) on a psychiatrist's couch. I suppose it could be both somehow: a very subtle and nuanced English masterwork AND a pandering Marty Stu exercise. But the burden of proof there is pretty high, and from what I know and have read from the author that seems extraordinarily unlikely.

(*) grammatical ambiguity of that word fully intended....

[Chris]

Allison wrote: "So the moral is that anything can become a weapon and children are what the adults make of them."

That often happens, but what Peter and Valentine do on Earth is a counterpoint. As Locke and Demosthenes, they avert a war. Ultimately Peter secures lasting peace. So children are capable of thinking and doing new things and moving beyond their parents' generation.

On a tangent, I have a hard time believing that a psychopath who seriously wants to kill his family and who tortures small animals is going to grow out of it and become the greatest statesman ever. I read most of the sequels, including ones that detail Peter's actions on Earth, and I never saw a convincing explanation for his transformation.