Review of Ender’s Game

By | September 12, 2011

” Fairness is a wonderful attribute. It has nothing to do with war. ” Ender’s Game

” Who plays games with no rules… a fool ” Envogue

It has been exactly ten years since 9/11.

It was an event that touched every life of every American. It shook us to the core realizing that we were not safe and that there existed this type of evil and destruction in the world. With great humility and powerful memories of that day, I offer the possibility that change can and does occur.

I remember being in NYC parks at the time and recognizing the potent feeling of our collective sorrow and almost insane need to understand the root of such violence and destruction.

When looking for answers regarding human behavior, it is wise to look beyond the obvious and look in the direction of Science Fiction. In the wonderful Ender’s Game, human nature is not only dissected and questioned , it is examined and retold through people who ordinarily have very little power in how the world is created and maintained.

Throughout the course of this book , war and domination are seen via the viewpoint of the winners and losers the dominated and the dominators.

The greath thing about this piece of art is that it makes us question the belief that to dominate is natural and human. A very interesting trick is created and played out here. Initially, those that attack are not human. They are insect-like with no understanding of language and the way these odd creatures (humans) communicate.

At one point, Ender states in an illuminating and angry moment: So the whole war is because we can’t talk to each other (p. 253).

Seemingly they attack out of fear and then find out much too late that this was a mistake. Eerily, this epiphany occurs once an entire race is eliminated. By making this a game and appealing to young people, everyone unwittingly goes along with war for war’s sake.

It takes much death and the love between Ender and his sister Valentine to realize that things must change.

Like any good system of domination, there are occasional life changing moments. These moments allow us to see that not ony are the children (young people ) aware of what is really going on they also hold the adults responsible for creating this monstrosity of human existence.

This in turn leads them to make alliances and create worlds of their own within this most controlling and oppressive of environments.

One thought on “Review of Ender’s Game

  1. Al

    Now I realize that I can knowingly relate the tea hagz with/to a bunch of overgrown, odd-language speaking insects. Beautiful!!! I believe there’s industrial strength bug spray for that problem. Spray away!!!

    Reply

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