The Dissection of Ender’s Game
By: Fayth Kakos
The setting of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, takes place first at a doctors office where Ender gets the monitor, which allows
scientists to become part of his perspective and view things as he does, removed. Gradually, he makes it to school, where he gets
picked on by bullies for being a third child in a society where you are only supposed to have two kids. Then, he reaches home, where
he see’s Peter, his jealous brother, and Valentine, the sister he loves. After being picked to go to Battle School to learn to fight
buggers (Aliens) his setting shifts to a battle ship where he is predicted to spend the next ten years at, until he is 16, with only one
visit when he is 12. He is only 6 now. The battle ship is much like Earth and is tilted on an axis. Ender has his own bed and is situated
as if it is boarding school, with each student having there own bunk. The setting takes place in the future where there have been
more than one bugger invasion. As the story progresses from battle school you find Ender at a sort of paradise in which he is
content. It is many years later before he makes it to this place, but it is after he is sufficiently broken and they needed a place to put
him before he continued. After that little faze you find him at Command School, here he takes real action in fighting off buggers even
though he doesn’t know he’s doing it until after it happens. And the last place you find Ender Wiggin is on a bugger planet where he
is helping to build a new society and stretch the limitations of human life.
Ender thought space
was beautiful!
S
etting!
Ender Wiggin
Ender Wiggin is the main or major character in the
book. Figuring out his character is kind of tough
because at first you think that he is a nice boy.
Then, he beats up another student and you start to
doubt what you know. Then you start to get on a
level where you understand him and his intentions.
As the book progresses you see that he is nothing
but a troubled kid. He is of pure heart, but he
seems to have problems with the other students at
Battle School and his confrontations are very
thorough. Yet, he is a remorseful child. His physical
appearance consists of dark hair and eyes as well as
a thin gangly physic. As he grows older and years
pass in the book he starts to become very muscular
and lithe. He is a very dynamic character, he seems
to change a lot throughout the story as he starts to
get a better grasp or understanding of who he really
is. His knowledge grows rapidly and he starts to use
his mind even more creatively then he did before. I
find him to be the protagonist in his story because
he is always the character who is fighting through
troubles and not causing them. He does not want to
cause trouble with the older kids, but they are
jealous of his ability and are always seeking
opportunities to strike him down. Ender is a very
easy person to relate with because you can really
understand what he is going through.
C
haracter!
Ender was serious, but
sensitive.
Valentine Wiggin
C
Valentine Wiggin spent most of her life defending Ender and for
that you picture her as a likeable character. Though it may be
controversial I think that she is a major character because of the
role she plays in the story and the affect she has on the main
character. She is the only person Ender loves and that gives her
a certain influence on him that the I.F. crave. They want to make
sure he has the strength to do what he needs to do, but it
seems that Valentine is the only one that can do it. She is the
character that convinces him to do stuff Colonel Graff wants
him to do. She alters certain decisions he makes to ensure he
stays on the path that the military wants him to. Her morals
seem to be in the right place, but when she bonds with Peter,
the brother she considers evil, her perspective starts to change.
I wouldn’t exactly say her personality changes, I just think that
she is changed. I think that is what makes her a dynamic
character in this book. She changes a lot and that has a big
affect on her and Ender’s relationship. At the start of the story
they seem to have a close bond, but when they meet again at
Ender’s paradise island she has to acknowledge the fact that by
working with Peter her life has changed a bit. Valentine is
definitely the protagonist in the story because she is one of the
important leading characters. She is not one of the more evil
characters that provoke situations or the wrongdoer. She has
important affects on the plot of the story but there aren’t any
evil intentions behind that. I think she is a character that you
can really like in the story. She mothered Ender and was always
looking out for him and she seemed to mellow some of Peter’s
evil ways. I found her as an overall good character. She, like
Ender and Peter, has dark hair and eyes.
haracter!
Valentine was called beautiful on
more than one occasion.
Peter Wiggin
C
Peter is a difficult person to sum up. He is always rude to
Ender and as the reader from Ender’s perspective you
want to hate him at the beginning. He always seems to
be trying to discourage Ender, but then he turns around
and says that he loves Ender when he thinks no one can
hear him. That’s when you start to get interested in
Peter and you wonder what he really feels and thinks.
You see a completely different side of him when you get
into Valentine’s perspective for a little bit. He feels
remorseful for all of the evil acts he’s done, or so he
says. Valentine doesn’t believe him or trust him. For me
he always seemed like a hard kind of person to figure
out. But at the end of the story I don’t necessarily think
he is evil, more power hungry then anything, but I don’t
think he is good either. He is a major character in the
story. It seems that he left plenty of mental scarring
upon Ender and Ender does not seem to be able to get
rid of him, even when he was in Battle School. This harsh
affect makes Peter ever present in the story. He is a
hurtle that Ender is fighting to get past. For those
reasons and more I think that Peter is an antagonist in
this story. I think that Peter is a static character, because
even though you think he has changed I don’t really
think he has. For me he is a character that has stayed
the same throughout the whole story. Some may think
he is a changing character, but I think that he doesn’t
change you just get to know him better. Peter shares
Ender and Valentine's features. He ha dark thick hair and
dark eyes. He is often compared to Alexander the Great
in looks.
haracter!
Peter had beautiful features, that
were cocky and sure.
Bonzo Madrid
C
You get introduced to Bonzo at the beginning of Ender’s Battle School years.
Bonzo is a jerk. He uses terrible methods of strict tyranny to keep his army in
check. He is upset that he gets Ender, a launchie. This disrupts the
organization of his army. Ender starts off just obeying orders, but then he
threatens Bonzo’s authority to tell him how to spend his free time. That is just
the start of Bonzo’s hatred towards him. Ender is instructed by Bonzo not to
participate in the games and to just stay there, but when he defies orders and
shoots his gun turning a loss into a tie Bonzo is furious. He does not want
Ender to be the reason for his success and by helping him Bonzo feels even
worse because he knows Ender is the better person. As commander of the
army he takes his anger out on Ender and hits him in front of the whole army
for defying orders. He loses the respect of his army because they know that
Ender is the reason they didn’t get a loss. Ender gets traded to a different
army and you think your done with Bonzo, but a couple of years later Ender is
the strongest and most skilled person in the games. He never loses and lots of
leaders including Bonzo resent him for it. They plot to kill him and six of them
confront him when he’s in the bathroom. Bonzo still has his old grudge
against Ender and fights him, but Ender beats him. Trying to ensure Bonzo
wont bother him again Ender goes a bit to far and kills Bonzo. Ender does not
know he has done it though he thinks Bonzo is just unconscious. I found
Bonzo to be a minor character because his affects on what happens are not
exactly superior. He is just one of Ender’s obstacles. Bonzo is a pretty static
character because he doesn’t really change throughout his part in the story.
He stays as the same vengeful and hateful person as he was in the beginning.
He was an antagonist because of the abuse he evoked upon Ender and his
overall attitude in the story. Bonzo is a beautiful Mexican boy. He has dark
black hair and black eyes. His skin is of a dark complexion. I thought Bonzo
was an evil character that got what was coming to him.
haracter!
Despite this picture, you never
really see the nice side of
Bonzo.
Colonel Hyrum Graff
C
Colonel Graff is a pretty straight forward guy who is easy to
read. He is the leader at Battle School and the head of the
organization that is trying to ready Ender to Command the
bugger army. He likes Ender, but he still pushes him really
hard. He isn’t lenient and makes sure that Ender always
relies on himself only. He does not allow him to get to
comfortable with his situations and is always changing
them games. He drives Ender over the edge at one point.
Colonel Graff deals with a lot of stress in his life and he
gains a bunch of weight. Though the book does not give
precise information as to how he looks, but I imagine him
as a tall man with sandy blonde hair speckled with grey, a
thick beard and mustache, and dark brown eyes. I think
that he is the protagonist in the story because he is not
evil and though his intentions are sometimes
questionable, you can agree that in the end they are the
right thing to do to succeed. Colonel Graff is a major
character in the story. He is ever present in Ender’s life. He
is the person that brought Ender to Battle School, the one
to take him out and give him a break, and the one who
supervised him when he went to battle school. I think that
all of that shows that he had a major impact on how the
story ends. He is also a very static character due to the fact
that he does not change throughout the story. His attitude
remains the same and though he goes through physical
changes, he does not change mentally. I found that I
disliked his character because he was so harsh on Ender
and relentlessly pushed him when he needed a break. His
methods were crude, but affective.
haracter!
Graff treated Ender badly,
but on the inside he cared
deeply for him.
Rising Action-The action leading up to
the climax of a story.
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P
lot!
Ender gets his monitor, which allows scientists to experience things from his perspective, taken off
Ender goes to school where he is picked on profusely by the bully, Stilson, for being a third child
Ender goes home and receives the same, if not worse, treatment from Peter, his older brother
Valentine is there though, so she sometimes makes the situation better by defending Ender
Colonel Graff comes to Ender’s house and proposes that he come to Battle School where he will learn to
fight buggers
Colonel Graff manipulates Ender by telling him that though his parents love him, they never wanted a
third child
Ender decides that even though he doesn’t want to go, he will (Climax 1)
Ender hated school because
school meant bullies.
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Rising Action-The action leading up to
the climax of a story.
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P
lot!
On the launch ship to Battle School Ender gets targeted by Graff, leaving him prey to all of the resentful other children
Ender breaks Bernard’s arm when he wont leave him alone
Because of the affects of null gravity the injury was worse than it would have been if there was gravity, this marks him as evil
with the other children even though Bernard hit him first
Ender gets put into a battle room where he has his own bunk and a futuristic desk that is like a computer with your own
login
Bernard sets a tyranny before the launchies, but Ender humiliates him anonymously on the desk login imitating him and
making a mockery of him, this breaks up most of the leadership he has, but not all of it
Ender becomes friends with Shen, who is also tormented by Bernard, and finally has a companion
The launch has there first day in a battle room, Ender exceeds everyone and is the first to gain control of the gravity affects
and manipulate his body as well as the weapons
Ender becomes friends with Bernard’s best friend, Alai, and Bernard and Ender sort of call a truce
Ender gets stuck on The Giants Drink in the fantasy game he is playing and he has no idea what to do
Ender tears the Giants eyes out because he can never win, this kills the Giant, upset with what happened he logs off because
he thinks that he is a murderer
Which drink holds the poison?
Rising Action-The action leading up to
the climax of a story.
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Ender goes to help Alai set up a security system on his computer when he finds a note on his bed
He has gotten transferred to a different army, Salamander army to be exact, under the command of Bonzo Madrid
Bonzo is a jerk and acts as though Ender is ruining his entire army
Ender meets Petra and she becomes his only friend on Salamander Army
Ender is not allowed to participate in practices or battles
Battles are for any army above launchie, trying to defeat the army by freezing them
Petra gives Ender private battle lessons and Ender teaches private lessons with his old Launchy group
Ender outsmarts Bonzo when Bonzo tries to make him stop practicing with the Launchies
Ender is told by Madrid that he isn’t allowed to do anything in battle and they lose because of his stubbornness to not let Ender play
The second battle Ender can’t help it, he participates against orders and turns another loss into a tie
P
lot!
Ender was moved from his launch
group to Salamander Army,
Commander Bonzo Madrid.
Rising Action-The action leading up to
the climax of a story.
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Bonzo hits Ender for disobeying him, in doing this unfair punishment he loses the respect of his army
Ender gets traded to Rat army and is regulated by Rose de Nose, he is then put under the control of Dink Meeker and his toon
All of the boys at Ender’s practice sessions are getting scared away by commanders who don’t want soldiers who have been trained by
him
Ender beats up other soldiers who start a fight during one of his practice sessions
Ender gets to a part in his fantasy game Free Play where he is looking in the mirror and see’s Peter as his reflection, this event
sufficiently breaks Ender Wiggin as nothing else has before
Valentine agrees with Peter to take over the nets and spread awareness on a Russian uprising, they also cover sensitive topics to
slowly get famous under pseudo names Locke and Demosthenes
They use a nation password in which they cant be tracked and they get paid for their columns in security
Valentine gets convinced to write Ender a letter saying that he is nothing like Peter so that he will snap out of his trance
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lot!
Ender gets traded to Rat army, under
the command of Rose de Nose.
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Rising Action-The action leading up to
the climax of a story.
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P
lot!
A year has passed and Ender is given his own army, Dragon army
They are all beginners with no experience and Ender is not allowed to trade any of them
Ender teaches them well and is extremely hard on them, showing no lenience for anyone
He is really hard on Bean, the most intelligent one in the class, he treats him just how he was
treated before
He makes a bunch of mini toons and works them really hard with no formations but perfectly
executed plans
Ender is forced to stop his old practice sessions because he is now a commander
Ender is forced to give up his friendship with Alai and Shen
Ender is given a battle and he wins with his only three and a half week old team
He gets a battle every day and there are constant changes in the field and Ender starts to
break apart at the hinges even though he wins every battle
Ender beats Bonzo’s army, but he gets frustrated about his 10 min. warning and how the
Colonel Graff cheated
Ender’s top soldiers a boy
named Bean.
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Rising Action-The action leading up to
the climax of a story.
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P
lot!
Ender also starts to get death threats from Bonzo and other jealous commander
Ender gets cornered in the bathroom by Bonzo and six other soldiers including Bernard,
Ender fights Bernard and wins, he does it so thoroughly he kills him though he doesn’t know
that at the time
Ender gets assigned two army’s to fight and that’s when he cracks, he beats them and gets
graduated to command school, but he isn’t stable so he goes to a paradise island on Earth
Valentine meets up with him and convinces him to go to command school, and he does get
convinced
He trains with Mazer Rackham, the old general of the second invasion, after he is flown of to
Command School which is on Eros
Later on he meets up with all of his friends on a set of headphones, they are his fleet and he
is fighting what he thinks are computer generated attacks by Mazer, but are really attacks
from buggers
When he learns the truth Ender breaks down and everything comes crashing down on him
(Climax 2)
Ender is the commander of
the bugger invasion.
Climax- The point in the story where
everything changes for the character
Climax 1
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Ender gets picked for Battle school, where he will train to become a commander to destroy the buggers
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Man vs. Self is the conflict that occurs here. Ender knows that he should go to command school and learn to fight
the buggers, but he does not want to leave his family behind. Valentine is his world and to leave her would cause
him a great deal of pain. He wont miss Peter and though he loves his parents he can live without them. Ender has
a severe mental struggle as to what is the right thing to do. In the end he decides that, even though he doesn’t
want to, he will fight the buggers and make a better world for Valentine.
Climax 2
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Ender wipes out the entire bugger race well commanding fleet ships. He doesn’t know that he is doing it well its
happening, since he was tricked into thinking that it was just a computer generated event.
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Man vs. Society is the conflict that occurs here. You can take the conflict to Ender vs. the Earth society or Ender vs.
the bugger society. In both situations he has a tremendous effect on what happens in each. For Ender vs. the
Earth society you see him trying to grasp control over his own life, but in the end you see that he is merely the
puppet well others pull the strings. You can also argue that it is Ender vs. buggers, because despite his good
intentions he must acknowledge that he is the reason that there race was wiped out. In both cases it is a tough
conflict with not always great results.
Extra Conflict
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Man vs. Man is a prominent conflict. You see It between Bonzo and Ender as well as Peter and Ender. In both cases
you see the fights that Ender gets into with both people. Before Ender goes to Battle School he experiences lots of
difficulties with Peter and how he is treated because he is a better person then him and was wearing his monitor
longer. When Ender got to Battle School the new antagonist was Bonzo who didn’t like Ender because he was a
launchie with no experience, but could still best his system and outsmart him.
P
lot!
Valentine is the reason
he is fighting for a
better world.
Falling Action-The action leading down
from the climax of a story.
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P
lot!
Ender goes to battle school and trains hard before finally taking control of
commanding the fleet after the buggers (Climax 1)
After the battle is done with Ender is unable to get himself to get out of bed
A war on Earth has started and finished well he was in his trance
The Warsaw Pact was terminated and all is at peace under a different pact, the
Locke Proposal
This proposal is giving Peter lots of power and he is the new Hegemon of Earth
Peter becomes the ruler of
the land (Earth).
Falling Action-The action leading down
from the climax of a story.
• Ender is not allowed to go back to Earth because he is better as an
important name then a person living among them
• He watches as each and every one of his friends go home, all
bringing words of praise for there commander, Ender Wiggin
• Ender is put on trial on Earth for the deaths of Bonzo Madrid and
Stilson, but he is found innocent because of there provocation in
the whole ordeal
• Valentine comes to visit Ender and tells him of how she ensured
that he would never go back to Earth and be one of Peters pawns
• Valentine and Ender set off to settle in the empty bugger planets, to
start a new life and restore old bonds
P
lot!
Ender finds paradise on a
beach house.
Mood-What you feel based on
the characters actions or feelings
Mood in Enders game-What I feel
based on what happens to Ender
or other main characters in the
story
M
ood
Guilty
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“I stole their future from them; I can only begin to
repay by seeing what I can learn from their past.”
(Card pg 314)
In this passage Ender feels guilty and resentful for
all that has happened to the buggers because of
him. He feels that if he had grasped an
understanding of them he will be liberated from the
guilt. I for one felt guilty as well because the way
Card described how Ender was feeling made you
feel the same. Throughout the story I have been
rooting for the demise of the buggers, but once you
feel what Ender is feeling you can’t help but to feel
guilty for what happened to them. They were not
the ones who attacked Earth, they left us in peace,
but because of the need for revenge they were
robbed of their future. I honestly felt guilty because
the way Ender describes things you cant help but
feel that you were the one in the wrong. You were
the one who caused all of the trouble. Yet, you are
the one who still lives. And that is why, just as Ender
will forever carry the guilt of dead buggers, we also
will feel it.
Mood-What you feel based on
the characters actions or feelings
Mood in Enders game-What I feel
based on what happens to Ender
or other main characters in the
story
Sad
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M
ood
“Lying on his back, still soaking wet with sweat and
water, he gasped his sobs, tears seeping out of his
closed eyelids and disappearing in the water on his
face.” (Card pg 213)
Well reading this described I felt really sad for
Ender. He gets pushed so hard by everybody and
you have to acknowledge the fact that at the end of
the day he is still just a little boy. He is 10 years old
and yet he has the weight of the entire world
pressed upon his wiry figure. His pain in this
passage just hurts your heart. As you read the book
you become more and more attached to his
character and you don’t want things like this to
happen to him. He did not pick a fight with Bonzo,
Bonzo came after him. Bonzo may have died, but he
is still ever present to Ender because he has caused
him so much mental and physical abuse. I feel that
the treatment Ender is forced to endure is unjust
and nobody seems to understand that though he is
a genius he has limitations just like every person.
This was a sad passage for every person to pick up
this book.
Mood-What you feel based on
the characters actions or feelings
Mood in Enders game-What I feel
based on what happens to Ender
or other main characters in the
story
Happy
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M
ood
“Ender didn’t wave when she walked down the hill
toward him, didn’t smile when she stepped onto
the floating boat slip. But she knew that he was glad
to see her, knew because of the way his eyes never
left her face.” ( Card pg 234)
When reading this passage I cant help but feel
happy because it seems that a good thing has finally
happened to Ender. He is happy that he is seeing
Valentine and Valentine is happy to see him. This
passage does not seem to express much emotion,
but I find it to be very emotional and touching.
Ender is seeing Valentine again for the first time
since he was six. Though it may be hard to find this
passage really touches on that even though Ender
has changed certain parts of him remain the same.
Like his love for Valentine. The mood evoked from
these simple words and gestures such as eye
contact really sum up Ender and Valentines
relationship. Though there days of being extremely
close to each other is gone, there is still a deep
emotion they feel, a bond closer than just a brother
and sister. All of this just made me feel happy,
because it kind of represented hope for me. Hope
that despite everything that has happened to Ender
he will always still have Valentine to lean on.
Resolution
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Resolution- The resolution of the
book is that Ender moves to one of
the other Bugger planets with
Valentine to start a new civilization,
he doesn’t have to deal with things
on Earth and he no longer will
fighting be necessary now he will be
rebuilding. He hopes that this trip will
provide some closure for him, well
she hopes that it will reconstruct the
relationship she has lost with Ender
the moment he got into the car with
Colonel Graff and left for Battle
School.
TR
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Ender and Valentine
start a new life.
Theme- The theme of Ender’s Game by Orson
Scott Card is every choice you make comes with
a consequence. These theme is very prominent
in the book, you see it all the time with the
affects of certain decisions Ender makes
throughout the book.
One is killing all of the buggers. Though he
didn’t do it purposefully he still has to reap the
consequences of the seeds he’s sown.
“I stole their future, from them; I can only begin
to repay by seeing what I can learn from their
past.” (Card 314) This quote describes what
Ender is going to do to make up for annihilating
the bugger race.
Another example of theme is Ender killing
Bonzo, he didn’t know he killed him, he thought
he had just seriously injured him. But even with
that knowledge he felt remorseful . He never
wanted to hurt anybody, he just wanted to be
left alone. When he learns that he killed Bonzo
he starts to regret his decision to thoroughly
hurt him so he wouldn’t come back later. So
now he must live with that decision.
Cited Pictures
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http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/26535/alien-spaceships-to-attack-earthin-2011/ Slide 2
http://a1star.com/star-space-background-4.php Slide 2
http://www.snitchseeker.com/completed-salazars-lair-works/the-enchantedsunset-resort-41937/ Slide 5
http://www.roundingfirst.net/reviews012full.htm Slide 3
http://teenchive.com/hailee-steinfeld-talks-fame/ Slide 4
http://www.teen.com/latina-magazine-25-most-beautiful-latinos-pictures/ Slide 6
http://churchofthegrannybike.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html Slide 7
http://organicfruit.blogos.org/guilty-conscience.html Slide 17
http://inenglishpleasee.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/i-m-in-blue/ Slide 18
http://meds.queensu.ca/education/postgraduate/program_directors/pd_manual/
happy_director Slide 19
http://grm.abss.k12.nc.us/ Slide 8
Clip Art Slide 9-16 and Slide 20