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Palomo, Jauxnas
Mrs. Elizabeth DiGenerio
English IV
26 April 2012
The Game Changer
In, Ender’s Game, a SCIFI thriller filled with hostile aliens, super intelligent children, and
manipulative adult, good triumphs over evil. The story constantly contrasts the struggle
between good vs. evil through the portrayal of the characters, Peter, Valentine, and Ender
Wiggins. Card illustrates this “battle” through the charterer traits each character embodies.
Peter who is pure evil, Valentine who is angelic and Ender who is a twisted form of both
traits, are all faced with conflicts throughout the story. But as you dive into the book, Card
cultivates that sometimes it takes both good and evil to save the world. Peter the eldest of the
Wiggins children is a selfish bully set on world domination. He constantly threatens the lives
of his younger siblings, and manipulates them to every extent. His actions and thoughts are
fueled by self-ambition to take over the world and he succeeds by the end of the story. Peter
isn’t the only source of evil in the story. The teachers, bugger’s and bullies at Battle school
are just some of the other evil that Ender must overcome. Valentine is the biggest source of
good in this story; she is constantly protecting and helping her younger brother Ender, from
Peter and even himself. She even helps Peter in his attempt to take over the world, even
though he constantly threatening her lively hood. Valentine is a character that illustrates the
side of good through her traits and actions t, but she doesn’t really help fight evil. Ender the
youngest of the three was created on the sole facts that his brother was too evil, and his sister
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was too sweet. The government planned his birth so hopefully he could save the world, but he
had to be a mixture of both of his siblings. In the beginning of the story we see how Ender is
sweet and selfless. This is shown when he leaves his family to save the world at the age of six.
Even though Ender is really young, he constantly shows that he is up for the challenge and is
willing to help anyone else who wants to excel at Battle School. But as Ender comes across
evil we see that he will do anything in his power to protect those he loves, as well as kill for
his own survival. Reading further we realize that all the Wiggins have a lot in common, but
only one can save the world.
One of the main characters of the story who emphasis the trait of evil is Peter. He is the
main antagonist of the story; his constant threats, manipulative mindset, and hunger for power
is overwhelming throughout the story. These character traits are all negative in essence,
because Peter is a negative influence to those around them. He constantly harasses younger
kids at school by forcing them to face their fears, as well as threatening them with death. This
is seen in the story when Peter has his knee in Ender’s chest and says,” I could kill you like
this and they’d think it was an accident”, (Card 15) this quote shows Peter’s ability to hurt and
threatened others, as well as put their life in danger without remorse. The fear of death that
Ender describes during the incident, gives us insight just how convincingly evil Peter can
really be. Peter also reveals to us his manipulative side in the section of the book where he,
and his younger sister Valentine are in the woods and they are looking at a, “squirrel halfskinned, spiked by its little hands and feet with twig pushed into the dirt…..Watching the
muscle twist and turn”. (Card 132) This gruesome imagery is constructed by Card, through
Peter and it shows just how horrible Peter can be. Even thou Peter can act in such horrid
manner right after that, he convinces Valentine that he has a heart and that he only wants
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world peace. “Peter is the mastermind behind the actions that he and Valentine take in world
political affairs, and he is motivated by his thirst for power. His lack of compassion makes
Peter a man devoid of humanity. He acts solely for his own benefit and, although he has a
profound understanding of others, uses his knowledge only to probe their weaknesses to his
own advantage”. (Spark) This quote from a common source helps validate all that I said about
Peter prior. Peter’s role in this story is very active and very important without him the story
wouldn’t be able to exist, Without evil there can’t be a defined good, the theme wouldn’t be
the same, and the whole story would probably not of been published. Even though Peter is
demon like and heartless, he still manages to become world leader. The ability to lead with an
iron fist is a very powerful ability, since a lot of the prior leader’s in our world have been
ruthless. But ruthlessness can only take over so much what about when there is saving
involved? Does Peter’s traits able him to save the world and rule it at the same time?
In addition to Peter who is captured as evil, Valentine is presented and embodies the traits
of good. Being the middle child she is one of the most compassionate and loving characters in
the story. She constantly voices her love for her brothers through actions and her words in the
story. Valentine would never deliberately harm someone else; she only wants to protect her
younger brother from anything and everything she can. Her character traits embody her as a
motherly figure towards Ender, and this is illustrated by Card constantly. An example of this
is when she says to Peter “And do you know why you don't mean it? Because you want to be
in the government someday, you want to be elected. And they won't elect you if your
opponents can dig up the fact that your brother and sister died in suspicious accidents”. (Card
13) This was said by Valentine to protect Ender from Peter’s threats to kill Ender. This
protective instinct of Valentine shows her loving, and almost motherly side. These ethical
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displays of good helps better understand Ender as the main character, and show us just where
Ender learned his tenderness. As we read further we can see that Valentine also helps Peter
the evil and devilish older brother. She takes part in his plans to take over the world, and she
is the sole reason he was able to reach his goal. By the fake name Demosthenes she radically
grabs the attention of others through a net system. This attempt to help her older brother in
his plot to take over the world was out of the kindness of her heart. She also helps Graff by
telling him about how Peter’s and Ender’s interactions were; this ultimately helps Ender’s get
passed the current mind game he is stuck on. Another example of how she shows the element
of good is by saying to Ender "If not you, then who?" (Card 241) These words of
encouragement help Ender get through his self-doubts of being a leader. But even though her
good is constantly flourishing, she does as all Wiggins do; she craves power and enjoys it.
This trait isn’t as extreme as he older brother, but it is the only sense of evil you can find on
her. Valentines super ego is the reason why she wasn’t chosen to save the world and the
reason she falls second in command to Peter.
The “third” and youngest child of the Wiggins family is Ender, Card labels Ender from
birth as someone special ands different, because he is the third child of a family. Born into a
twisted world where you’re only aloud to have two kids per family can be tough Ender was
born requested from the government, but the governments monitor and request didn’t stop
him from constantly being harassed by people. His brother, kids at school and kids at battle
school threaten and hurt him almost in every chapter. Thus his ability to quickly desist and
evade the abuse was very useful at times. In the story Ender kills two people, one on earth and
one at battle school. These actions are crimes that are considered to be the worst in our
society, yet after every Ender feels and expresses something none of the other siblings expose.
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This is the feeling of remorse; he feels guilty and even cries at points, because his actions are
so out of place out of his true loving side. Ender is constantly put into situations where he
must hurt or be hurt. Since he is has the traits of a epic hero, Ender must fight for what he
thinks is his worlds survival, but in reality he is destroying an entire race. These horrible
actions are show to us when “Ender killed the giant”. (Card 56) There was no reason for his
actions, but in the end it helped him. The ability to kill to gain a lead or move forward in life
reminds me of the story Macbeth. In the story Macbeth, the character that resembles Ender, is
face with a conflict to kill to become king. The king ultimately does kill to get ahead just as
Ender does. As we know both of their kills equal movement forward. Ender was force to be
born into a horrible mind game that caused him to practically wipe out a whole species that
didn’t even mean to pose a threat. Once he acquired knowledge of the reality behind his
actions at Battle School, he apologized to the queen of the buggers. The way he shows his
apology and feelings of remorse are as so, “Ender always carried with him a dry white
cocoon, looking for a place where the hive-queen could awaken and thrive in peace. He
looked a long time."(Card 321) The acts of kindness mixed with the lashing out of power
allowed Ender to survive the pressures that fill the life he was so unfortunate to be born into.
Ender as a protagonist has the best mindset a leader can have and he is able to hardness his
abilities and emotions to push through every adversity that faces him. Without the morals of
not wanting to be like Peter, but being able to act like him when need Ender’s existence
would of serve no purpose to the story. “Ender always wishes for events to be resolved
without violence. His compassion is his strongest trait, and it binds people to him; his
ruthlessness wins their unswerving faith in him as a commander”. (Spark) This quote from
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spark notes emphasis the very traits that I picked off Ender Theses traits are what give him the
ability to take roles as a leader. These traits allow Ender to save the world.
The story all in all was very powerful; Cards ability to take the forces of evil and good and
embed them into a single character is what makes the story unique. His constant examples of
conflict and resolution, both internal and external help you understand what it truly takes to
save people from themselves. Throughout the story Card constantly label’s each of the three
characters motivations. While Peter constantly is worrying about himself, and has a high
grasp on intrinsic motivation, Valentine is focused more on the extrinsic cause. The intrinsic
motivation for Peter is to gain power obviously, but for what reason he is only a kid? Card
helps show in an extreme form of the manner in which siblings behave due to birth order,
whether he knows it or not. Peter’s power surge is most likely existent, because he feels
unloved and inferior to his younger brother Ender. Valentine on the other hand is moved by
an outward force, the force of satisfaction. The satisfaction that the people she helps give to
her, along with the self-satisfaction she receives allows her to be so helpful, caring and loving.
But her most predominant trait is what leads her down a path of regret. Towards the end of the
story this is seen when she ends up being second to Peter, the very evil that she fought to
destroy. Ender is one of the great leaders this world has ever seen, as Card portrays him to be.
The constant bypassing of adversity along with the ability to acquire power, not forcing it
upon himself in tandem with all his other major aspects is what makes him the hero of the
story. Without these Character traits Ender couldn’t of destroyed a whole race of beings on
accident, manage to save them, and gain there forgiveness in one foul swoop. Ender is the
perfect form of all the Wiggins children even thou they all our very similar. Each character
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has the same abilities, but their morals, motives define their character. In this story like many
before it Card, emphasis that evil never prevails and good always excels.
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Works Cited
Card, Orson. Ender'sGame. 1. 1. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc, 1985. 15. Print.
(Card)
Drumon, Sam. Ender's Game Themes. Study Guides & Essay Editing. Gradsaver. Web.
29Feb.2012.
Kessel, John. Creating the Innocent Killer. Ncsu. Web. 29 Feb. 2012.
Spark notes. Free Study Guide for Ender's Game Book Summary by Orson Scott
Card. Free Study Guide Book Notes Online Literature Summaries
(Spark)