Explanatory Notes
Ch.5-pg 37
*The boys and Dap
*He takes care of them and is the nicest they
will ever get as their leader, but still like a
teacher. They trust him but also respect him and
are his friends, but they are also kind of
frightened of him. (pg. 40)
*Ender and Mick
*Mick is rude to Ender and is a lot older than
him. They have a small conversation and Mick
tells him that he will end up being just like him
if he doesn’t take the lead. (pg. 42)
*Ender and Bernard
*They are enemies. Bernard pushes him and
calls him names. Then Ender started making
fun of Bernard on the computer using fake
names. (pg.50 +51)
*Bernard and other boys
*They are all either part of his gang or they are
scared of him so they act like they are or he
makes fun of them and he is scared of him. (pg.
48)
*Dap and Bernard
*Dap is disrespectful to Dap when Ender is
making fun of him and yells at Dap. He also
tells Dap what to do. Dap does not listen. (pg.
51)
*Shen and Ender
*Friends. Don’t trust each other fully yet but
are friends and are getting to know each other
(pg. 53)
*Shen-Will not just stand up to Bernard. Trusts
Ender
*Dap- the teacher
*Bernerd- the bully. Ender broke his arm and
made fun of him through and unknown name on
the computer
Guiding points
*He got the bed closest to the door (pg. 38)
*Found a compartment with a gun and
computer and other things (pg. 39)
*Met Dap (pg. 40)
*Met Mick (pg. 42)
*Won the games against and older kid (pg. 45
and 46)
*Made fun of Bernard and got many friends
(pg. 50 and on)
Critical Commentary
*On page 52 and 53 Ender made friends with
Shen. I predict that Ender will become really
good friends with him. Ender did something
really nice for Shen. I think that Ender
purposely did it for Shen. I think that he did it
to make his own gang, so he could go up
against Bernard. In the chapter it said that he
wanted to make his own gang and he also
wrote many things that were not good about
Bernard. I think he might think he did it for
himself and other people, but he really did it to
get back at Bernard for all the mean things he
has ever done.
*In the beginning of each chapter, there is
about half a page in bold writing. It is two
people talking about Ender. I think that the
author put that there for a specific reason. I
think that one of the people talking back and
forth is Graff. I think that because in the
beginning of chapter four they say, “this is not
a sweet little kid you are bringing up here, and
Graff was driving Ender to the space place.
*From how the teachers have been treating
Ender, I think that the teachers like him. Dap
seemed to just laugh in his head when all those
messages were sent out and he knew who was
sending them, and is always pointing out every
little thing he does as if it is the best thing in
the world. I believe that Graff likes him
because he said it right in the text at the end of
ch.4, and I infer that the teachers just generally
like him because I know that he is really smart
and kind, and a good fighter.
Explanatory Notes
Ch.6-54
*Alai- Bernard’s friend and now Ender’s friend
*Ender became friends with Alai and Ender
realized that he can make friends with people
that are friends with his enemies (pg. 59)
*The battle room is supposed to represent what
is coming as they get older and what kind of
environment they will be in. It teaches them
how to fight in zero gravity. (pg. 57 and 59)
*It teaches them how to work together and
learn by trying things out (pg. 59)
*The fight is supposed to represent how they
will have to fight the Buggers and it helps them
learn how to fight by doing it (pg. 61)
*The Free Play game showed that Ender won’t
give up until he gets it right and will use
violence to get his way (pg. 64 and 65)
*Infancy- The state or period of early
childhood
Guiding points
*Ender gets to know Alai (pg. 59) and he kind
of starts to become friends with him
*Ender, Alai, Bernard, and Shen started a mini
war against in the arena and they won (pg. 61)
*Played a Free play game and to get around the
giant, kicked him and scratches his eye out and
curled up in a ball in his eye socket to get
passed a level (64 and 65)
Critical Commentary
*In the bold at the beginning this guy was
talking to Graff and it proved it because it said,
“Graff, you give me…” that is why I know for
a fact that Graff is one of the two people
talking at the beginning of each chapter. It also
seems that the main guy is the other guy
talking. The other guy seems to be the boss and
the owner of the whole school who is very
powerful.
* I predict that Ender will be totally removed
from the area where he sees all of his new
roommates. He will be moved to an area where
no one will like him and they can re-isolate
him so every single moment he is at this
school, will be nothing more than preparing for
the upcoming war.
*It was cool how the author showed Ender
learning how to fly. Ender really seemed to
have a really good perspective on how to learn.
He knew that he will be worse before he gets
better and if he wants to get better faster, he
needs to start his experiments to getting better.
It is also cool how Ender had to change his
perspective on directions, so instead of flying
across the room, he had to think that he was
falling to the ground. He had to change his way
of thinking in different environments.
Explanatory Notes
Ch.7-pg.66
*Bonzo-Commander of the Salamander army
(pg. 76)
*Petra-Best Sharp Shoot Shooter on the
Salamander army, the only girl, made friends
with Ender. Did some training with Ender. (pg.
78 and 79)
*The Rat Army- Who Bonzo traded him to
(pg. 75)
*Conflict between Ender and Bonzo. Bonzo
thinks that Ender is stupid and will be no help
to his army. (pg. 77)
*Another conflict between Ender and Bonzo
when Ender shot his gun when Bonzo told him
not to. (pg. 59)
*Physical Conflict between The different
armies
Guiding Points
*Ender switched to the Salamander army (pg.
74)
*Made friends with Petra (pg. 76)
*Did training with her and his old friends (pg.
79 and 86)
*Followed orders by not shooting and lost the
game (pg. 90)
*Shot and got in trouble by Bonzo (pg. 95)
*Got told he is switching to the Rat Army (pg.
95)
Critical Commentary
*I think the purpose of card writing dialogue is
to really show the reader how these people
live. They don’t really have an adult to tell
them they are talking wrong and don’t care. I
also think the author put it there to catch your
attention, you realize that it is not supposed to
sound like that and at least I started to think
about it a little more.
*On page 79, Petra tells Ender that Bonzo
won’t let him work with the group; he will
make him take his desk to the battle room. As
she is talking it says that she lapsed over into
giria, the slangy talk that imitated the pidgin
English of uneducated people. She went from,
“he is going to make you”, to, “He don’t
want.” After a couple more sentences she
switches back to normal talking. It seems like
the armies have just heard the slang enough
times where they accidentally slip into it
sometimes.
*In page 79 and 82, Petra and Ender start
talking about the adults there. The kids have so
many questions and so many things that don’t
make sense, and so many things that they have
thought of that have been ignored. In the
beginning of the book it says that Ender thinks
all adults lie, and then right here it says that he
and Petra agreed that no adult will tell you the
full truth. Doesn’t that mean that half of it is a
lie, half of it is the truth, so the adults are half
lying? I think that is what it means. So that
backs up what he said in the first couple
chapters.
*In this chapter Ender talked about leadership,
always looking at Bonzo and comparing it to
what he knows about Ender and what he has
seen in Alai and what he is assuming. Bonzo
punished someone for winning, which Bonzo
thought was for not following orders, but no
one else saw it like that. Ender saw a lot of
little things like that.
Hot Seat Questions
*Q1- Why do you think Alai and Shen thought it was Ender who used the messages against
Bernard?
A- I think they thought it was Ender because once they got to know him, they saw his personality
and how he does not like Bernard. They know he is also confident enough to stand up to
Bernard.
*Q2- Predict, when Ender gets onto his free play game, where will he go next?
A- I predict that Ender will not just jump out of the window of the room he is in. I know from the
text that Ender wants to find a village or live in that castle and try to live a normal life, but I
don’t know how he will get there. I think he will take the serpent and use it to find a city. I think
he will find a city after a while and have some troubles he hadn’t expected in it.
*Q3- Compare/Contrast Ender and Petra in chapter seven.
A- Ender is a lot younger then Petra, Ender is 6/7 and Petra is around ten. Petra is stronger than
Ender. Petra is a girl and Ender is a boy. Ender has little knowledge of the games and Petra is
really good and is there best sharpshooter. Petra and Ender are both the odd ones out and are
both pretty confident and have got in trouble by Bonzo.
*Q4- Why do you think the author chose the beginning of chapter six to finally say up front that
one of the two persons talking at the beginning of ac chapter was Ender.
A- I think he chose it now because this whole time we all thought that one of the people were
Graff, we never really knew who the other person was. Now the author has switched our
attention so now we will have to think about who the other person is.
*Q5- Predict if Ender will get any practice time in the Rat Army and his overall in there.
A- The Rat Army will value him a little more because they traded him, but he is still a lot smaller
and has less experience.