The novel, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, taught the lesson that being the commander of an army- managing attacks and vicious traps to kill, is rather a complicated and difficult task. The job of a murderer is strenuous; he is constantly agitated with his morals. A murderer, opposed to the stereotypes, is a gentle soul. Ender Wiggins was never willing to kill, but in order to save Earth, he had to study about his enemies to the extent where he understands them and loves them. At the end- he still had to murder reluctantly.
Ender Wiggins suffered from physical and mental abuse from home and school ever since he was born. Ender’s first error was to be born as a third child, which was forbidden by the government. Classmates, teachers, and even his own brother, Peter, despised him for this. Most of all, Ender suffered from Peter’s tortuous nature because Battleschool had accepted Ender and disregarded Peter. Ender was chosen as the genius with enough abilities to fight in the anticipated war, The Third Invasion, between humans and the buggers- otherwise known as alien enemies. Only Ender and Valentine, Ender’s older sister, knew of Peter’s murderous character. During a game of fighting, Peter whispered to Ender as he weighted down more and more heavily on Ender, “I could kill you like this. Just press and press until you’re dead. And I could say that I didn’t know it would hurt you, that we were just playing, and they’d believe me...” (12). Ender always tried to soothe Peter by guessing his emotions and shielded away from him. In Ender’s eyes, Peter stood as a murder icon; he had never shown any affection towards Ender or Valentine. Ironically, Peter held great importance to Ender. Ender wants to love Peter and seek the same love in return. Also, the negativity lead Ender to become cautious of ever showing any similarities as Peter. In Battleschool, Ender experienced more hatred and envy, just the same, until love had turned into a mere memory. Ender was persuaded to leave behind his beloved sister and parents and “help save the world”. In Battleschool, the principal, Graff, planned and controlled every aspect of Ender’s life- signaling him as the genius to stir jealousy and stimulate enemies. By forming gangs of enemies around Ender, Graff believed the isolation and negativity would expose Ender’s full potential as a soldier. At first, Ender saw this system as only another form of torture.
Ender was forced into many fights during Battleschool; enemies surrounded him more and more as he grew into one of the best commanders. But Ender realized that the real enemies are the teachers because even though they’re training the students into good soldier, they’re using hatred to fuel student’s energies to treat the practice battles as real and become fully determined to win. Furthermore, Graff broke rules in order to create obstacles for Ender. Ender’s armies were consisted of mostly non-experienced soldiers, but Ender managed to train them into a team that was able to work together unpredictably. His armies were told to battle six months earlier than the usual date and the schedules of battles came as fast as ten minutes before the battle. He still did not lose any games and people hated him more than ever. The drive to harm Ender heightened- there was even a death due to one fight. Ender found himself taking the form of Peter unwillingly. He feared and hated himself. When Ender refused to battle any longer in the school, Command School, Graff brought him to Earth to visit Valentine. Ender explains to Valentine, “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that moment I also love him, I think its impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them-... I destroy them” (238). Ender’s actions do not reflect his heart. He is not a murder, and he is only capable of killing his enemies after he had loved them. Instead, Ender wants to love others and be loved. Ender is not one to willingly murder, but he has been engaged in so much violence, that one might think he enjoys killing. He begins to question the reason for killing, even ponders that he does not want to be a hero and kill the buggers- the most dangerous enemies to Earth. At the end, Ender decides to return to training to kill the buggers for one single reason, to protect Earth and Valentine.
The ultimate realization of the truth, the reason for manipulation of the teachers is exposed and his fear of becoming a harmful being is finally resolved. In Command School, there were rigorous trainings where Ender was the head of the flights and he has to direct his ships into battle- all ships always working in coordination but each ship with its own individual independence- forming an overall benefit over the Buggers. Ender suffered more and more dreams of himself killing and of Peter as well. He would do nothing but study weapons, study buggers movements and skills, and he even lived in a Bugger built home. Ender became extremely sick and agitated, and was given some days for break. Afterwards, he would sleep in between battles. On Ender’s last battle, the teachers say this battle would decide whether he should continue to move on to the next level or not, Ender defeated the game and he was told the truth that he has not been playing the teachers at Command School and these were not games! He was the commander of a real army and is now the victor of the Third Invasion. Ender was stroke with the reality that he had, once again, destroyed thousand of lives- mothers, children and all. He screamed at the teachers for tricking him. Graff replied, “We had to have a commander with so much empathy that he would think like the buggers, understand them and anticipate them. So much compassion that he could win the love of his underlings and work with them like a perfect machine... But somebody with that much compassion could never be the killer we needed. Could never go into battle willing to win at all costs. If you knew, you couldn’t do it even if you knew, you could never have understood the buggers well enough.” (298) For the sake of the Earth, Ender killed a whole race, that he later found was not threatening at all, but just had miscommunication. It is apparent that Ender was not meant to be a murder, that Peter would have done a greater job than Ender. But, as Graff explained, nobody with a murderous heart could ever be willing to sacrifice as much as Ender did. The murderer would not be fighting to protect Earth, but rather fighting to be a tyrant. And never could this type of murderer become as skilled as Ender because Ender exerted patience and effort to learn and understand the Buggers. The teachers, who Ender once thought were the true enemies, were training him for the real battle after all. Ender was the only possible person able to kill the buggers, but only if he was lead into it without revealing the truth.
A murderous heart is not needed to become a successful killer of an entire race. Instead, a caring mind who is willing to concern himself with others wholeheartedly is the key. But deception is an essential part as well. Overall, Ender Wiggins’ magnanimous traits were the perfect tools to manipulate him into a killer. This is also a big injustice to Ender. He had to endure isolation- with no friends and family to understand him. He was constantly the target for attacks and violence. Most of all, not only was his good virtues not praised, but they lead to a stream of painful dreams and inner conflicts. He constantly questioned his own morality. He could not help but begin feel self-hatred and he does not deserve to feel this way.
