#1
Posted: 5/30/06 at 2:38pm
This is what I've written so far. Any good?
ENDER’S GAME
“Genius is sorrow’s child.” A sad tidbit of wisdom given by John Adams, yet very true. In Ender’s Game, Ender is a young genius. He is sent to school in outer space so he can defeat a strong alien force called Buggers. He is smarter than the other children, so he is isolated, and adults manipulate him as a result of it. This book illustrates that geniuses are more open to manipulation than any others. “Every true genius is bound to be naïve,” Friedrich Schiller said, and Orson Scott Card illustrated this throughout Ender’s Game.
Ender changes a lot in Ender’s Game, but several of his personality traits remain as prominent in the end as they were in the beginning. One of those traits is intelligence. However, another trait that never disappears within Ender is also naïveté, which can go hand in hand with intelligence. Naïveté is a state of simplicity, of innocence, that usually disappears as one goes through life. “It is well for the heart to be naive and the mind not to be,” Anatole France said. That was how Ender lived. Throughout the book, Ender displays his intelligence as well as his naïveté throughout various points in his life.
Naïveté is not usually the fault of one’s personality. Throughout his whole life, Ender was isolated from his peers, the people who could best help him learn about life. His talents were proclaimed and this caused hatred among the people who could have helped him the most. Ender had to learn how to not require help. He had to be independent. This, however, had its consequences. Ender misses the opportunity to learn about people and their ways.
At the beginning of the book, Ender was a six-year-old child, bound to be naïve. He considered Colonel Graff his ally, one who would defend him against the harsh treatment by his peers. Sadly, he learned that adults could never be his friends the hard way. Colonel Graff and other adult figures in Ender’s life only served to isolate him more from his peers, make him lonelier and sadder. Ender trusted them, and they always failed him.
The state of innocence is a credulous state, when you trust everything you are told. Though Ender is quite intelligent, he always believes what he hears. He knows that he is being manipulated, but he does not know the extent of the exploitation. He assumes that certain adult figures will never betray him.
Mazer Rackham was like a father figure to Ender. Ender never even suspects that Rackham could be one of the people manipulating him. He thought that once he trusted someone, they could never be disloyal to him.
Those thoughts themselves are one of the ways in which the trait of naïveté expresses itself. “I am your enemy, the first one you've ever had who was smarter than you. There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. I am your enemy from now on. From now on I am your teacher,” Rackham says. From then on, Ender believes that Mazer is the only person to whom he can relate. However, Ender was naïve in thinking he could ever trust or relate to anyone. Henri Matisse said, “You study, you learn, but you guard the original naïveté. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.” That was precisely what happened to Ender. He studies, he learns and yet, he remains as innocent at the end as he was at the beginning. He made the mistake of trusting Colonel Graff at the beginning and trusting Mazer Rackham at the end, owing to the same trait-naïveté. The reason for Ender’s actions and decisions always come back to that one aspect of his personality.
Orson Scott Card said in the introduction to Ender’s Game that while writing the book, he did not plan for it to have a theme. This book was intended to be typical science fiction, nothing more. However, it has a lot to say about human nature, despite the lack of theme. He illustrated throughout the book that children genuinely are the future, and are a lot more valuable than perceived to be. Their naïveté can save the world, rather than destroy it. Children, in reality, probably would not be able to fight a global war by themselves, but could perhaps assist the adults in the front lines. This book, though written decades ago, has lasting significance. It gives credit to children for their intelligence and naïveté, and shows relationships not often portrayed in science fiction. Though theme-less, statements such as the aforementioned “True genius is bound to be naïve” ring true throughout all of Ender’s Game.
ENDER’S GAME
“Genius is sorrow’s child.” A sad tidbit of wisdom given by John Adams, yet very true. In Ender’s Game, Ender is a young genius. He is sent to school in outer space so he can defeat a strong alien force called Buggers. He is smarter than the other children, so he is isolated, and adults manipulate him as a result of it. This book illustrates that geniuses are more open to manipulation than any others. “Every true genius is bound to be naïve,” Friedrich Schiller said, and Orson Scott Card illustrated this throughout Ender’s Game.
Ender changes a lot in Ender’s Game, but several of his personality traits remain as prominent in the end as they were in the beginning. One of those traits is intelligence. However, another trait that never disappears within Ender is also naïveté, which can go hand in hand with intelligence. Naïveté is a state of simplicity, of innocence, that usually disappears as one goes through life. “It is well for the heart to be naive and the mind not to be,” Anatole France said. That was how Ender lived. Throughout the book, Ender displays his intelligence as well as his naïveté throughout various points in his life.
Naïveté is not usually the fault of one’s personality. Throughout his whole life, Ender was isolated from his peers, the people who could best help him learn about life. His talents were proclaimed and this caused hatred among the people who could have helped him the most. Ender had to learn how to not require help. He had to be independent. This, however, had its consequences. Ender misses the opportunity to learn about people and their ways.
At the beginning of the book, Ender was a six-year-old child, bound to be naïve. He considered Colonel Graff his ally, one who would defend him against the harsh treatment by his peers. Sadly, he learned that adults could never be his friends the hard way. Colonel Graff and other adult figures in Ender’s life only served to isolate him more from his peers, make him lonelier and sadder. Ender trusted them, and they always failed him.
The state of innocence is a credulous state, when you trust everything you are told. Though Ender is quite intelligent, he always believes what he hears. He knows that he is being manipulated, but he does not know the extent of the exploitation. He assumes that certain adult figures will never betray him.
Mazer Rackham was like a father figure to Ender. Ender never even suspects that Rackham could be one of the people manipulating him. He thought that once he trusted someone, they could never be disloyal to him.
Those thoughts themselves are one of the ways in which the trait of naïveté expresses itself. “I am your enemy, the first one you've ever had who was smarter than you. There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you. I am your enemy from now on. From now on I am your teacher,” Rackham says. From then on, Ender believes that Mazer is the only person to whom he can relate. However, Ender was naïve in thinking he could ever trust or relate to anyone. Henri Matisse said, “You study, you learn, but you guard the original naïveté. It has to be within you, as desire for drink is within the drunkard or love is within the lover.” That was precisely what happened to Ender. He studies, he learns and yet, he remains as innocent at the end as he was at the beginning. He made the mistake of trusting Colonel Graff at the beginning and trusting Mazer Rackham at the end, owing to the same trait-naïveté. The reason for Ender’s actions and decisions always come back to that one aspect of his personality.
Orson Scott Card said in the introduction to Ender’s Game that while writing the book, he did not plan for it to have a theme. This book was intended to be typical science fiction, nothing more. However, it has a lot to say about human nature, despite the lack of theme. He illustrated throughout the book that children genuinely are the future, and are a lot more valuable than perceived to be. Their naïveté can save the world, rather than destroy it. Children, in reality, probably would not be able to fight a global war by themselves, but could perhaps assist the adults in the front lines. This book, though written decades ago, has lasting significance. It gives credit to children for their intelligence and naïveté, and shows relationships not often portrayed in science fiction. Though theme-less, statements such as the aforementioned “True genius is bound to be naïve” ring true throughout all of Ender’s Game.
Updated On: 6/16/06 at 02:38 PM
