Student Question
In Ender's Game, what social issues does the book address and what is the author's stance?
Quick answer:
In Ender's Game, the social issues addressed include the potentially harmful effects of technology and the individual's alienation from society. By introducing the protagonist as a young boy, the author also raises questions about child-rearing and education. The author seems to caution against over-dependence on technology because it separates people rather than bringing them together.
Ender'sGame uses the idea of the game as a metaphor for larger questions of political and moral conflict in a futuristic society—as conceived thirty-five years ago. The children's involvement in competitions that have high-level political stakes raises questions about the social responsibility of using children. The novel demonstrates throughout how the issue of technology's effects and that of alienation are closely connected. As people come to rely more on machines, they interact less frequently with each other. As individuals become physically and emotionally separated, their ability to bond is eroded. When human connections weaken, each person feels more distant from the entire social body.
In Orson Scott Card's novel, adults try to manipulate children because they see them as naive and susceptible to suggestion. Card implies that children develop ethical and moral standards at a young age and should be taken seriously by adults.
Colonel Graff gains power...
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over Ender by isolating him; this prevents the boy from further developing normal human interaction skills such as he employed with siblings. Ender's reliance on the adults and his buying into the importance of winning at the simulations prove a lethal combination.
Card shows his belief that it is necessary to question authority and not take things at face value. Although Ender's pride in excelling traps him into killing, it will not extinguish his desire for the truth, which encourages him to question the wisdom of the powers that be.
What broader social issues does Ender's Game address, and what is the author's stance?
Orson Scott Card addresses a great many issues throughout the book, and it is a credit to his writing skills that he is able to wrap it all within an exciting story that makes sense to young readers.
It should not come as a surprise that the book contains themes that involve war and violence. Contained within those themes are also the issues of genocide and xenophobia. The human race is at war with the buggers, and peace is never presented as a viable option. Humanity's goal is the complete eradication of the buggers for the main reason that they are different and could hurt humans. Violence is seen as necessary and good. While Ender has issues at times about his use of violence, he is never afraid to use it and use it to its full extent.
Exploring violence and war in a book is not new. Any story about soldiers will explore these topics. What made Card's series so unique for quite some time was how he explored adults manipulating children to do acts of violence. This is something that many modern YA novels are now exploring, but Card's novel still retains its unique character because readers get to read about the perspective of the adults. At the start of each chapter, we get insight about Graff and other leading adults. We see that they know their manipulation might be wrong, but it is necessary; therefore readers are left to ponder concepts about whether or not the end should ever justify the means.