Ender’s Game

“Surely it is in range now, thought Ender. It must be in range and the computer can’t handle it. Then the surface of the planet, which filled half of the simulator field now, began to bubble; there was a gout of explosion, hurling debris out toward Ender’s fighters. Ender tried to imagine what was happening inside the planet. The field growing and growing, the molecules bursting apart but finding nowhere for separate atoms to go. Within three seconds the entire planet burst apart, becoming a sphere of bright dust hurtling outward” (Card 295). This quote reveals that Ender has overcome his biggest challenge to date as he wins the final war for the human race. In the novel Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, a young “wiz kid” must take on the responsibility of trying to save the human race, so the theme of overcoming challenges is clearly presented throughout the book.
Ender Wiggin is an outcast at birth. First of all he is a third, which means that his parents broke the law of having an illegal third child. In addition, he is incredibly smart, much farther along in school than people his age. These attributes make him a target for bullies and abuse. Ender’s brother Peter is much older than him but is jealous Ender’s talents, and instead of dealing with it properly Peter physically and verbally abuses Ender: “Ender couldn’t see it coming, except for a slight sift of Peter’s weight; the mask cut out his peripheral vision. Suddenly there was the pain and pressure of a blow to the side of his head; he lost balance, fell that way” (11). Ender was drafted by the world military to go to battle school where he would learn skills that he would use later to fight the buggars, which were the main enemy of the humans. In battle school Ender rises through the ranks with blistering speed, he soon is a commander of his own army and is having great success with a new breed of soldiers and tactics. However the people who drafted Ender are not done with him yet, and they are going to test him to his and his soldiers to their limits: “He was naked, and when he moved the bed was soaking wet. His eyes were puffy and painful from crying. He looked and the clock on his desk. 1820, it said. It’s the same day. I already had a battle today, I had two battles today—the bastards know what I’ve been through, and there doing this to me. William Bee, Griffin Army, Talo Momoe, Tiger Army, 1900. He sat on the edge of the bed. The note trembled in his hand. I can’t do this, he said silently” (213). Ender moves on from battle school to command school, where he begins to learn from a hero from the buggar invasion, Mazer Rackham. Ender learns tactics and everything he will need to fight the buggars, and he also begins simulation battles with his friends from battle school. Ender and his friends pass every test and they quickly get to the last test they will face. The end of the buggars is at hand, and Ender and his friends must use all their skills to win: “Then the enemy formation appeared, and Ender’s weariness turned to despair. The enemy outnumbered him a thousand to one… The planet was at the far end of the field… As for his own fleet, it consisted of twenty starships, each with only four fighters. He knew the four-fighter starships—they were old fashioned…It was all a gamble now, whether any of his ships would survive long enough to get in range. It would not take long, once they would focus on the planet’s surface… Within three seconds the entire planet burst apart…Ender took off his headphones, filled with the cheers of his squadron leaders, and only to realize that there was just as much noise in the room with him” (292-296). In the end, Ender had used all he had learned and even his friends and he defeated the buggars and saved the human race.
Ender used all his gifts, and he passed each challenge ahead of him to save the human race and become a hero. What I took from this book was that with perseverance and teamwork, any challenge can be overcome.