#1 MOOD

"And the despair filled him again. Now he knew why. Now he knew what he hated so much. He had no control over his own life. They ran everything."

"The next day he passed Alai in the corridor, and they greeted each other, touched hands, talked, but they both knew that there was a wall now... The most terrible thing, though, was the fear that the wall could never be breached."

"Ender grabbed Mazer's uniform and hung onto it, pulling him down so they were face to face. 'I didn't want to kill them all. I didn't want to kill anybody! I'm not a killer!' ... He was crying. He was out of control."

"'We have to go. I'm almost happy here.' 'So stay.' 'I've lived too long with pain. I won't know who I am without it.'"

Ender's story is one of despair. He did not have a life. He did not have friends. That wall could never be breached. He was desperate. He grabbed Mazer's uniform and hung onto him and shouted into his face. Who he is, was made up by those who manipulated him and used him, all for, a misunderstanding. Ender does not know happiness. He does not have much love in him anymore either. Even his only love, Valentine is not the same sweet sister he used to look up to. Ender is hateful throughout the story. He was transformed into a person who cannot love anyone, because as a commander, that is too risky. He does not know himself very well. Ender's story is painful. Because he has went through so much pain, pain is normal. It is a part of him. Not to feel any pain would be abnormal. Now that is sad. This boy is not even a teenager yet and he has faced so much pain, so many hardships and lies that being happy is scary for him. Crying is a big thing for Ender. Ender never cries. He is not supposed to. However, he was yelling and crying to the point where he had no control over himself when he found out the truth. It pierced through his body. The entire story was a cruel and wounding lie. It was depressing.

I guess that is what a dystopian novel is supposed to be like.

# 2 ENTRY OF CHOICE

"'I killed them all, didn't I?' Ender asked. 'All who?' asked Graff. 'The buggers? That was the idea.' Mazer leaned in close. 'That's what the war was for.' 'All their queens. So i killed all their children, all of everything.' 'They decided that when they attacked us. It wasn't your fault. It's what had to happen.'"

"We are like you; the thought pressed into his mind. We did not mean to murder, and when we understood, we never came again. We thought we were the only thinking beings in the universe, until we met you, but never did we dream that thought could arise from the lonely animals who cannot dream each other's dreams. How were we to know? We could live with you in peace. Believe us, believe us, believe us."

The third war was a war of revenge and security. The people in charge outer space wanted to make sure that before the buggers attacked earth again, that they could wipe them off the face of the universe. While people were preparing for the hopefully last bugger war, the buggers were regretting their mistake. Buggers are actually very peaceful beings. However, one mistake caused a huge misunderstanding which lead to year after year of preparing for a destructive war that did not need to happen in the first place. Confusion almost always leads to jump-in conclusions, arguments, and disagreements over two different subjects. For example, one person is arguing about math question number three while her friend is disagreeing with her and disputing over number thirteen.

Communication is vital. Even when two people do not speak the same language, they find a way to communicate in some way, whether it is by using body motions or by drawing pictures or any other possible way. Communication is the solution to problems caused by misunderstandings.

However, in the book Ender's Game, people did not even try to communicate with the buggers. Human beings tend to think that when they meet someone or something different from themselves, that they are less developed and less inteligent. They want to have power of them and think of themselves one step higher than the other, just because that somebody is different. The buggers, or aliens are known as weird creatures from outer space. But this assumption was made before anyone ever saw an alien!

Misunderstandings can lead to bad cases, but they can also lead to an even tighter understanding of one another.

#3 SETTING

"The enemy outnumbered him a thosand to one; the simulator glowed green with them. They were grouped in a dozen different formations, shifting positions, changing shapes, moving in seemingly random patterns through the simulator field. He could not find a path through them- a space that seemed open would close suddenly, and another appear, and a formation that seemed penetrable would suddenly change and be forbidding. The planet was at the far edge of the field, and for all Ender knew there were just as many enemy ships beyond it, out of the sumulator's range... As for his own fleet, it consisted of twenty starships, each with only four fighters...He heard his squadron leaders breathing heavily; he could also hear, from one of the observers behind him, a quiet curse."

This is like the undefeatable stage of my video game, except for Ender, nothing is undefeatable. The setting is very well described and with every word, paints pictures in readers' minds. The overall picture is completely hopeless. But for Ender, it was very challenging and unfair.

The different statistics and detailed actions and movements of the enemy given in the section polish the picture and the author's word choice of adjectives and verbs enhance it. This was the most difficult game Ender had to play because the enemy knew Ender's abilities "inside and out." What is meaningful and interesting about it is that Ender won the game with the mentality and attitude of "I don't care anymore" and "If I break this rule, they'll never let me be a commander. It would be too dangerous. I'll never have to play a game again. And that is victory." Also, Ender couldn't have done it without his friends. Bean's joke made the game funny. While the adults such as Graff and Mazer Rackham were sitting in an intense atmosphere, the children were "playing along" and having fun with the challenge set before them.

# 4 CURRENT SITUATIONS

"I want to go home, he whispered. But his whisper was the whisper he used when he cried in pain when Peter tormented him. The sound didn't go further than his own ears, and sometimes not that far. And his tears could fall unwanted on his sheet, but his sobs were so gentle that they did not shake the bed, so quiet they could not be heard. But the ache was there, thick in his throat and the front of his face, hot in his chest and in his eyes. I want to go home."

I think Ender wanted a pair of those red ruby slippers at that moment. Missing home is something that can easily be related to a situation at TCIS. There are several people in this school with homes in a different country. Although it is not as severe as not even being on the same planet, the two are similar. They have an equal sickness. It is called being home sick.
Ender's prescription for this sickness was to suck it up. He was not allowed to think about home. He wasn't allowed to meet any members of his family until he was twelve, not allowed to write letters and only focus on the battle school. Ender was forced to stop thinking about his home. This solution sounds harsh, but I believe that it had some positive impacts. Although his mind was built up for battle, the "doctor" stopped Ender's home sickness by giving him something else to think about. Another positive way to resolve the situation that came out from that was that he made a new home.

"He wanted to go back home, back to the Battle School, the only place in the universe where he belonged."

# 5 CLIMAX

"Within three seconds the entire planet burst apart, becoming a sphere of bright dust, hurtling outward. Ender's fighters were among the first to go; their perspecitive suddenly vanished, and now the simulator could only display the perspective of the starships waiting beyond the edges of the battle...Ender took off his headphones, filled with the cheers of his squadron leaders, and only then realized that there was just as much noise in the room with him."

This was the finish line at the end of the muddy, crooked road. All of Enders hardwork and tears (whether they were dripping down his cheeks or in his heart) was for this victory. After all those lies that Graff had to tell him, the truth could now finally be told. Now, the frightening, threatening bugger wars are over.
Ender has been playing this game with his friends for a long time, him as commander, commanding his friends to fight against the buggers. It was just a game. Therefore, when this paragraph is first read through, Ender's victory is amazing, but not all that surprising. Ender destroyed the army of thousands of buggers, but there is actually more to it than that. Ender defeated the buggers. That was the third bugger war. It was for real. Now this was surprising. The third war was what Ender has been training for all this time. When it finally came, he was in the middle of it and was unaware of the fact.
The climax was not a happy part of the book, because the main character was not happy. He had to go away and have some time to himself, alone. For almost five years, he had been lied to. Ender was confused. He broke the rules. He played the game he didn't want to play because he thought that if he did, they would never want him to be commander, and "that would be victory." At the end of the game, the adults were yelling and shouting. However, they were not yelling and shouting at Ender as he thought they would. They were cheering for him.

It is hard to imagine someone living a life similar to Ender's- living under an invisible force. I'm glad the book has a happy ending, where Ender is not only shown has a great fighting warrior, but also a peace maker.

# 6 CHARACTERS

"Mother cried.
Father held Ender tight.
Peter shook his hand and said, 'You lucky little pinheaded fart-eater.'
Valentine kissed him and left her tears on his cheek...
'Kill some buggers for me!' Peter shouted.
'I love you, Andrew!; Mother called.
'We'll write to you!' Father said.
And as he got into the car that waited silently in the corridor, he heard Valentine's anguished cry. 'Come back to me! I love you forever!' "

Peter rules over Ender as a big brother. The character of Peter is ruthless. He makes himself powerful and demands authority and respect. However, believe it or not, Peter, ruler of earth, has a soft part of his heart. "But he did not reach for a pillow to smother Ender. He did not have a weapon. He whispered, 'Ender, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know how it feels, I'm sorry, I'm your brother, I love you.'"

"' Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given you by good people, by people who love you...'" Valentine is Ender's older sister. She is the only one in Ender's family on earth who thought of him everyday and rememebred his birthday. She is the one who continued to love Ender, even when they were not even on the same planet. Valentine is someone very speical to Ender, although he learned not to depend on relationships. I like how Valentine is a person that loves Ender. She is different from the other character in the way that she is caring and thoughtful of Ender. Siblings are very special people. :)

Colonel Graff is a big character in this book because he controls Ender's life in space. He makes sure that Ender has all the needed qualities to become a great commander. He admires the little boy, but restrains from being kind to him, for Ender's sake. I like this character. Colonel Graff is a better father to Ender than than the one back on earth. Although he was not very nice to Ender, he was always thinking of the best way for Ender. Although it was difficult on Ender, hiding the truth from him would've been even more difficult for Graff.

Mazer Rackham is the long ago superhero that Ender is supposed to take the place of. I admire the character of Mazer Rackham because he has sacrificed so many things for the outerspace missions such as his home, his family and friends, and himself. These things were taken away from him while other things such as time were lavishly forced into his hands, something he did not ask for, nor did he want. Many people hope to live forever. Mazer fulfilled that dream in some way and discovered that time is best spent with people that love you and people that you love with the amount of time given to you from the beginning.

Ender is Bean's commander, but Bean is Ender's teacher. Bean is a smart little boy like Ender when he first started out. He is stubborn and unintentionally teaches Ender to look at the situation fron the other person's perspective.

Alai is Ender's best friend. He tells him when he is wrong. He supports and encourages Ender. Even when Ender leaves him, Alai continues to be his best friend and stays loyal. The character of Alai is a nice kind of person and a priviledge to have around.

Ender is a genius, and has all the quality traits of a commander. However, he is compassionate. Compassion is something that a commander cannot have, especially toward the enemy. At first, Ender enjoys the games, but as time goes on and he continues to beat people and hurt people, he grows tired of the game and hates it.
"Ender grabbed Mazer's uniform and hung onto it, pulling him down so they were face to face. 'I didn't want to kill them all. I didn't want to kill anybody! I'm not a killer!'"
Ender is a difficult character because he has his own personality of being a brilliant, lovable, kind, and thoughtful boy, but he is manipulated and tricked into playing a game that he is not totally aware of, changing his character. People as bright as Ender always stand out in a crowd. I like him because in all the different difficult situations, he always paves himself a way out of it, and finishes strong.