Ender's Game: a look into attitude

This past week is the second time I have read this book, and I caught something entirely different this time: the foreshadowing near the beginning, with the Giant game and Fairyland (pg. 60-65). At this point, Ender makes the comment that this terrible game only ever gives him the chance to kill or be killed, by drinking those shot glasses of poison, or apparently by killing the giant. This is very interesting, and I call it foreshadowing for a specific reason - I am not referring to the progression of the Giant's decay or the game throughout the book, but rather the theme of doing anything will lead to someone's pain eventually.

The other point in the book where this sentiment struck me and began to come into focus was when Graff asks Valentine to write Ender a letter (pg. 143-151). At this point, Valentine defends Ender as being nothing like Peter at all, because he was always so nice and would never do anything to hurt anybody (although his history shows otherwise). Peter is a terrible person, who enjoys playing on other's fears (and is therefore representative of people who always assume the worst case is the reality of a situation). When Graff explains that Ender feeding the squirrels would only make them easier for Peter to terrorize, this portion of the book clicked with me very well. This line of arguments follows the real world in terms of giving aid to refugees. It can seem like helping people in war-torn regions is a waste, because there will only be more refugees again when some other marauding force comes through and lays waste to their lands. Take this line of reasoning back even further, and you end up with the Myth of Sisyphus - basically, this man was sentenced to the eternal punishment of rolling a boulder up a series of progressively higher hills. If there is nothing to life but a series of more difficult tasks, what makes people keep going? Why do we keep rolling these damned stones up stupid hills and mountains? From this general viewpoint, I can relate this back to Ender's education at the Battle School - he keeps dealing with everything the teachers and Graff can throw at him, and he does so at cost to himself.

I am not despairing over this human situation (I have my own personal set of motivations that move me past the wonderful problems in life), but I thought that the book is an interesting look into the manner in which life seems to work for people. I am equally curious to hear what motivates other people in life.

-Mike