To develop themes, plots, ideas, and perspectives, authors often change perspectives during a story. The shifts between characters or settings can be confusing, but they create a rich and exciting story. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel by Orson Card set in the distant future where there are no children on earth and aliens have twice attacked it, is an example. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is a scientific novel set in the future where the earth’s population has grown so large that there is a child limit and aliens have attacked the planet twice. The theme that games have in common shows how games are different from reality. Valentine and Peter are examples of the shifting perspective in the story, as is Ender’s Battle School training and Ender and his connection to buggers.
Ender’s Game, by Orson Card, portrays Ender’s siblings Valentine and Peter as devils and angels. Peter is portrayed as a lunatic and the embodiment of evil, which encourages Ender into doing bad things. Peter “has been a husbandman of suffering since a very young age, planting, nurturing and devouring when it’s ripe”. Valentine, the sister of Ender’s, pushes him to achieve greatness as an angel. Both characters play different roles, but they do so by accident. Ender, for example, fears becoming like Peter and uses psychotic episodes as a way to stay sane. Valentine also tells Ender he must continue his battle training, not realizing that this would result in the annihilation of a peaceful alien species. Peter and Valentine switch roles on purpose. Val and Peter have devised a clever plan to diffuse dangerous political debates. Valentine plays Demosthenes – the person who encourages conflict – while Peter takes the role Locke. Valentine’s Demosthenes character made her realize “there was more Peter in me than I could bear to admit”, because of all the conflict and war that she had caused with her debates. Locke’s involvement Demosthenes helped Peter to see “that I am a true monster.” He doesn’t intend to kill, but he can’t stop himself.
Ender is challenged by many things throughout the book, but his greatest challenges come at Battle School. He is first challenged by a fantasy game that adapts his brain as he solves complex puzzles. It is well known that the Giant’s Drink cannot be completed in a normal way. Ender was playing the game for a long time until he cheats in order to get the win. Ender slowly shifts his perspectives and the games he plays become real, tormenting him mentally. Ender’s mental state is tormented by his belief that he has committed murder. Peter would love me. Ender is then faced with more challenges as he continues to play the game. Ender plays with his family, Peter Valentine. Ender’s mania is heightened by this. Ender is convinced that “this game knows too many things about me.” This game is full of lies. I’m not Peter. I have no murder in me. I had a much worse fear. He was a murderer, but he was even better than Peter. This trait pleased his teachers. Ender shifts his perspective from seeing the Battle School as a fun game to realizing that the school uses him. First of all, “Graff purposefully separated him from other boys so he couldn’t be near him.” Ender was supposed to become more independent, becoming the school’s perfect soldier. Instead it made him feel as if he were getting spoiled by the school. Ender was influenced by the privileges he received from his teacher to think that they could keep him safe. But he didn’t know that teachers would not be protecting him. If they were, “he wouldn’t reach his full potential”. The teachers and school use Ender to manipulate and benefit themselves.
Ender’s story opens with Ender playing Buggers And Astronauts. Although it may seem simple, this is a fictional interpretation of reality. Peter intends to harm Ender despite the fact that this game appears innocent. Peter’s intention to harm Ender is a result of his jealousy and hatred towards his brother. This game represents real life and the idea of humans being the ones to hate and destroy buggers. This idea shows the opposite to what humans teach, that the bugs are the real threat. Ender switches perspectives throughout the book, moving from hatred of the buggers towards compassion. Ender developed compassion for buggers through his dreams and fantasy game. In an effort to reach out to the Earth, they use the fantasy to do so. Ender notices in the fantasy game that the buggers tried to communicate with him on a bugger-planet. Ender also has dreams in which the buggers are trying to communicate. Ender told Mazer that he was struggling with the nightmares and didn’t want them to continue. I can’t sleep. I keep remembering things I do not want to. My life plays out as though I was a video recorder that someone else wants to view the worst moments of my existence. Mazer tells Ender to stop worrying about his dreams. He says, “I am putting you in a position of pressure for the very first time.” All your body does is compensate. Now you’re an adult. It’s now time to stop worrying about the dark. Ender’s compassion towards the bugs was at its strongest when he defeated them unknowingly. The exploitative tactics of Ender were used after he stated “In that moment when I really understand my enemy, know him enough to defeat, then, at that exact moment, i also love him.” It’s impossible, I believe, to understand someone and what they desire, their beliefs, without loving them. Ender was told by his teachers that he was using a simulation to train, but each session was actually a battle against the bugs. Mazer informed Ender that he had destroyed them. This was The Third Invasion. You fought the buggers, not a game. You have won all your battles, but today, you fought them on their own world. The queen and all her colonies were all there, and you defeated them. Ender was horrified by what he did and would not have done it had he known. Ender became upset and stated “I didn’t intend to kill all of them.” I didn’t kill anyone! I’m a non-killer! “You didn’t want Peter. You wanted me. But you made my do it. You tricked me!” Ender was able to see the buggers’ resentment towards humanity at the end and promised that he would bring them back.
The story is dominated by the shift from gaming to reality. Peter and Valentine were forced to reveal their real identities by using online personas. Ender realized that his worst fear was coming true when his Battle School challenges made him look like Peter. Battle School became real to him after he saw the teachers’ treatment of him. Ender finally changed his feelings about the buggers from hatred to compassion. Ender Valentine Peter and Valentine found their true identity and purpose in life by switching perspectives from games into reality.
