Ender Wiggen’s Journey as the Valiant Hero and as a Christ Figure In Orson Scott Card’s novel, “Ender’s Game”, you have a story about a young man who is called out to fulfill the needs of many. Ender has a respective set of skills that make him stand out among the others. One of them is that he has the knowledge and the compassion to understand the enemy. This wonderful skill that Ender has is the motivating force that drives him to complete his journey from the beginning to the end. On the other hand, you have Ender having the ability to be Christ, or otherwise, a Christ Figure. The leading key ideas are that “Ender, like Christ, […] acts as a mediator between mankind and the higher beings”. He is also “playing a sacrificial role to save …show more content…
Ender has proven himself that he is capable in all odds of being credited as the Christ Figure. He has gone through so much in his journey, from being accepted to a whole new society to being the person that everyone looks up to, Ender has given everything that he has to give to win the battle at the end of the day. To define what it means to be a Christ Figure in Literature, “A Christ Figure, also known as a Christ-Image is a literary technique that the author uses to draw allusions between their characters and the biblical Jesus Christ. The Christ Figure is a spiritual or prophetic character who parallels Jesus, or other spiritual or prophetic figures.” (Wikimedia …show more content…
They wanted Ender to see that it was a game because this would insure that the humans would be victorious over the buggers. Because of this, Ender has suffered a great ordeal of losses in everything such as life, love, family, and friendship. At this point of my explanation, we can clearly see that Ender does suffice enough to be a Christ Figure because he began his journey with a full heart and now he is ending his journey with nothing left but a new world to live in with Valentine, while trying to find a safe place for the Queen Bugger to live. This is his last and most important mission of all. It looks like as if Ender is beginning a whole new journey. Truth be told, Ender is done, but he has that final step to go before he can call out to home and finally live the rest of days free of
...not allow him to leave. Lastly, Ender was lied to and forced through battle simulations which ended up killing an entire race without his knowledge.
Thomas C. Foster in his work How to Read Literature Like a Professor argues that even though characters may display evil characteristics, their religious values overpower and express “themselves in connection with the [character’s] role within society” (Foster 125). Literary characters may display some of the same characteristics as Christ while accomplishing actions with “redemption, hope, or miracle” (132). Jay Gatsby in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby symbolically resembles a Christ figure—sacrificing himself to save Daisy from the law, outstretching his arms towards hope, and coming to West Egg to retrieve Daisy’s unworthy world.
Nearly everyone is familiar with the character of Christ. While understandings of Christ as a figure of faith may vary, he is universally recognized as a historical figure. The world knows that Christ was called “Son of God,” he called people to love, and he died a painful death on the cross. He has become such an important figure that images of him show up frequently in literature. Thomas Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, outlines a wide range of characteristics common in Christ-like figures. In his list of descriptors, Foster suggests characters might be Christ figures if they have wounds reminiscent of the crucifixion, suffer in agony, or are self-sacrificing—and this is only the beginning of his list (126). Readers repeatedly identify Christ figures in literature, both because of the well-known characteristics Foster describes in his chapter on Christ figures and because readers find them through their own understandings. In Yu Hua’s
He uses a combination of Peter’s ruthlessness with Valentine’s compassion. “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves” (Card 238). Ender reveals this to Valentine because it is the main reason why he despises himself. Ender first uses his method against Stilson after getting his chip removed. He realizes that with the way Stilson is, the only way to stop him is to cause enough pain to deter retaliation. Learning from his enemies does not only occur on Earth. While being rejected in Salamander Army, Ender studies the good and bad techniques in the battle room. Given that, Ender ultimately beats Bonso once he is in command of his own army. He continues to do this with every person and battle he comes into contact with, making him the best commander at
During the book ender plays many battle games, intelligence games, and mind games. It basically turns enders life into a game, or saying life is “Ender's game”. Next, there is the part where Ender destroys the Bugger (alien) army he believes it is just a game. The leaders of the schools tell Ender that it is just a simulation, just a game, but really it ends up he is leading the real armies to beat the buggers. Once again there is a game, Ender's game. Throughout the book it is constantly telling you low key that life is Ender’s game, that he can do whatever. Lastly, one of the mind games ender plays ends up being real in real life. In this game ender kills a giant, and explore this magical land. In this land Ender kills a giant and explores the playground area next to a forest where there is this castle. Representing Ender's game, The buggers somehow built this magical land on one of their planets with the giant and castle and
...dn’t want to kill anybody! I’m not a killer! You didn’t want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it!’ He was crying. He was out of control.” So, you should believe that Ender did the things he did out of love for his commanders and the fact that he trusted them in and through everything. He is not guilty.
Ender faces trials all throughout his journey, he is given choices that will not only affect himself, but possibly all of humanity. Ender has many goals to achieve throughout the story, but first he must overcome the trials given to him. He must first overcome his brother, Peter, the Giants Drink, and finally the adults who run the Battle School (Card 80). After Ender completes all his trials and reaches the final goal, he has shown how he is able to behave like a hero even when his journey becomes difficult or even impossible. Ender overcomes many trials on his way to becoming a hero,
Initially, in the beginning, Ender was a pushover. Before, Ender entered battle school he was harassed by his childhood bully Stilson. But then the monitor implanted in Ender was removed and the next time Stilson decided to harass Ender, it did not go well. Stilson was met with an enraged Ender who literally stomped the bully out of Stilson. At that point Ender has changed
... he commanded his own platoon. Those are phases Ender went through. During one battle he faced, he cheated. Page 218 describes Ender’s men passed through the gate without soldiers before the gate was reversed. He had to cheat because he was exhausted and he needed assistance. Ender was battling two teams at once, never done before at battle school.. Finally every game has a final stage or battle. In Ender’s Game the final battle was against the buggers. Ender fights them on page 297. Ender was actually tricked into fighting them. This point proves how life is a game because games have a final battle/stage and Ender fought in one. Ender as a game piece, cheating and fighting in a final stage/battle prove how life is a game.
One trait that Ender and Valentine share are their overwhelming sense of compassion, in other words, their sympathy and concern for the suffering and misfortune of others. Enders strong sense of compassion is clear when he shows his remorse to Graff, the head of Battle School who manipulates Ender on many occasions, after coming to the realization that he committed Xenocide without his knowledge. He is angry and crying while accusing Graff of tricking him, to which Graff replies explaining exactly why they needed to trick him; his compassion: “It had to be a trick or you couldn’t have done it…. We had to have a commander with so much empathy that he would think like the buggers, understand them and anticipate them…. But somebody with that much compassion could never be the killer we needed.” (Card 298). Graff clearly states why Ender’s compassion was needed in order to save the wo...
The theme of Ender’s game is to show that pushing someone to the end of their wits can have a good turnout. In the first chapter Ender gets his monitor removed, and then he has to defend himself and fight Stilson. Ender’s whole story is a symbol.
Ender has always despised and feared Peter for his short and hot temper. He has always feared becoming his brother one day, so much that if he does anything violent he shrivels at the thought of changing for the worse. During “The Giant”, a game the Ender seemed to devote an odd amount of time to, he looks at the animated children who have begun to laugh at him and thinks to himself how much “[he] wanted to hit them, to throw them into the brook” (Pg. 71). He has began to no longer contain his anger in a calm way, he now only seems to solve his problems with violence, something that I think our humanity has come to, too. Most people have changed from the kind, smiling human beings that previously made up humanity into tough skined souls in order to survive in this world of harm. Fifty years ago, parents didn’t have to worry about their children getting kidnapped during a late night bike ride. Now, adults must go through advanced background checks just to volunteer in their community. In order to survive in this world, you must change, change into a person that knows how humanity really functions.
In Ender’s Game, the International Fleet manipulates Ender as well as many other kids into perpetuating the society as it is in order to prevent change. This is first evident in Card’s use of a simile as Ender sums up his life at Battle School when he states, “I’ve spent my life as someone’s pawn” (Card 241). Card demonstrates that the International Fleet treats Ender as a ‘pawn’ in order to fulfill their needs at his expense. In reality, a pawn is an object that is manoeuvred and controlled to serve the needs of the controller not the pawn. In this example, Card alludes to the idea that Ender is being controlled to show how an authority that abuses power can compromise an individual as well as a society. In particular, the International Fleet’s trick on Ender of killing the alien species shows their abuse of power as Ender says, "I didn 't want to kill them all. I didn 't want to kill anybody! I 'm not a killer! You didn 't want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it!"(Card 229). This illustrates how Ender has lost his autonomy as the International Fleet manoeuvred his mind in order to exploit him for their own purposes. Ender is evidently troubled as he lost his ability to make decisions based on his own values and instead perpetuates a
...is enemy, he became the most ruthless and yet most compassionate commander the world has ever seen in all the wars the human race has withstood. Above all, however, isolation is the tool that made all the attributes transparent and viable to Ender and to the I.F. Beyond the war, Ender became more than just a tool to be used; he became a savior. A savior of not only one, but two different races bent on destroying each other. Ender became the very definition of Hope.
Ender at the beginning of the story is a shy, bit of a pushover kid. He has grown up for six years with his older siblings Valentine and Peter, both have helped course and mold Enders’ personality and emotions. Peter, as was mentioned earlier, is the oldest of the Wiggin Family. The most self-serving and emotionally unavailable of the three young children. His violent actions and words towards Ender have shaped him so that he is quite, considerate, and knows how to handle himself in tough situations. This leads Ender to take situations to the next level. A good example is when Stilson confronts Ender when he is at a disadvantage, what with his monitor being taken out. Stilson plans on beating Ender up, because thats what bullies tend to do at times, but instead Ender catches him off guard and knocks him to the floor. That should be it, done, over with, but Ender sees ahead,“...End all the fights that would come” by kicking the boy repeatedly and this results in Stilson’s death; Ender didn’t know this at the time. Valentine has done the opposite of Ender, she taught him compassion and love. This makes Ender a well rounded person, who has both the characters of Peter and Valentine. He soon makes his way up the barracks at Battle School, making a big impact on to how the school’s technology and efforts in their teaching. Near the middle of the book, he is sent to Command School to learn even more about war. At this