Literary Elements In Ender's Game By Orson Scott Card

According to Alexander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, “Literature transmits incontrovertible condensed experience…from generation to generation. In this way, literature becomes the living memory of a nation.” In the United States of America there are a plethora of authors who contribute to the living memory of the nation although one prominent author in the science fiction genre stands out more than the rest. This author is Orson Scott Card. Card has contributed to the living memory of the nation with a countless number of works. One of these works being Ender’s Game. In Ender’s Game Card utilizes conflict, characterization, and bildungsroman in order to portray the idea that growing up isn’t easy and that some children have a more difficult

One of those elements being conflict. The conflict between man and nature is illustrated when Bean is starving on the streets of Rotterdam. Another conflict which can be seen through the entire novel is man verses man. Whether it be Bean trying to outsmart Achilles on the streets of Rotterdam or Ender facing Bronzo Madrid in the bathroom, man verses man is sprinkled throughout the book like a lightly seasoned voluptuous steak. This add a hooking factor to the novel making it an excellent page turner and contributing to the claim that this novel contributes to the living memory of the nation. This novel illustrates a Lord of the Flies ideology, meaning that when left unattended children turn into demons. Man versus society is also used when Bean rebels against the teachers in numerous ways. One way was spying on them through the air ducts to gain access to the teacher’s log on in the school data base. Another way was listening in on private conversations among the teachers again while in the air ducts of the school. The reason why Bean was doing this was because the teachers had a monopoly on power in the school and secrets, and Bean wanted to learn the inner workings of the school. Card also utilized bildungsroman in order to convey his idea that growing up has a superfluity of challenges. Card illustrates that by magnifying the problems one-hundred fold with killing the person

D. Salinger is a better representation of bildungsroman than Ender’s Shadow therefore it is more representative of the living memory of the nation. This claim has only some degree of truth. Catcher in the Rye a semi-relatable main character, Holden Caulfield. Holden went to many different prep schools without seeing much of his parents. The reason why Holden went to numerous different prep schools was because he was failing out of each one. The reason why Holden is semi-relatable is because his brother died and that death held a heavy toll on Holden to the point where he ended up in a mental hospital. Due to the fact that the character is more relatable and is going through difficult times some believe that that is what makes Catcher in the Rye a living memory of the nation. This is not true the extremes used by Card in Ender’s Shadow showed the reader a different life style and how life isn’t always fair so they just need to keep moving. Catcher in the Rye illustrates to the reader what would happen if when life knocks them down hard and they don’t get back