Ender’s GameIn this book Orson Scott Card writes about a boy who is born to save the Earth. Ender Widgeon is born as a “Third” in the future where only two children are allowed per family.
Ender’s older brother and sister, Peter and Valentine, were not what the government needed to save the world, so Ender was born, that he would be somewhere in the middle of their extremes. Peter is too violent, and Valentine has too much empathy. Ender is the right combination for the Battle School. Ender and Peter have power, but, only Ender has respect. Both of them are killers, but Peter loves killing while Ender regrets it after he does it.
They both also become heroes, but both will not remain heroes when the historians begin to examine things. Though Peter and Ender both have power over other people. However, Ender & Peter get and use their power differently. Peter gets power by terrifying people. Everyone knows he is a cold-blooded murderer, so they do as he says because they are afraid.
Also, he influences on the “nets” (The nets are networks similar to the internet). He uses them to sway the public. Once Peter has gotten power, he uses the power for himself. He uses people as pawns to do what he wantsto rule the world.
However, Ender gets his power by being the best at all the games. He becomes commander of an army. But, he doesn’t use the army to get anything for himself, except to be number one in the point standings. He makes the people in his command better soldiers by telling them what he knows. He allows the platoon leaders to make decisions in battles, so that the whole army doesn’t rely on him all the time.
Peter and Ender kill throughout the book. Peter kills squirrels and animals. He threatens to kill Ender and Valentine if they do not do as he tells them. He enjoys these kind of things. He shows no sorrow or sympathy for the dead animals he leaves in his back yard. Ender kills out of defense and feels lots of sorrow.
He never intends to kill anyone that he kills. All the people he kills are accidental, but if Ender wouldn’t have killed them, they would have killed him. These deaths are hidden from Ender because of the pain he would feel knowing what he had done. He tries so hard throughout the book to not become what Peter is. He can’t stand peter, a cold-blooded killer. During the “Locke Treaty” and the Third Invasion, Peter and Ender become heroes.
Peter saves society from another wold war, and Ender saves the world from the buggers. The difference is that there was no real threat from the buggers, and when people find this out in the future, they will not be as understanding. There was definite threat where Peter was. A world war was about to break out. The buggers had realized that they were wrong in attacking Earth, and had decided to keep their distance.
They wanted to co-exist in peace. But, no one knew this at the time of the Third Invasion, the truth will still hurt Ender in the future. Also, Ender was tricked into killing the buggers. He didn’t know he was commanding the fleets.
He thought he was only playing a simulator, or a game. So in Ender’s mind, he wasn’t a hero. The two brothers who seem to be so similar are shown to in fact be very different. They both have power over other people, but Ender doesn’t use his for bad things or to help himself like Peter does. Also, both are killers and heroes, but their thoughts on the deaths are totally different.
While Ender regrets every death he causes, Peter is never sorrowful. These differences, which are shown throughout the book, show a contrast between characters that is very noticeable. .
