I just re-red Ender's Game and I am doing a project for my technology seminar and english class. And here's my question, While Ender's an embodiment of all the good characteristics one could have, what's OSC's purpose in this? Let me rephrase that, OSC obviously characterized Ender as a person we all idealize, why do you think OSC did this? Any feedback would be helpful, thanks.
Posted by megaotaku (Member # 6389) on :
well (and this is just one middle school student's opinion) to have a child so intelligent and charismatic that he can save the world, you can't help but idealize him. the only "good guy" who dosen't like him in ender's game is himself. part of the reason he is so likeable and so easy to look up to is the fact that he dosent flaunt the fact that he is the one person chosen to lead the other geniouses to 'save' humanity. i think i strayed a bit from your original question but...that's my opinion (please keep in mind that im 14) Posted by lcarus (Member # 4395) on :
I question your assumption that Ender is an embodiment of all good characteristics. He has many weaknesses, including, in later life, a tendency toward indecision. Young Ender struggles to form close bonds. He earns people's respect, but it's hard for anybody to feel close to him. Case in point: Bean. We know from Ender's POV that he identifies most closely with Bean. But we see in Ender's Shadow that Bean thinks he is the outsider. Now, a surface reading would assume that Bean is correct, but that Petra, Alai, etc. are all "insiders." I think that if Card were to write books about the other characters in Ender's jeesh, we would find that they each felt like the outsider--in fact, we can already see this from Petra's point of view in the Shadow books, where we see that she felt like the weak one, who could not face Ender because she let him down. This is how you might feel about someone you worshipped, but not really a close friend.
I think we get the sense thet Ender, Bean, and Petra are perfect because they are written in third person limited, which means we see them more or less as they see themselves. And so, each is a mass of insecurity, which we overlook because we can identify, but we also see the intentions of each. We see that each perceives him- or herself as having good intentions, as I think most people do, and so we see them as embodying all good things. We forgive their faults because we love who they want to be.
So I think OSC just made him a character with some strengths and some weaknesses, trying to muddle through a difficult situation. In other words, as real and as human a character as OSC could make him.
[ March 30, 2004, 01:30 AM: Message edited by: lcarus ]
Posted by lcarus (Member # 4395) on :
Oh, and Welcome to Hatrack!
Posted by syeku (Member # 4144) on :
thanks for the replys and a warm welcome! Is Icarus name of an angel? Just a thought Posted by Kabederlin (Member # 6304) on :
To answer your question. I think the thing that fascinates me most about Ender is his sense of honor. I mean he kills a whole race and instead of sulking the rest of his life he gets up and does something about it. He brings the race back to life first through a book, and then through spending his life carrying an egg that one day will release the Formic's last hope. I mean, he never once feels sorry for himself. He just accepts what he did and moves on even when it disgraces him. I'm not sure too many people could do that, so I think it's not so much that we idolize Ender as much as we respect him for taking responsibility for his genius.
And Syeku, you asked me in another topic for my sources. I can't seem to find my Works Cited page so I'll have to get you specifics later. I got the majority out of Contemporary Literary Criticism Vol. 47 and 51. They contain a few sources though most of the criticism there is negative or unusuable. It was really difficult and I didn't have too many sources to work with. I'll get you that Works Cited page as soon as I can find it. BTW you can find that CLC in any big library (best bet is a college library).
Posted by Kabederlin (Member # 6304) on :
And Icarus is the name of the Greek guy in that myth where Icarus and Daedalus (sp?) create wings from bird feathers and fly away from the Isle of Crete where they are being held. Then I think they fly too close to the sun or something and the wax melts and they die or something. i forget the whole thing.
Flight of Icarus is a song by Iron Maiden... Hehehe... Iron Maiden is cool...
Posted by syeku (Member # 4144) on :
Ah~ so Icarus was the son from greek mythology.. I was close in a sense he had wings and stuff? hehe.. Kabederlin thanks for the response and i'll be waiting for the citation page T.T And are you sure it was CLC 51? not 50? I have 50 with the Elaine Radford and OSC's Response on it. hmm...
Posted by Kabederlin (Member # 6304) on :
50 sounds right. I'm getting all this from memory so you gotta make allowances...
Posted by syeku (Member # 4144) on :
Ok, must go to sleep... Kabederlin, i'll see you here again or can you give me your e-mail address? Anyhow, good night to all the hatrackers! Posted by lcarus (Member # 4395) on :
Icarus died; Daedalus did not.
um, not that that means anything
Good night.
Posted by Julian (Member # 6386) on :
I think Kabederlin and syeku are lucky to be in school at a time where students can analyze books like Ender's Game. In my day (no, I 'm not that old, but we're talking 20 something years....), in my AP English class, we analyzed Huckleberry Finn and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Although Kabederlin's paper is more a critical essay than a research paper, I congratulate him for writing it at all, and as for syeku and her project: You go, girl! Critical thinking is the most important thing to master and take with you to college,and you both are thinking, analyzing, and writing about it. The average person never gets that far....
Posted by Kabederlin (Member # 6304) on :
We do Analyze Huckleberry Finn. And we do Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, The Chosen. I CHOSE to do Ender's Game for my research paper. Or essay. Whatever you wanna call it. And in the situation doing Ender's Game was much harder than doing The Scarlet Letter or Huckleberry Finn.
Posted by Kabederlin (Member # 6304) on :
I always forget something. My e-mail address is wufeichang05@comcast.net.
Posted by Julian (Member # 6386) on :
Well, I thought it was an interesting essay and a good job. Just wanted you to know.
[ March 30, 2004, 06:34 PM: Message edited by: Julian ]
Posted by syeku (Member # 4144) on :
I'm a guy!! ^^;; Anyways, yea, it's cool I can analyze such books. But just think of the kids right now who will be able watch Ender's Game the movie in their classroom!! Now, that will be something ne?
Posted by Julian (Member # 6386) on :
Yeah, that will be cool. And students could analyze the differences between how the novel and the movie handled the story: how characters were explained, how events in the past were revealed, etc. (Sorry about the gender thing - I'm new to this.)
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Critical thinking is the most important thing to master and take with you to college,and you both are thinking, analyzing, and writing about it. The average person never gets that far....