This is topic Discrepancy between Ender's Game and the Polish Boy (**Small Spoiler**) in forum Discussions About Orson Scott Card at Hatrack River Forum.
I just read The Polish Boy and the first part of Ender's Game, and noticed how neither John Paul nor Graff gave any sign that they had previosly met. I understand, however, that its impossible to know a character's reaction when there is almost a 20 diffrence between the writings of the books.
Posted by formic rising (Member # 9172) on :
it's not entirely important in ender's game to know if john paul and graff had met any time prior. also,i believe that part of ender's game is from ender's point of view.. i dont know if he would have noticed that they've met before. if the wiggin parents had been given permission to have a third child, wouldnt that mean that the wiggin parents had met with members of the IF... possibly graff?
unless it clearly states "graff and john paul never met before this moment" i dont think i'd sweat that too much.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
I just found it weird because I never realized that there was such an age difference between Graff and Ender's parents. I thought that Graff was younger in EG.
Posted by The Wiggin (Member # 5020) on :
Well to be put in charege of battle school which was gona decide the fate of humanity you would have to have a good record and such so I dont see it as being that had to belive
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
He was REALLY young in the Polish Boy (Graff was) maybe his twenties, so tweny years late he still wouldn't really be THAT old... about right for that amount of career development.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Was it really only 20 years later? I don't think so. That would mean that John Paul was only 26 at the start of EG, meaning that Peter was born when he was 16! And we know that's impossible because he didn't even meet Teresa until he was in college.
Posted by Dr Strangelove (Member # 8331) on :
I thought that that aspect of The Polish Boy really added some fantastic depth to Enders Game, or at least the beginning. If you want to go with a discrepancy, look to the Shadow series, where they are in much more contact with each other, and still no hint of ever having met. Not a big deal, but in the case of Enders Game and The Polish Boy, I thought that a lot was added.
Posted by TheSeeingHand (Member # 8349) on :
I think the point was that John Paul wasn't supposed to remember Graff. Graff wanted John Paul to go to Battle School but couldn't make him, so his plan was to send him away, like John wanted, and come back years later after John forgot about him so he could use John's child to bring to Battle School.
Then again, maybe John did remember Graff in Ender's Game and Graff used the argument that John owed him from years ago and had no choice but to send his child to Battle School.
Posted by DDDaysh (Member # 9499) on :
They had no choice once Ender was conceived. It was only Ender who had the choice. As far as timelines go, who's to say that 16 is too young for College?
Posted by Gwen (Member # 9551) on :
Not I--but I'd think that it's still unusual enough that John Paul's age would have been mentioned in the story.