Isolation is Destruction to Ender's Childhood Life - Commentary on "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card

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Solitude can be a tool that help us become independent and strong-willed, but if one has taken too much of it, he or she would slowly cast himself into isolation and detach himself from the community. In Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Ender has gone through a series of experiences of isolation in battle school, which deeply affected and damaged Ender's psychological growth.

Since early age, Ender has been an individual that brims with raw talent, and his genius have caused his loss innocence through the isolation of peers. This can be illustrated through one of the experiences that he had with another child called Stilson, when Stilson and his gang ganged up on him: "To keep them from taking him in a pack tomorrow. Have to win this now, and for all time, or I'll fight it every day and it will get worse…" From the internal thoughts of Ender, it can be depicted that Ender already has a mind of an adult and that he has a vigilant character.

He fundamentally understood that violence is the route to power, and to attack is the best way of defense. On the other hand, it can be seen that his strong and independent character causes his isolation and his isolation causes his strength, therefore this can be portrayed as an endless cycle of the cause and effect of personality and isolation.

When Ender reaches battle school, the adults has seen his potential and purposely isolate him and this marks a major psychological growth in Ender: "With Ender, we have to strike a delicate balance. Isolate him enough that he remains creative - otherwise he'll adopt the system her and we'll lose him." From here, we can see that the adults had purposely isolated him and created enemies for him, because it can train him to gain social and leadership skills and urge him to learn how to gain faith from his companions. One example that shows that the progress has been successful is when Bernard bullied him; he broke in to the computer system and wrote witty messages on his desk. This is not only a game but also a social war within the group. Also, it can be seen that Ender is experiencing an epiphany and growing out of childhood already when he decided that he needed to hide his feelings and his week and soft personality: "Thank you for this, Peter. For dry eyes and silent weeping. You taught me how to hide anything I felt." (33)He has earned a mate, Shen, from the group, and also learned how to gain respect from others by showing his wit and talent.

On the other hand, even though Ender has learned how to gain companions, he had never had any true friends, and he probably does not want friends at all because he does not trust other people: "He did not know whether Dink was his friend; he believed that Petra was; but nothing could be sure… They might be offended that a soldier would associate so closely with Launchies." From here we could also observe that Ender turned from an innocent boy into a did not want friends because he does not want to displease his elders and remove his powers.

On the other hand, even as a small child of the age of 6, he already had a clear mind of his own morals: "I am just like Peter. Take my monitor away, and I am just like Peter," and Ender cries. Here, it demonstrates that Ender never wanted to be cruel or violent to Stilson; he had no choice but to do that to protect himself. Also, this case highlights the fact that he has soft and weak feelings in contrast with his strong and vicious surface; the isolation causes him to feel abandoned and become an outsider.

bibliography:Card, Orson S. Ender's Game. Phoenix Rising, 1991.