Friday, May 11, 2012

In Ender's Game Chapter 7, why are the adults the real enemies?

The thing the
kids at Battle School have largely forgotten is that they are in training
for a real war.  So many of them are so wrapped up in the "games" and battles against
other armies, that they have lost sight of the big picture.  Ender realizes that Bonzo is one
such student.

Rather than attempting to become the best commander he can be,
to learn from others and learn from his mistakes, Bonzo instead takes everything personally. 
Bonzo has made a personal enemy out of Ender.  Ender realizes this - but rather than retaliate,
or become afraid, he weighs his options.  He knows that the teachers are aware of everything in
the school - and at this point he has a pretty good idea that they are not going to intervene in
advance to stop something potentially dangerous.

Ender sets his sights on
personal survival in more ways than one.  He takes personal defense classes in case it ever
comes to hand-to-hand fighting with Bonzo.  But more than that, he begins to think about how he
can be the very best student that ever existed in the history of the Battle School.  Ender knows
this is his only real chance at not only surviving through training, but surviving the bigger
picture as well.  The teachers have complete control of Ender while he is in Battle School - and
in this chapter he realizes he does not need to worry about petty battles with other students -
but instead learn how to beat the system.

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