Ender's Game

First, I would like to say that it is high time that this classic work was placed on a Clemson required reading list. Second, I wish the other books in the Ender Series were as good as the first.

Moving right along...

I think that the thing that suprised me the most about this book after reading it the sceond time was the fact that, unlike most military leaders and "murders," Ender feels a lot of remorse for what he has done and even goes so far as to wonder if he should continue in Battle School for it. This amazes me. He kills without "conscience" because he is never told that he has killed. He is always told the Goff or another of the high Grand Poohbaahs that the student or the person that he has killed has been sent home or transfered to another school. It is only later, when Ender finds out the truth, that Ender begins to second guess himself. Most "brilliant military minds" wouldnt question themselves. They would see it as an acceptible loss and would move on. To Ender, there is no such thing as an acceptible loss. Every man is important in the Battle School, and Ender understands this.

It is the humanity and the wisdom that makes me see myself in Ender's shoes, but also in his inhumanity and evil, for that is within us all.