Ender's Game

Wow, that was a damn good read!

I have mentioned Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson a few times here and there, and if you liked this, you will definably like Snow Crash. It was suggest by T.F. that posts on this novel could be used for extra credit, but after thinking about it further, it really isn't fair to ask that. It's a long book, and to fully appreciate it, one should read it for pleasure rather than a grade or assignment. It is also a sci-fi novel, taking place in the not too distant future. The term "avatar" as used for an internet handle/picture was coined by Stephenson in this novel, long before the world wide web existed. Most of his predictions in this book have come to fruition, such as people living their lives in a virtual environment, preferring computer generated representations of themselves to their real persona. Facebook maybe? Another interesting note are the people that are always "wired", which he refers to as gargoyles, sort of like having a computer strapped to you with a headset, which we aren't far from having with our fancy new cell-phones.

Ok, as for Ender's Game, I have to quote a passage that struck me:
"There was no doubt in Ender's mind. There was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you." (page 213 second paragraph if you have the same print as me)

This sums up the book in my opinion. The balance between self-preservation and genocide. Ender was raised to eliminate the entire "bugger" species, and at the end realizes what this actually means. He goes as far as setting the political stage for bringing this race back into existence. One could say this has parallels to the Iraq situation; the mentality of the common soldier when sanity sets back in and self-preservation is no longer paramount, but that would be too shallow. This is more like every conflict through human history. "If its me or you I'm gonna shoot first". This commentary on human nature emphasizes our ineptitude as a species to cope with this idea. On one hand, we want to live peacefully, respecting each other's rights to life. On the other other hand, we are infinitely selfish in our perseverance to survival. This book compares and contrasts idea of self worth. The "buggers" think nothing of the soldiers, only that they are tools. Is this not really the case? Do we place too much emphasis on self worth? If we all die, time will continue on without us and not look back. Should we not live our lives as such? Is there anything wrong in sacrificing a 1000 soldiers for 10,000 civilians? For all of our individuality, we are still merely machines.