Character Analysis: Ender's Game

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Why should a child that brutally killed a whole race of buggers be considered a morally righteous hero? John Kessel answered this question by writing Creating the Innocent Killer: Ender’s Game, Intention, and Morality, which was published in 2004. In this essay, Kessel states how Orson Scott Card, the author of the novel Ender’s Game, set Ender up as the victim from the very beginning of the story to create sympathy for him, so when Ender commits genocide, we don’t feel like he did anything wrong, even though Ender did, and doesn’t deserve the sympathy. Kessel’s views on Ender’s Game, where Ender shouldn’t be considered a hero and get any sympathy for committing genocide, are similar to my views of the novel, because Ender’s actions speak louder…show more content…
I agree with this interpretation because one cannot commit genocide accidentally, and actions speak louder than intentions. Ender also claims self defense for his violent actions. Kessel raises the question “we may forgive Ender [for] the killings of Stilson and Bonzo, but can we forgive him [for] the extermination of a race of intelligent creatures” (The Innocent Killer)? The defense of the bugger genocide “has several levels. The most explicit is also the most familiar — basic pragmatism and self-defense” (Orson Scott Card’s Unconscionable Defense of Genocide). While Ender’s claim to self defense is partly true, he went too far with his actions, such as killing Bonzo and Stilson, which slightly lowers the sympathy levels. The point of making Ender the victim of torture was to attempt to defend Ender’s morality and to convince everybody that Ender is still a good and innocent person, despite the fact that he committed…show more content…
Ender should feel remorse, even more than the others, because it was his actions that caused the genocide and the deaths of Bonzo and Stilson. Ender’s crimes “weighed heavy on him, the deaths of Stilson and Bonzo no heavier and no lighter than the rest” (309, Ender’s Game). Ender’s feelings about the genocide are a little bit different from the killings of Stilson and Bonzo, with Ender thinking “I killed ten billion buggers, whose queens, at least, were as alive and wise as any man, who had not even launched a third attack against us, and no one thinks to call it a crime (309, Ender’s Game). Ender knows that he has done something wrong of massive proportion by committing genocide on the buggers, but doesn’t understand why nobody is accusing him of any crime. After the genocide, Ender “is appalled, and only becomes more so when he learns that the Buggers had no further designs on Earth and had been attempting to contact him throughout his training” (‘Ender’s Game,’ Genocide, and Moral Culpability). The buggers tapped into Ender’s dreams to try to understand him, which caused Ender to feel even more sad after the genocide. Ender rightfully feels the remorse that he should for his actions and

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