Now I remember why Ender’s Game is one of my favorite novels. Reading it a second time and 10 years after the first, I was able to draw a lot more from it on how humans encounter the other and deal with the unknown.
I can see why we are reading Ender’s Game after The War of the Worlds – It is a natural progression. At the end of The War of the Worlds, the narrator calls for preparedness in the event of another attack; “I…anticipate a renewal of their adventure…we should be prepared…to anticipate the arrival of the next attack (180).”
Ender’s Game is also an anticipation of the enemy, the buggers,’ next attack. After the First Invasion, in which the buggers attacked Earth, humans felt threatened and saw their contact with the aliens as a win-lose game – either the humans survived or the buggers, there was no room for both species in the universe. I would argue that in Ender’s lifetime the buggers never posed a real threat to Earth’s survival. It was an imagined one, arising out of the global fear of the buggers as a threat, and since communication had not been established between the two species, humans were left to wonder at the buggers’ intentions. After a century of debate, they proceeded with the ideology that it is better to be safe than sorry and wipe out the buggers before they could do the same to us. It was a preemptive strike. The situation could be compared to 9/11 and America’s response – the War in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Throughout the novel, Card provides the reader with an abundance of compelling insights into the human experience. In the face of a menacing enemy, one that inspires fear in the masses, the world comes together under the leadership of a global hegemony that bears the characteristics of both a democracy and a dictatorship. The hegemony enforces a population quota, uses children for battle and suppresses religion and, it seems, all cultures and languages besides the dominant American culture and English language.
Yet, at the same time, free speech is permitted on the net and for the most part the checks and balances of government remain intact, with military officials still hesitant to act recklessly because they know they will be tried in a court of law. Throughout the novel, I felt the world of Ender’s Game to be very familiar – like modern day America, until occasionally I came across something that reminded me of China’s Cultural Revolution or the Ancient Spartans.
Perhaps this is a possible future for America? One in which we feel so threatened that we sacrifice some of our rights in the interests of self-preservation. To some extent that has already happened - with the Patriot Act, which allows the government to investigate domestic communication between citizens much more thoroughly.
Without getting too much into the Speaker for the Dead, I also realized while reading Ender’s Game again how much of a Jekyll and Hyde inner struggle Card has set up. Ender is extremely intelligent and has the capacity to and choice of whether to kill or to make peace. In his childhood, he is manipulated to do the former. However, as he matures into adulthood he begins to make the conscious decision to be a peacemaker. I love when he tells Valentine. “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him (238).” Ender is extraordinarily empathic and, paradoxically, is an excellent killer for that very reason.
The last insight I would like touch on is the malleability of the masses and the power of the intelligent few. It is incredible how much influence Peter and Valentine have on society through their aliases on the net. It boils down to communication theory – the media elite controls and filters the information that gets to the public. They have a lot of power and could potentially use their influence to achieve their political objectives. I wonder, do only a few people have power in society or do the masses influence the few? Are we sheep waiting to be herded unless we rise up and take power ourselves?
I believe you've done well in straddling the fine line between discussing Ender's Game and avoiding Speaker. I thought your final insight in particular was fascinating: the danger of demagogues in contemporary society is less in a modern republic than in, say, the so-called perfect democracy of Athens, but the influence of Locke and more particularly Demosthenes in swaying public opinion is remarkably relevant. I have a tendency (probably because of a liberal upbringing) to see shades of Fox News in the paranoia Valentine is forced to exploit as part of her brother's plan.
ReplyDeleteBut one thing I would like to note is this: given the relative talents of Valentine and Peter in manipulating people and information, does Ender's abilities to do the same in the Hive Queen and the Hegemon make his readers any less like sheep? (This is probably something we can address when we read Speaker, because there's that element of not questioning basic assumptions).
~Morgan Halvorsen