Humans are competitive by nature and therefore are constantly striving to win. We also strive to succeed by our own definition of success.
1. What is your opinion about the prompt, and
why do you feel this way?
2. What evidence can you use from the story to
support your thinking? remember,
even when paraphrasing, but be sure to cite where you are paraphrasing from!
3. Given that this is a theme from Ender’s
Game, what do you think Orson Scott Card is trying to say to us?
Your response should follow PEAL and be 1-2 paragraphs in length.
If you do not use citations, you will not be given credit.
You also need to respond to one other person's post, either agreeing or disagreeing with the position they take on this subject, using textual evidence to support your response. Your evidence must be different than the evidence provided by the writer.
Due by midnight Tuesday.
•
Competition is a significant part in the development of Ender's character in "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Competitiveness is the number one reason why Ender succeeds and becomes more successful than the other students in Battleschool. When Ender plays the strategic video games in Battleschool, specifically the Giant’s Drink, he doesn’t give up and is determined to beat it, stating that he acquired “lots of deaths” (62-65). Considering the fact that Ender kept returning to that specific game and not giving up shows his competitiveness and perseverance, as well as his determination. This part of the novel is one of the first major showings of Ender’s perseverance, and also begins to unfold the development of Ender’s characterization. Orson Scott Card didn’t write these few pages just to describe the Giant’s Drink game, but to prove to the reader that Ender has a competitive side and will not give up until he accomplishes his goal. Similarly, Ender also had the will to succeed. Ender devoted his spare time to get extra hours in the battleroom, specifically training with Petra Arkanian. Petra had given Ender training in battleroom skills, in which Ender was more than thrilled to take part in (81-83). Ender’s competitiveness is showed once again. Ender was willing to take time to improve his skills and gain an advantage over his fellow peers. It is also stated later on by Ender that he was lucky to receive that training session with Petra. Practice is just another form of Ender working hard to achieve his goal of becoming commander. Just like the Giant’s Drink, Card indirectly proved Ender’s competiveness and once again shows how Ender develops as the protagonist. Whether it be not giving up to accomplish a goal, or working extra hours to outstand the competition, Ender’s competitiveness is what drives him to succeed and what separates him from other students.
ReplyDeleteJust like Ender is very competitive, modern-day athletes are also driven by their determination. Many children are taking part in organized sports, whether it be tennis, football, basketball, soccer, baseball, etc. An article written by Kay Uzoma entitled “How Many Youth Participate in Sports in the US” showed the athletic participation of teenagers and children. “Sixty-nine percent of girls and 75 percent of boys in the United States participate in organized and team sports” (Uzoma). This number is higher than most people would expect, taking into consideration that the United States has the worst diet of the planet. Although most people would think of this as a way of exercise or make friends, it also shows how competitive the youth are in organized sports. Organized sports are a great way for the youth to exercise their competitive nature without playing video games or any other non-productive form of competition. As also stated in the article, athletics are also a way for children to develop their personality (Uzoma). Children can begin their childhood with a shy personality, but competitiveness can be developed from the participation in sports. Ender started out quiet and shy on the ride to Battleschool, being anti-social, but his competitive nature began to develop once he started becoming friends with Alai in the battleroom. Competitiveness is one of the many qualities that would be required for a successful commander. “Ender’s Game” can be directly related to todays organized sports, where perseverance can be developed, and personalities can change.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/373329-how-many-youth-participate-in-sports-in-the-u-s/
Tanner, it's great that your made a text to world connection, providing evidence to support that, however it is not required. (P.S.You do not need to rewrite your post. :))
Delete***My other students, I prefer you NOT refer to outside sources! ***
I agree with Tanner's statement, Ender would have been a significantly different person by end of the story if he had not been exposed to all of the competition that was there.
Delete"Orson Scott Card didn’t write these few pages just to describe the Giant’s Drink game, but to prove to the reader that Ender has a competitive side and will not give up until he accomplishes his goal." I think that this is a great statement that Tanner made. I think that Ender's intellect is a driving factor behind his persistence and he will keep trying until he beats a challenge. I'm not sure, however, that this is because he is extremely competitive. I believe that it is more of a need to understand what is behind the giant in fairyland that drives Ender to persevere until his eventual victory over the Giant's Drink
DeleteTanner, great post.
DeleteConnor, your reply does not follow the directions given.
Isaac, thoughtful response.
In the book "Ender's Game," by Orson Scott Card, Ender must have great competition to be able to win. Not only on the battle field does Ender need competition but he needs it when he is alone too. When Bonzo came to beat Ender up in the showers he fought back and didn't let Bonzo take advantage of him(211).Ender had to have competition in order to win the fight. If Ender didn't have any competition against Bonzo he would have taken advantage of Ender and beat him up. This means that if nobody had any competition than people would stop striving to compete. When people compete they find their weaknesses and can perfect it. Not only do humans compete to beat each other but they compete to strive to be their best. In the book "Enders Game," Ender is always pushing the Dragon army to become better(159). Ender is doing this so that he would be able to beat any other army in battle school. Ender is also pushing his army to meet his won expectations. Ender does not stop pushing his army until he is satisfied that they will beat all other armies. People strive to beat others to be satisfied with their own selves. If people are not satisfied with the competition they are going against they will keep pushing until they feel that they meet their expectations.
ReplyDeleteSince this is a theme in the book Orson Scott Card it telling us to not stop pushing only when you have beat the competition; but to stop pushing only when we are satisfied with ourselves. If people stop pushing only when they beat the competition it is only going to get harder. The people that are competed with will learn from their mistakes and weaknesses. If someone stops pushing when they beat their competition they are going to get worse. When the competing team faces them next they are not going to be ready because while the competing team was working on their mistakes the other team was still thinking they could just beat that team again. The point is to not stop striving to win when you beat the competition; but to keep striving to win until you are satisfied with the effort that is put in.
I agree with your statement on how "if people stop pushing only when they beat the competition, it is only going to get harder." I have noticed this myself and it is a prevalent theme throughout "Ender's Game". Ender keeps trying his best, knowing that if he doesn't he could lose people.
DeleteI would agree with Nate that Ender was pushing his Dragon army extra hard to be successful in "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. "'Dragon Army did all right against Rabbits. But the enemy isn't always going to be that bad'" (181). Ender was being cautious and didn't want his army to get too worked up over the fact they had won the first battle. However, I would have to disagree with Nate in that Ender's competitiveness is what drove him to beat up Bonzo in the showers. I believe that Ender was acting mostly in self-defense. "Ender stepped back, letting the fear he felt show in his face. 'Bonzo, don't hurt me,' he said. 'Please'" (210). This direct quote from Ender shows that he didn’t want Bonzo to hurt him. As brave as Ender is, according to the text it seemed like Ender was scared. Ender also believed that the only way to end things completely was to: "hurt Bonzo enough that his fear was stronger than his hate" (210). Yes, this may have been too competitive, but Ender wanted Bonzo to feel his presence. This situation was out of pure self-defense. Ender had been innocently showering when Bonzo intruded. But I would definitely agree with the fact that Ender was pushing his army out of the competition of Battleschool.
DeleteI agree with Nate when he said that we stop competing when we are satisfied with ourselves. I agree because most people today are lazy and don't "do" competition, they would rather just do what they think is right and to not have others there to help improve. Well its true that to get better you must have some kind of challenge, otherwise you never go forward, and when you go to practice your abilities, you don't do very well. Well, if you keep having competition and a challenge, you will learn from trial and error until its to your best abilities, and your satisfied. That's how most people improve today.
DeleteI agree with Nate that Ender was working his army harder than the other armies because he wanted to win over the other armies and to prove to the other commander, the other kids, and the teachers that he is the best and that he knows what to do and when to do it. I also have to disagree with Nate on one thing, which was when he said "This means that if nobody had any competition than people would stop striving to compete" because there will never be a time when there is no competition in this world and humans will find a way to get competition for what they want.
DeleteI would agree that you need to give it all you have to try and beat your opponent and never stop trying to be the best. However, I do think there is a limit on how far you should go on one opponent. I think it was a good idea to bring up the point how Ender didn't just defeat his enemies, but stopped them for good. But look on how Ender beat himself out about it. If we did what he did competitively wise, there would be a lot more injuries in sports and stuff because they would take it too far.
DeleteRaean your reply is incomplete. Please see the directions stated above.
DeleteGood response Nate! :)
DeleteI feel as though humans are competitive by nature and from this, winning is something humans would like to achieve. Humans have long tried to dominate each other and other beasts, succeeding in some cases, such as cats and dogs. In the science fiction novel called “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card, Ender must compete against bigger boys than him, winning every time. This leads to a hatred of him, likely caused by the simple fact that they cannot win against him. (Card 208-213). In my opinion, Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest applies to this. Since humans no longer have to hunt for their food or fight each other to live, they developed competition elsewhere, such as sibling rivalry, sports, who gets the biggest chicken wing and who can make the most money in the shortest amount of time. In Ender’s case, the competition is in the Battle Room, against boys sent to fight against each other in preparation for war. Competition is in the blood of every living creature, but it manifests itself in humans, making them strive to win.
ReplyDeleteI think, since this is a theme from “Ender’s Game” that the author, Orson Scott Card is trying to tell us as human beings that being competitive is unavoidable. He is trying to say that it is okay to be competitive, but to limit ourselves, lest we end up like, well, Ender. Near the end of “Ender’s Game,” Ender is broken, feverish. He let himself become too competitive, trying to win everything and lost control. He blacked out, and could not participate in the so-called games he played with his squadron (Card 288). This shows that even the smartest, strongest person can break down if they work themselves too hard. Not everyone can be a Superman, not even Ender. Being competitive, as human beings, is not something that can be reversed or destroyed, but it can be limited, especially if the competition becomes just too much for a person to handle.
In "Ender's Game", competition is a vital part to the development of the whole book. Competition isn't a new concept to Ender either, it has been in his life since day one. Competition made Ender a better soldier all in all. Most of the competition from the book began when Ender was assigned as the new general of Dragon Army (156). Ender's army began to get a normal schedule of battles, but soon his schedule began to rack up because Graff thought he needed constant competition (202). Ender really did need competition, otherwise he would have probably ended up like Rose de Nose, lazy and no strategy. Therefore, competition and challenge is extremely important when becoming better at something.
ReplyDeleteOrson Scott Card, the author of "Ender's Game", has created all the competition in the book. Orson Scott Card appears to be telling us that competition is good. You can't really improve your abilities if you don't see your mistakes. When Ender was going against Rabbit Army, Ender was able to recognize and fix his errors afterwards (180). Every battle was making him better. Card was trying to display that in competition, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
Competition can also be harmful to a person. Even though in "Ender's Game" competition made Ender stronger it also broke him down. When Ender got done killing the buggers at the end of the book he was too exhausted to do anything, all he did was sleep (15). This was also caused because he thought he turned into Peter killing everything but the competition exhausted him. He started to get warn out through the battles in battle school also, he had thought that it was just a game, he may have kept winning but he was tired of it (11). Even though competition made him stronger, it isnt always a good thing.
DeleteHumans love the feeling they get after they win something. The satisfaction of being better than someone is something us as humans strive for, we will do anything to have that, to succeed in something. People can go againsed you because they know you’re better than them. Although you don’t always get the satisfaction out of being better than someone. In “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card Ender beat up both Stilson and Bonzo but didn’t get satisfaction out of it (1, 12). He was “striving to win” the battle that they were pushing on him, calling him names and setting out to kill him (1, 12). Ender was probably feeling guilty that he had beat up the kids, he didn’t want to be like peter but then ended up hurting other people. Then the Valentine side of him came out and he was soft and cried because of how bad he had hurt the kids. Also when Ender was running the Dragon army he was striving for success and received it by winning all the battles people started to not like him. For example Bonzo and his friends were planning to kill ender (12). Ender handled the situation very well, but Bonzo and his group of friends wanted him dead because he was advancing much faster than the rest of them. He wasn’t feeling satisfaction like he normally would because people were starting to hate him, and it was just a game for him to play, to train for the real battles that were yet to come againsed the buggers.
ReplyDeleteI think that Orson Scott Card was trying to tell us that even though you may be the best at something and it may have its advantages, it will also have some big disadvantages. For example when Ender was first launched to space school, and Graff isolated him and told the boys that he was basically the smartest one there on the shuttle all the boys started to hate him (2). Even though Ender may have been the best there and Graff knew it, Ender got picked on because all the other boys thought he was sucking up to the teacher (2). People won’t always get the satisfaction of being better than someone and competing with them because as humans we don’t like to accept that someone may be better at something then we are. This is a disadvantage because people can be hated and they can give up on what they are good at because others make fun or pick on the person. Competition can be a good thing and striving to be the best, but people have to remember that there are disadvantages that go alone with it.
i completely agree that people enjoy the feeling they get after they win or when they become "better then someone". i am really glad you pointed this out :)
DeleteI agree with Cami that people enjoy the feeling of power they get when hey beat someone. Like for example at the very end of Enders game when he's fighting the final battle against the buggers (even though he doesn't know that) He still feels a feeling of accomplishment and pride (Before of course he finds out he was actually killing buggers and people)
DeleteI agree that people love the feeling of satisfaction, but I want to add that humans don't always enjoy the feeling they get after they win when it hurts someone else. When Ender wins the battle in the bathroom, he defeats Bonzo but it brings him to tears (211-213). Even though Ender wins, he feels bad that he had to hurt Bonzo.
DeleteI agree with Cami where she points out that people enjoy the feeling of winning, because that is really how it is people enjoy the feeling of victory and competition is a huge part of the book.
DeleteExcellent post Cami!
DeleteAlli and Shelby, please go back and read the directions for replying to a peer's post. You did not follow those.
My opinion on the prompt is that it is very true, because every humans wants to win, to do something better than someone else, or to do something better than they usual do, and I think having that kind of mind-set will do good for you than bad, because it will help you want to do thing you hate, or things your are not good at just so you can be better than someone else.
ReplyDeleteIn the "Ender's Game" Orson Scott Card gave many examples of Ender trying to be better than someone else, like when Ender was the commander of the Dragon army he wanted to win to be better than the rest of the commander and to prove to them that he was good and knows what he is doing (12). Orson Scott Card is telling in the "Ender's Game" that you can't stop being competitive because it is in the nature of Humans to think that they are the best of the best and won't admit that someone else is better than them.
Ender's way of thinking is that competition is when you have the same advantages as your opponent and strategy like when Bonzo came to fight Ender in the bathroom with his friends, Ender made Bonzo to fight him alone and told that it is not prideful to fight a 10 year old with six of his 13 year old friends, this comment made Bonzo angry and told his friends not to join in the fight and Ender made the competition fair for both sides, but also Ender is a faster thinker than Bonzo and used the hot steam to make his self slippery to have and advantage over Bonzo.
I disagree with Sunny when he said that humans wont admit that other people are better than them because there has been many instances that people will say that others are better than them at school in certain subjects or in certain areas of a sport. I also don't agree with Sunny saying that having the mind set of winning will help you do something you hate because I believe don't do activities they hate because they want to win they do the activities they become competitive in and compete with people to prove they are the best.
DeleteI definitely agree. I love the feeling after my football games and our team has won. I can relate to what you are saying because I know how it feels. I also know that being competitive can have some big disadvantages. Your paragraph were well written, but you may be being a fence sitter by saying it is good but it can also be bad.
DeleteEthan and Logan, the directions state: "You also need to respond to one other person's post, either agreeing or disagreeing with the position they take on this subject, using textual evidence to support your response. Your evidence must be different than the evidence provided by the writer".
DeleteHumans are very competitive about many things. We are much more civilized than animals, we have the capacity to think, feel, reason and make morally correct choices. This sets us apart from animals but we still have some similar base instincts, like desire for food, strength, who gets the best man/girl, who lives, who dies. When moral conscience does not affect our actions, we are not much different than animals. This is what allows bullying, murder, theft, and abuse in all of its forms. It is the nature of humans, we have our flaws and we make mistakes. Every person wants to be the winner, no one wants to lose. Every person has his or her own idea of what success is. For some it may be getting an A in a class, to another it winning the state championship. Everyone is an individual and has different goals and ideas of what success is. In “Ender’s Game”, by Orson Scott Card, Ender goes though fights, one of them is with Bonzo. Bonzo wanted to have power and to be in control, he didn’t want to hear that Ender was the one that will save the world (210). Humans repeat the same pattern behavior all though history we see it over and over, everyone trying to “one up” one someone else, and to be the best man.
ReplyDeleteIn “Ender’s Game”, I think that Orson Scott Card is trying to tell us that the underdogs can win. It doesn’t have to be the biggest, strongest, and older person that wins all the time. It seems like biggest and the best always win, but in this book it shows that even small and young kids can win and succeed, that sometimes creative and intuitive thinking are better than brute force. When Ender is assigned to be the commander of the Dragon Army a lot of his men were inexperienced and under age, and none of the men in his Army were toon leaders (157). Even though they had inexperienced and under-aged men, they won many of their battles and were first in standings (186).
As humans, we are very competitive and strive to win. Humans are by nature one of the most competitive creatures in this world. This is shown in the book, Ender’s Game, written by Orson Scott Card, when Ender is striving to stay on the top of the battle ranks through spending hours upon hours studying the Buggers’ tactics and strategies (188-189). This allowed him the ability to think like the Buggers and fight like them, mimicking their speedy responses and giving his army the skills they need to stay on top. The competition forced him to study extras from those better than he is and think up ways to win the game. As a result, Ender’s army won every single battle they had and maintained the top standings in everything regarding it. This shows the competitiveness and the urge to win and not lose that resides within human beings. This is also seen when Dink Meeker was explaining to Ender the case with Bonzo. He had said that Bonzo had a great amount of Spanish Honor, which did not allow weaknesses or losses (109). Dink had believed that when soldiers turn commander, they would become crazy, and had the evidence as Bonzo, but the crazy was coming from the competition. As commander, the one in charge must take in all the pressure and fight through it all to win the battle. Strategy is what wins the battles, and the commander is the one in control of the strategy. Bonzo wanted to win the competition much like an animal wants to survive, and flaws would surely break him down to bring upon his own downfall. Later, we can see that this competition was so impacting that Bonzo then decided to kill Ender. Bonzo brought with him a few of his friends to beat and possibly kill Ender Wiggin after a battle that he lost in (207-212). Bonzo felt that the loss disgraced him badly enough to strike like any animal would in the wild, although even animals would not typically be competitive to this extent. Therefore, we, as humans, are very competitive by nature even to extreme extents that could affect us all.
ReplyDeleteI think that the author, Orson Scott Card is trying to tell us through the book Ender’s Game that competition influences our growth, and without it, we will no longer improve ourselves and survive. When Ender received all the battles he fought in Battle School, he was constantly improving and getting ready for harder challenges that eventually lead to fighting the Buggers. The competition forced Ender to learn fast and reach his full potential in order to win well. “He just wins – thoroughly” (226). Ender had to have competition to motivate him. He was driven by the thought that the sake of humanity rested upon him. When Ender became happy in the fantasy game, he no longer played it, because he believed that he beaten it (191). With nothing left to overcome, he had beaten it and no longer continued to get better at it. It no longer mattered, for there was nothing left to do. Competition is what gives us the drive to succeed. Without competition, everything would be aimless and nothing would matter. However, with competition, human beings get better by developing the solutions to various problems and eventually get better. In conclusion, competition is what drives our lives and success is derived from how well you handle it.
I agree with that if we didn’t have competition nothing would matter. If people didn’t have things that pushed them to do better or to do things at all no one would do anything. Competition against other people is what drives those that are externally motivated to succeed, whereas, internally motivated people compete against their own standards to succeed.
DeleteGrace, please see the directions above for responding to peer posts.
DeleteSebastian,
DeleteGreat post!
I agree with this statement because people are competitive in the workplace and as students were are competitive academically and athletically. Competition is always there because it is drives people to succeed which can make people decide what their definition of success is to drive them. An instance in “Ender’s Game” written by Orson Scott Card was towards the end of the novel when Ender meets his squad leaders for the simulation which he did not know at the time that the fighting was real and through this whole section Ender pushes on and wins each battle despite the losses he takes and even when his squad leaders in the case of Petra when she breaks down crying after losing most of her squad but Ender still wins (274-295). Through this whole section Ender never stops striving to win despite the losses because in order to pass the tests which are actually real he must win and prove his worth to the I.F. Another case when Ender has his first battle as commander of Dragon army against Rabbit army and wins this proves that after only three and a half weeks of training his has what it takes to win because he is competitive and wants to win (177-179). This can also show that Ender even though under pressure he can win because he is human and that is what he is at Battle School for.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Orson Scott Card included this theme in the novel to show no matter the stakes humans will always strive to win because of the fact that they want to prove to other people that they have what it takes to win and become better. Also to show how characters develop after seeing that Ender is superior to the other students in the case when Graff tells the other students on board the ship when leaving Earth to isolate Ender (31-32).
I agree with Ethan when he says that humans always want to prove that they are better. In "Enders Game," I think that a major part of the humans being the Third Invasion and attacking the buggers was not only to prevent future attacks, as the I.F. said, but also to prove that they could beat the buggers and that humans will always be superior.
DeleteHumans are competitive by nature and constantly striving to win, as shown in Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. A character in the book, Bonzo Madrid is very competitive (76). On page 76, when he is talking to Ender, he explains how much of a liability Ender is, and how he will be useless to his army. This shows how competitive he is and how much he wants to win and his annoyance is clearly portrayed in the book. If he wasn’t competitive, then he wouldn’t care that he had gained such and inexperienced launchy that would probably lose him the battles against the other armies. Bonzo Madrid prides himself on being one of the best commanders in Battle School and later in the book, as Ender and his army rise to the top on the leaderboards, undefeated, and therefore better than Bonzo, he (Bonzo) takes it as an insult that someone so much younger than him is better, and decides to fight Ender (211). This shows competitiveness because he has to be better than everyone. He can’t have anyone, especially a nine year old, outperforming him.
ReplyDeleteOne message I think Orson Scott Card is trying to say to us is that everyone is competitive and that while it can be a good thing, it can also cause a great deal of unrest. In his book, competitiveness killed Stilson and Bonzo (226). A real life example is the Cold War, which was in swing when Card wrote the book. The Cold War was all about competition and being better than the enemy. Basically the Soviet Union and the United States were arguing about if communism or capitalism/democracy were better. Throughout the war, there was also the Space Race, where the two nations raced to be the first with the best space technology and explore space first, and then there was the Arms Race, where each nation rushed to make better weapons and more of those weapons, specifically nuclear missiles. This lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was when the Soviet Union transported nuclear missiles to Cuba and pointed them at the United States. Although no one was killed directly by the war, it affected Americans greatly. Bomb drills were practiced in school. People didn’t trust their own neighbors for the fear that they might be communist spies. Ultimately, the message Orson Scott Card was trying to convey was that competitiveness is necessary, but too much of it can be dangerous.
Connor, I'm very pleased you did additional background research into the Cold War, especially considering we only talked briefly about it in class. Bravo!
DeleteCompetition was definitely important factor that drove many actions in the story. Competition was what caused several antagonists in the book to try so hard to hinder Ender. Peter's obvious jealousy of Ender for example, made him pick on Ender a lot more than Valentine (12). Peter constantly used death as a threat and said himself that he thought it wasn't right that Ender got to keep his monitor until he was 6 years old. Bonzo was also a competitive character in the story, and he too felt jealousy towards Ender due to the advanced tactics that Ender thought of and the wins that it brought him (193-195). Bonzo was angered that Ender was better than him at being a commander and was in disbelief that he had lost. The fact that Ender had beaten him without the years of experience he had was a major blow to his pride. In most situations in the story, the motivation behind them are usually competitiveness, from envying a sibling to loathing a rival, it was almost always because of the human race's natural love for competition.
ReplyDeleteOrson was trying to tell us not to go too far with our competitions. Not once in the story has a major competition in the story ended in a necessarily good way. Bonzo died because of his unwillingness to lose to someone he considered below him and even the bad opinion of Peter that Ender had never really went away. Even the victory over the buggers, which was the end result of all the competition so far, was a hollow one. It all weighed heavily on the mind of Ender, who was the one who was the held the weight of these poor out comes on his shoulders.
I agree with Connor that the competitiveness is what motivates a human to strive for success. Competition is what keeps people driving forward to be the best that they can be. In the book "Enders Game," by Orson Scott Card, Ender is single out be Graff which makes competition between his own battle school group(33-34). The competition gets greater between his group because now his group is trying to be as good as Ender. That competition is what motivates Ender to strive for success. If Ender never had that competition he probably would have just been an ordinary soldier. The put downs and name calling is what Ender used as motivation to prove that everybody was wrong about him. This is why I agree with Conner that the competition is what motivates people to strive for success.
DeleteI agree with Conner that competition was a very important part of Ender's game. I also agree with Conners opinion on Orson Scott Card and the probability that he does not want people to suffer from competition. Also Bonzo's and Ender's conflict alone was important to the story.
DeleteI agree with Connor that competition is almost everything in Ender's Game. Competition drove them all to work harder than normal and bring up their overall skill levels. This was shown when Ender was training his army. His army was filled with outcasts and losers from other armies that didn't accept them (158). The rules had also been changed so that Ender could not have his friends help him, further increasing the competitive level. All the soldiers would be in their own army to train, which influenced them to hold extra practice sessions (169). Because of this competitive environment, Ender had to raise the bar and became even better at commanding faster than ever before, leading him to graduate quickly and enter Command School a great deal earlier than the regular age (223). These outcomes came from competitiveness which is what motivates us to overcome our limits and reach our fullest potential.
DeleteNic, you need to not simply agree, but give textual evidence. A simple reference to a scene does not suffice.
DeleteHumans are innately competitive. I think that human competitiveness is rooted in pride. People who are good at what they do feel threatened when anyone is better than them or when someone is aiming for the social, economic, or physical position that they hold or that they are also gunning for. Most people, including myself, feel a great deal of pride when they reach a goal or maintain a position of prowess. That almost animalistic pride takes a blow when someone reaches the same “level” or surpasses that position. When that blow happens there is an urge to be the best again and the power struggle ensues, each person or party striving to be better than the other until, either both of them come to their senses or one ultimately dominates the other.
ReplyDeleteThere is a definite example of this in many instances throughout Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. One of the most prominent competitions is obviously the tension between Bonzo and Ender. Bonzo is prideful, has a deep sense of honor, and has a need, because of both his pride and his honor he has to have absolute control and domination (54). Ender quickly rises through the ranks of Battleschool dominating, especially after the way Ender undermined Bonzo’s power, this rubs Bonzo and his Spanish honor the wrong way and he continues to loathe Ender until finally all of his hatred comes to a head and Ender wins (210-211).
Ender wins a lot, however he doesn’t win so that he can be the best, though he is often the best and takes a small amount of pride in that fact, instead he wins so that he won’t have to fight the same fight ever again. He only does this to make sure that he won’t have to fight because he hates fighting and destroying someone that he understands so completely (167). On multiple occasions he feels a horrible remorse after he has annihilated a threat (5-6, 150). He simply cannot lose for fear of having to fight the same fight again and again.
I agree with Isaac because when other people have the same pride from the person they will compete to win no matter what.
DeleteIsaac,
DeleteExcellent post!
Jasur,
Please see the directions above for responding to a peer's post.
In Orson Scott Card’s novel Enders Game, All the characters are very competitive, always striving to win. Humans are always constantly striving to win, as well as striving to succeed by our own individual standards. Just walk outside, and you can see it happening in everyday life. In Enders Game, This happens just as often, at home, on earth, in battle school, and all across the galaxy. When Ender first gets his monitor taken off, the other kids at school notice, and start to pick on him (2-3). Stilson comes to Ender after school and starts to pick on him (6-7). Stilson and his gang get violent and start beating on Ender, and Ender has to stand up for himself. Through logic he is able to beat the older boy, until he wins the fight. This shows that humans are naturally inclined to strive to win, no matter which side of the fight you are on. Although, afterwards, Ender felt horrible. He gained Empathy for Stilson, and felt bad for beating him after the fight (8). This also shows that you can constantly strive to win, but that doesn’t mean you meet your own definition of success.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of this would be when Ender is playing the computer simulation game, with the Gants drink (62). Ender has to pick which drink he is offered by this Giant, but any way he chooses he dies (64). When he gets the idea to cheat, he spills the poisons onto the giant, and then proceeds to leap into the giant’s eye socket, killing him (64-65). By doing this, Ender wins and moves onto the next level, showing hi competitive side. But soon after, Ender feels a large amount of guilt, again because he is has an empathetic relationship with the Giant after he kills him, again not accomplishing his own definition of personal success. He doesn’t want to be like his Psychopathic brother, Peter, but every time he takes measures to win a battle, he feels immense pain and guilt afterwards. I believe that Orson Scott Card is trying to show that for someone to be the perfect solider you need to have a certain amount of ruthlessness, and also a certain amount empathy in order to be able to kill you enemy but also to be able to understand them well enough to be able to strategize against him.
I like how you pointed out that Ender's standards of winning through competition was not always success in his eyes even though it was to others. Logical success was not always the same to his empathy. Additionally to your main point, Peter was striving for success and took his jealousy out on Ender for still having his monitor. When Ender had his monitor removed, he was still hated by him. Peter's farewell on page 26 was different from the rest of the family, out of jealousy. Their whole child hood was out of competition of who was the best.
DeleteGood post Samantha.
DeleteWell-written response Charity.
i believe that humans are constantly striving to win and like to win by there own definition of success. i feel this is true due to the fact that personally i catch myself having mental competitions with other people, and also my definition of winning is different then other people. Also,competitiveness has also been a main trait through out generations of humans. for example: Hitler was competing with the world for the world and another example is the Cold War, the race for nuclear bombs. these were both clear examples of groups of people wanting to get something for there own personal gain or what they would consider winning. some specific examples of this through out the book Enders Game is Bonzo. Bonzo felt threatened by Ender and therefore felt the need to bewildle and hurt Ender (ch 8-9). Since Bonzo felt he needed to threaten and bewilde Ender, he felt he needed to become better then Ender or make Ender feel Bonzo was better then him. From these feelings, Bonzo silently competed with Ender through out the book, trying to make himself seem better then , Ender. Another example is the overall Bugger War. The humans, instead of taking more time to figure out what the buggers want or need, they felt the need to compete for Earth with the Buggers, and in the second part of the war, the humans felt the need to whip out the Buggers so they weren't threatened by another highly advanced species( whole book)
ReplyDeletei think that the author of Enders Game is trying to point out, that we as a species are very competitive and strive to be the best. i think that he is trying to say that we need to recognize this as a weakness, not a strength, as some people do in Enders Game. we also need to try not to compete with other people and take so much pride in our self so we can no provoke so much fighting and hatred in the world. i think hes trying to portray that if we get this habit in control we could make the modern world a better place.
I agree with you Alli that we are constantly striving to win. Orson is pointing out that our species is competitive and we want to be the ones to win. If we did not take so much pride in our selves then there would not that much fighting in the world. We are so arrogant as a race that we don't even notice.
DeleteAlli,
DeletePlease check punctuation and capitalization rules. The person pronoun "I" needs to be capitalized, sentences need end marks.
Sean,
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In my opinion about competitiveness is that a lot of people strive to win. But that is one of my definition of a human. Everybody strives to win, even if it is to get the TV remote before your brother. Everybody does it, many people want to win. The reason I think that humans strive to win is because I see it every day and sometimes I am the one trying to win. But some people are more competitive than others because they want it more. Some people let their ego control them so they won't stop until they win.
ReplyDeleteLike when ender in the book Enders Game by "Orson Scott Card" he wouldn't stop trying to beat the the Giants Drink battle school game because he is competitive (54-65). But when some of the other characters win other games they get very arrogant. That just show how arrogant the human race is. Even in the future we are still very competitive. Ender is destine to win against the buggers because he won't give up because he is human.
Even though it is a theme from the book. The author is trying to tell us that the future society is not that different from the present. That humans will not change who they are. Many people go through their day and they compete among them selves because we are a race that strives to win. But their are some of us that don't think that they strive to win. But it is every small single act that changes what they say. Orson is telling us that we will still keep fighting and strive to win even if we aren't face ourselves. Humans Want to be the ones on the top of the hill. It is in our nature.
I feel us humans always try to win if the value is too great to pass down, and if the value is so amazing some or most humans will try to get that value anyway they can or maybe the morel values make them do it. The value doesn't need to be lots of money or a electronic device, maybe it could be for love. “Madrid stepped closer to the girl and slapped her across the face with the back of his hand.” Madrid slapped her in the face because Madrid didn't like Ender and she was defending him. Maybe Madrid just slapped her because she was interrupting the conversation between them or like I said before it could just be his morel (Orson Scott Card 77).”The empty, dead look in his eyes. He was already finished (Orson Scottt Card 212)” So Bonzo fought Ender and lost, but why he fought Ender because he hated Ender so much that he wanted to kill him, or to get him iced. Now Ender won because Ender was more skilled and smarted then Bonzo, but Ender still fought for a big reason, also I think the IF wouldn’t kick Ender out of the school either way, but I really liked how the author made Bonzo fight equally. I think the author is trying to say something about don't fight without a good/great reason.
ReplyDeleteBeing competitive in a natural part of being human, and being human ourselves can’t help it. An example of being naturally competitive in shown in Orson Scott Card’s book ENDER’S GAME is Ender and Peter’s sibling rivalry between each other (10-23). Peter is angry toward Ender for being his little brother who the government wanted when Peter failed, which drives Peter to show Ender that he will never beat him at anything. In strength, intelligence, but the thing he can’t beat Ender in is sympathy; which Ender prides himself in. Even Ender who just wants to have peace with everyone instead of having to fight couldn’t stop being competitive. Ender wanted to be known throughout his launchy group thought it would have to be necessary to freeze everyone in there first time in the combat room (42). He could have not decided to freeze everyone but he did it anyway. He felt it was necessary if he ever wanted to be known throughout the school.
ReplyDeleteCompetition is what may decide victory or defeat in many different ways. For example, when Valentine and Peter write as Demosthenes and Locke they often had quarrels about each other’s characters. Peter often criticizes her for being too kind in her writing for a Russian hating realist with a big mouth (128). However, later in the book she criticizes him for being so insolent in his writing toward real problems in today government (229). But in this book, the biggest competition is between him and the adults that are trying to use him. Ender showed he was not a part of their game and would try with all his power to show that he couldn’t be broken. And if he was being forced to play, he would win.
I agree with Logan on the point of how competition can decide victory or defeat. If Ender had not felt competitive about winning the battles with Dragon Army, he would have most likely been iced due to his lack of motivation (11). Additionally, it as this motivation that Ender did have that allowed him to work his army so effectively, even when under tons of stress from the non-stop battling (11, 12.)
DeleteI agree with Logan because Ender did want to be known in his "launchy" group. Ender did decide to freeze all of the other kids in his group in the battle room but i don't believe it was to be known by all of them, only Alai. In the book Ender does become very competitive during the book many times. One of these examples would be when he attacks the giant after being killed by him so many times. Ender became so competitive that he chose to kill the giant (62-65). Ender even kills another boy even after he had already won the fight against Stilson (6-7).
DeleteGreat post, Logan.
DeleteExcellent responses Caleb and Jordan.
I agree with the statement “Humans are competitive by nature and therefore are constantly striving to win. We also strive to succeed by our own definition of success.” Compotation is littered throughout “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. Ender has to compete with a lot of other characters in the book and he strives to succeed at resolving conflicts fast. An example of this is when Ender stops a bully by the use of violence he did not like that he had to resort to violence but did so to resolve the conflict quickly (7). A second example of this is when Peter pins Ender on the ground and torments him, Ender does not want to retaliate ageist Peter but simply wants Peter to stop being aggressive as soon as possible (12). In these examples Ender is faced with a competitive person and strives to end the conflict swiftly.
ReplyDeleteOrson Scott Card showed a theme of completion is human nature to make the reader think about the world we live in. He used this theme to show the reader how competitive we are now and there are people who could and would like to live without competition in their lives’. Evidence of this fact is that the protagonist does not like competition, because he has a lot of empathy towards most people who appose him. Orson Scott Card most likely like Ender and does not like conflict and that might have been why he gave these attributes to the protagonist of his book.
I agree with you in your first paragraph, however we differ in opinions when it comes to why Card made competition a theme throughout Ender's Game. You stated, " ...the protagonist [Ender] does not like competition, because he has a lot of empathy towards most people who appose him." However, I feel as though Ender does like competition. This is shown through his drive to be the best he could be (like when he stays up late to learn the game at battle school when he first gets there). Just because Ender does like competition, doesn't mean that he can't simultaneously have empathy towards most people who appose him.
DeleteNice job showing the counterargument Kayla.
DeleteHumans are exceedingly competitive as they strive for success due to their competitive nature. In the book, “Ender’s Game”, Orson Scott Card depicts Ender as being very competitive, always striving to win. Ender’s competitiveness contributes to his success, but it also causes extreme irritation and exhaustion. After having a battle every day for four weeks, Ender and his team are worn out, but they are also happy and proud (203). Even though their competiveness causes exhaustion, it is all worth it for the win. Competition is important to their success; however, perseverance is also an important factor. Ender doesn’t give up; he keeps going even when things get tough. However, the competition eventually begins to affect Ender in various ways. For example, Ender harms himself by chewing on his own fist in his sleep because the competition is affecting his mental health (285). Too much competition can be unhealthy. Fortunately, Ender still defeats the buggers because of his perseverance. He is still a hero despite all the frustration and struggle.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the author, Orson Scott Card, is trying to tell us that competition is an important factor in our success. Competition can drive us to meet goals that we never thought we could. He is also trying to inform us that it is important to persevere, no matter what the situation is. Whether we face a bugger army or an extensive essay, perseverance can get us through these challenges. Even though competition and perseverance can help us accomplish our goals, they work better together. With competition and perseverance together, success is more achievable.
I agree that the competitiveness in the book pushed the boys to continually win but this was also hard on the whole army. They were tired and not excelling in their studies. I believe that this caused their competitiveness to go down. But this taught them that with competition things will be hard and they may want to quit but if they keep persevering they will come out on top. This was proven by Bean ending up helping Ender defeat the buggers (274).
DeleteConquest may very well be the most powerful of human emotions. The urge and the drive to just outdo everyone and everything all the time, it has driven us to become the creatures we are now. Our thirst for victory is the reason we have the technology we have. In Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game”, Ender beats up and unknowingly kills a boy named Stilson, and then later kills another boy named Bonzo (1, 12). The difference with Ender, however, is that he didn’t want to hurt the boys, but he knew he had to if he wanted to survive (1, 12). Also, when he is playing the Giant’s Drink, his obsession for victory was shown as he kept pushing and pushing to finish the game, and no matter what he did, there was always another challenge (6).
ReplyDeleteThis obsession Ender displays is not unlike every other human’s thirst for conquest and power.
I think one thing that Orson Scott Card is trying to tell us that the element of Conquest is not always bad. For example, when Ender did beat up Stilson and Bonzo, afterwards he sat in remorse crying, screaming, and wishing it hadn’t happened (1, 12). Also, the way the adults completely manipulate and lie to Ender to use him like a machine shows just how far humans will go to conquer something. This also shows in Ender’s entire purpose of existence. His only reason of being is to fight the buggers as a commander. Humans are willing to actually force a family to have another child, and then take him away and turn him into a war machine for mass genocide. It just goes to show how much Conquest can affect humans.
Great post Caleb!
DeleteIn the book “Enders Game” Mr. Card made the characters in the book competitive. The way that Orson Scott showed competitiveness is when Ender becomes competitive with other kids on earth and in the battle school. For example, when Ender walks toward his bus, Stilson and his buddies block the door way exit. Stilson’s buddies that were behind Ender grabbed him and hold him. “Ender did not feel like laughing, but he laughed. You mean it takes this many of you to fight a third. And as soon as they did, Ender kick high and hard, catching Stilson square in the breast bone” (pg.7). Then Stilson dropped to the floor. So this shows competitiveness in Ender because he wants to beat up Stilson, so that they would leave him alone. Another example that shows Enders ambitious to succeed is the Giants drink. Even though Ender keeps dying, he still plays it because he wants to beat it and go to the fairyland. Then there is training with Petra in the battle room. When Petra asked Ender “if you want, I’ll take you in the off hours and show you some of the things I know” (Pg. 79). When Petra and Ender practice in the battle room, Ender becomes competitive because he wants to be exact each time.
ReplyDeleteIn today’s society everyone is competitive because they want to be the best and want to win. For example in every sport people become very ambitious to win. So in the UFC there are two people that want to win, but only one of them could win and take the title home. This shows the competitiveness in the UFC fighters. Another one would be basketball because there are two teams that want to win just like the UFC fighters and most important of all is like Ender Wiggins.
Nice job Jasur.
DeleteOrson Scott’s book “Enders Game” Competing to success was one of the themes. Ender, is a young boy who was sent to battle school .Throughout the book, he is put into many situations that keeps his mind in a competitive state, leading to success, then eventually to saving the world. The people controlling battle school influences success through competition. The main character has his own standards of success, and standards set by the students of battle school where success is by defeating Ender.
ReplyDeleteThe authority of battle school set up an environment for Ender of success by competition. They constantly give him challenges. They set the challenges up to where he only succeeds if overcomes it somehow, even if it is beyond normal human capabilities’. Their goal is if he triumphs over the challenges, it is getting him closer to preparing him to be the savior of the world. That is why success and competing is so important to the school, having the main character save the world is vital through only this. “Be creative. Think of every stacked, impossible, unfair star arrangement you can. Think of other ways to bend the rules. Late notifications. Unequal forces” 97. This is the conversation between the general and Anderson. The orders are to make the challenges to the extreme, make them difficult. General Graff then continues, stating reason for the unfair treatment to Ender, and how vital these challenges are for saving the world. “Then run the simulations and see which ones are the hardest, the easiest. We want and intelligent progression here, we want to bring him along”97.
Ender standards of success for himself can be summarized. The rules are, don’t be like Peter, his brother, and learn from your enemy to use it against them, becoming victorious. The ultimate badge of shame and mercilessness is thinking and performing like the brother. On pages 6-8 he defeats his bully by fighting him, proceeding to find a place to cry and tells himself he’s just like peter and they should take away the only thing that makes him important, his monitor. A few years later, he obtained the status of being the best in battle, which makes him a target to defeat. Orson puts Ender in a position where he has to defend himself again on pages 208-213. The enemy seeks him out to even possibly kill him because he was insulted, which resulted like in the beginning, being brutally, physically defeated. Ender has the status of being serious, smart, and undefeated, why the crying? Because Peter would have handled it the same way. The second rule is to learn from your enemies, he even used free time to learn strategy from buggers, the ultimate enemy. This time from the videos is spent during battle school, and used to win the war that he wasn’t aware he was actually participating in. “Ender, why are you studying the videos of the bugger wars.” How he responds justifies his standard of success. “To learn strategy of course”191. This was before they sent him to learn how to actually fight the buggers. The next quote is now during. “They make that ship move just like any other ship”269. His trainer was pleased that he saw observed and saw the aliens’ weakness. Ender learned and defeated the aliens. At first it was victory, then when he was informed he actually fought the war came through it was defeat because of his Peter rule. This all shows how success from competition is such an important theme in this book.
I agree with Charity because all through out the book "Enders Game" General Graff and Anderson are always trying to push Ender by giving him multiple challenges such as fighting two armies ect. Also like Charity said Enders personal standards of success is to not be like Peter. Through out the book every time Ender does something he explains as Peter would do he isn't happy with himself but really ashamed in himself. Which was a great point for Charity to point out.
DeleteExcellent post Charity!
DeleteIn the book "Ender's Game," by Orson Scott Card, Andrew Wiggin does not ever need help. There are several examples of this. For instance, when Ender fights Bonzo, and beats him mercilessly (211). Bonzo's murder shows the reader how far Ender will go to compete. Ender knows that he will receive no help, and will do anything to win his fights. We also see this when Ender kills Stilson (6). He knows that he has won the fight, and then kicks Stilson again. Ender is ruthless to his competition. Ender will go to any length to win.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Wiggin will go to any length to win a fight. He will kill to ensure that no more fights ensue. Andrew does kill Stilson to prevent further bullying (6). Card is using foreshadowing to tell us what Ender will do to the buggers. Card is showing us that Ender is capable of genocide. Eventually, Ender will dig the eye out of a virtual giant (46). Ender is frustrated when he cannot overcome the giant's challenge, and eventually takes out his frustration on the giant. Ender will not fail, even if he must murder to win. Andrew Wiggin is the most competitive person in his universe, and so he will win at anything he tries.
I believe that the prompt is very true because in human nature we need competition. If we didn't have competition people would not be competing to make the best phone or even make the best desert in the town. People even compete for pure fun by playing sports or just making bets and gambling. It is in our human nature to compete and try to be better than somebody. We would not have some of the technology we have today if there was no competition. If there was no competition then people would have stopped making things better and better such as computers or cars.
ReplyDeleteIn the novel "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, the main character Ender becomes competitive at battle school. One example of Ender being competitive would be when he plays the "Giant's Drink" game. In the game Ender gets competitive when the giant continues to beat him. After a few times dying, Ender decides to change tactics and instead of competing like the giant wants him to, he breaks the glasses that the drinks are in and jumps on the giant's face and scratches the giants eyes out(62-65). I believe that Orson Scott Card is trying to say that humans strive to have competition in every day life. He is saying this by showing how competitive even young children compete to be better than each other in the game room and in the battle room. In the book Ender plays against many different people whether it be through strategy or even in simple games. Ender even unintentionally competes when he gets into fight with the boys in the battle room during his practices and in the bathroom with Bonzo.
I disagree that all humans are always striving to win because, with the fact that every individual is unique, saying all individuals strive to win is stereotyping in my own opinion. Most people do enjoy the glory of wining but not everyone strives to win. To strive to succeed in our own definition of success is a bit more understandable because, everyone has their own goals the use to assist them on achieving their own success.
ReplyDeleteIn Orson Scott Card’s story “Ender’s Game” I would thing the bathroom scene with Bonzo is a good example of personal success because Ender knew Bonzo wanted Ender dead, and Ender needed to defend himself. “If I’m to walk away from here, I have to win quickly, and permanently” (209). Even though the theme of ‘’Enders Game’’ has a great deal to do with competition especially at the beginning with Ender and Peter “They might have realized I was the best of the lot after all. Peters feelings were hurt, and so he was being a snot, as usual” (18). And the competition continues all the way to the end with the bugger war, which was theoretically competitions which lead to a major success. “You beat them, and it’s all over” (296). Orson Card could have been trying to say many things through “Enders Game” the most probable conclusion that comes to me is always challenge yourself to succeed you own goals because as long as you fill confident and proud of yourself then you are successful. For example when Ender is battling Mazer he succeeds to his goal and winning the battle, until he discovers that he was really battling the Buggers.
Great job taking a stand Kayla!
DeleteIn my life I wouldn’t be where I am at if I wasn’t as competitive as I am now. My competitiveness pushes not only myself but my team to the limits. Because of this we have reached many goals and records. But recently I got a concussion during a basketball practice. This experience made me realize that although wanting to be the best that a player can be that there is a limit where you can break. This relates to Orson Scott Card’s book Ender’s Game because Ender experience hard and grueling training for all the years then was pushed to kill the whole bugger race. This made Ender realize that he was very similar to Peter. Once he realized this feature it practically ate him. The thought of killing made him fatigued and tired and finally not wanting to go on (300). Overall competing does help people become better and able to do more but those people need to be aware of their breaking points.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the book everyone is competing to be the best, which is accentually becoming commander of the I.F., when most fail but others succeed it pushes the soldiers to be even more competitive and end as the top man. For Ender this starts at a very young age because he kept his monitor. Peter, his brother, hated him for being so talented and for having the protection of the monitor (14). Peter saw that beating Ender up and calling him a third would put himself higher than Ender which he saw as winning. Although Peter saw the very little things as competition to put him higher this only helped Ender to understand and help him in the future. This helped Ender become one of the best leaders at battle school. Enders army was undefeated. The other leaders, Bonzo and Petra, saw this as a threat which pushed Bonzo to his breaking point (206-2130). Although Bonzo and Enders competitiveness between the two helped them learn more and become more talented it also made them end with fewer soldiers.
Humans are competitive by nature and therefore we are constantly striving to win. This principal is demonstrated in the book Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card. Throughout the main character Ender’s life, he has been tormented due to the competitive nature and jealous nature of his peers. Ender excels at virtually everything that he attempts. The level of excellence that Ender continuously achieves often results in conflict with his peers. This is shown even in the beginning of the book when Graff, an I.F. agent comes to Ender’s home. When Graff initially arrives, Peter knows that Graff is there for Ender, and as a result, of Peter’s competitive nature and strive to win, he becomes offended and lashes out with harsh words, resulting in conflict (3). The longing to win that was engraved within the humanness of Peter was not met. As a result of that longing not being met as well as lack of a better outlet, Peter causes conflict with the source of him not winning; in this case, that being ender. The innate competitive nature and strive to win is also demonstrated when Ender excels in Battle School. Once ender proves his intellectual superiority over his fellow peers, one in particular named Bonzo becomes quite angry with Ender. Bonzo prided himself in his excellence until Ender showed up and made him feel inadequate. This triggered Bonzo’s competitive nature, and caused him to react physically (chapter 7). As discussed in class, and mentioned by Dink (144), Bonzo has “Spanish Honor” and in a way, he feels superior because of it. When Ender joins Salamander, Bonzo is initially displeased. This is because Bonzo feels that his superiority and “Spanish Honor” are being threatened and he becomes competitive and strives to ‘win’.
ReplyDeleteNot only are humans competitive by nature and strive to win within other’s margins, but we also strive to succeed by our own definition of success. This too is demonstrated in Card’s Ender’s Game. Ender beats up a school bully named Stilson and then immediately feels remorse for his actions, and he cries in private. Although from the I.F.’s prospective, Ender was successful in beating up Stilson, and by beating Stilson up Ender accomplished his goal (to stop being tormented), by Ender crying, one can infer that ender himself did not feel successful. This is due to the fact that Ender holds himself to a higher moral standard then others might. The reason that Ender cried was because he didn’t want his actions reflect those of his brother’s, but also because he feels as though he did not succeed by his own level of success. (Chapter 2) Another demonstration of how as humans, we strive to succeed by our own level of success is shown through Bonzo’s “Spanish Honor” (144). Bonzo is a generally superior adolescent, or else he wouldn’t be in battle school, however that level of success wasn’t good enough for him. Bonzo felt as though he had to live up to his “Spanish Honor”, or in other words, he strived to success by his own definition of success.
Due to the fact that Success is a theme in the book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, the author was trying to leave the reader with a resounding message. That message is that although it is a human trait to succeed, it is not only important to succeed by societies definition of success, but also by our own. Success by our own definition is vital because it gives a sense of self-accomplishment as well as enforces self-set morals, as shown through Ender crying after beating up Stilson.
Excellent!
DeleteHumans are naturally competitive, it's in their nature. However humans are constantly striving for success above all else. It is good to have a certain competitive nature and to strive for personal success, but the want for success can easily turn to succeeding to please ourselves. In the fight that Ender has with Bonzo Ender goes to extreme measures and unknowingly kills Bonzo, but Ender did not hurt Bonzo for success, but to prevent further issues(216). Ender has proven that he does have many elements of Peter in the military sense, but after he injures people, he shows remorse and cries symbolizing valentine. Ender does not pick fights with others in school with him, but when provoked in a quarrel Ender will do what he has to prevent further issues.
ReplyDelete