Chapter Summary Of Ender's Game

Chapter One: “We’re people not Thirds, turd face.” Ender’s classmates treat him like he isn’t even human, like he’s an alien. They see him as a little boy who can’t defend himself, a little boy who wasn’t even supposed to exist because he’s a Third. The bullies feel the need to gang up on him even though he is only a small boy, because the more Ender fears them, the more power they have over him. They want to make him feel absolutely worthless by calling him vulgar names. Ender decides to just ignore his classmates at first, because they can’t demoralize him if he doesn’t listen. Then the physical abuse comes in and Ender realizes that the only way to end this permanently is that he had to defeat them so their fear overpowers their hatred.

The games that Ender plays are major symbols in the novel. They also help represent Ender’s opinions about the events that occur. In the beginning of the story, Peter and Ender play a game called “Buggers and Astronauts”, and of course Peter acts as the latter. To many kids the game is just a game, but to Ender, it’s a jab to his heart as he believes that Peter shows his hatred for him as they play. Peter not only inflicts physical pain during the course of the game, but also emotional pain. Then Ender is introduced to the games in the Battle School—one being the mind game that exposes the inner workings of Ender’s mind to the commanders. Ender meets a giant, a new opponent in the game, and comes to a stalemate as he realizes that his choices are rigged. He makes a third choice, that is, to kill the giant, causing him to realize that Peter would’ve done the same. Many of Ender’s choices are similar to Peter’s and as Ender goes through battle school, we see that they are not as different as we assumed. Ender, of course, hates how he is becoming so much like Peter, and tries not to injure anyone. Later in the game, Ender looks into a mirror, and instead of seeing his own reflection, he sees Peter, thus confirming that Ender’s greatest fear to be like his brother. Ender also plays war games in the battle arena with his own squad. Although they are only practice games for the actual war, they have caused a war between the students at the school. This jealousy and hatred then led to the death of Bonzo. Nearing the end of the book, Ender unknowingly commands the Third Invasion. Wanting these games to end, Ender kills off the entire bugger race. He is kept in the dark about the Third Invasion because if he had known, he couldn’t have done it. We, as readers, learn that although a game and reality are very different things, a game can have an extreme effect on those around it, and in this novel, the game and reality is