“[Children] are persons-in-the-process-of-discovery, learning things at different rates, making whatever discoveries they are ready to make.” - Orson Scott Card Books are key influencers in leading children to view morals and understand concepts. These morals stay with them throughout their learning stage and help them understand the world around them. This is wonderful for young children as they can learn social norms unless they are taught the wrong things. Ender’s Game is a book describing the main character’s life as an abused child who later commits suicide. The morals the author, Orson Scott Card, gives the reader while trying to make them sympathetic towards Andrew are worrying. John Kessel’s essay inspecting the book brings these disturbing …show more content…
The author cannot say that Ender never had selfish motives or bad intentions when it came to hurting others, because it is shown in the book that he does. Andrew admits it when he says, "I guess I'm just a killer to the core." But I'd rather be alive than dead"(Ender’s Game, 293). This hatred can dig deep into children's minds by showing them that they can get away with cruel things as long as they do it to make sure they will be safe in the future. Card teaches them never to consider another’s feelings and to only care for themselves, as violence is the only answer to every situation in which they suspect they will be harmed. While the audience is encouraged to view Ender as one with no bad intentions, he does not view himself that way. He carries the blame for the genocide and is viewed as both a killer and a savior to the world. However, these things are not to make him look bad—instead, it is to portray him as a poor boy forced to do all the wrong actions just to be frowned upon. This manipulation is erroneous to the audience, toying with their