Ender's Game Comparison Essay

I read the science fiction book Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, in which a six year old boy is given the last chance to save humanity and beat an alien species called the “buggers”. It all begins when Ender is asked to leave his family to go to Battle School where he will learn to be the commander of a fleet to fight the buggers. However, while he is in school, he doesn’t know that his teachers are manipulating him in every way possible. I connected this book to The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, in which the main character, Katniss Everdeen, is forced to enter the Hunger Games, a brutal televised show where twenty four participants, chosen randomly and called tributes, are forced to fight each other for the glory of the Hunger Games,

He knows he must go. Another similarity between the two books is that the characters are both being controlled by a political authority and are always being watched. In The Hunger Games, Katniss is always being watched and must always be careful of what she says; she knows that if she says anything offensive against the government, she will be immediately executed. She is also being used as a puppet in the hands of the government as they make her face extra challenges to make the show more exciting for the viewers. In Ender's Game, Ender is being watched at all times and is specifically being isolated from his group: On page 38, Graff, the leader of Battle School says, “His isolation can't be broken. He can never come to believe that anybody will ever help him out, ever. If he once thinks there's an easy way out, he's wrecked.” This quote shows how Ender may make friends but in reality he can only count on himself and must always expect to be

These similarities are important because they show that although the two books have very different environments, the main characters are manipulated by adults. One difference between the two books is that in Ender’s Gamer’s the kids are there to fight the buggers and save Earth, but in the Hunger Games, they are there only for the entertainment of the viewers who are watching the games live for their amusement. In Ender’s Game, Ender has an entire army when fighting on ships, and has a lot of high tech devices made for aerial combat. However, in The Hunger Games, Katniss can only get small weapons from bags that she finds and only has herself for protection. Another difference between Ender’s Game and The Hunger Games is that it is. the Hunger Games, the characters actually have to kill each other in order to stay in the Games, whereas in Ender’s Game they have to win battles for practice and eventually defeat the buggers. These differences are important because they show how, although both books contain a lot of fighting, it is for different