PTSD In Ender's Game By Orson Scott Card

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as defined by MAYO clinic, is a mental health problem in which a person has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Many times, that inability to recover results in significant changes in a person. In the novel Enders Game by Orson Scott Card, a young genius, Ender Wiggin is given an opportunity to leave his family for education and training at a military academy. There, he undergoes grooming to eventually become a general in a human versus alien war. Ender accepts the offer to go to military school because, in his naivety, he wants to save the world. Shortly after arriving, Ender learns being a hero is not as glamorous as he thought it would be. Ender is forced to

From the time that they sign up, throughout their time of service, they are being transformed morally and mentally. It is often intensified if they are forced to defend their country in war. In most cases, it eventually results in them no longer being the people they originally were. In becoming soldiers, they learn to do any and everything to win. In this novel, impressionable children were transformed into murderous soldiers through mind games and manipulations. Children, who started out innocent, became tools used to bring about death and destruction, for their corrupt government’s causes. In Enders Game, Colonial Graff comes to recruit Ender into the military school. Prior to his arrival, Ender, an impressionable 5-year-old boy, is constantly being bullied at both school and home. He concludes that anything will be better than the life he’s living. He believes that Colonial Graff is his friend and will provide him a better life. Soon, he learns that Graff is many things, but a friend he is not. An example of how the military uses brainwashing, is evident when Colonial Graff initially pretends to be Enders friend. Sara Day provides support of this when she says, “...Card invests characters such as Graff

According to the National Center for PTSD about 11-20% of veterans who served in Iraq have experienced PTSD. This number is thought to be much higher. For multiple reasons PTSD may go unreported. In this book, Ender goes through many different traumatic experiences. As a child, he is taunted and bullied constantly. In response to all of this, he escapes to the military school where he is used, exploited and ultimately becomes a killer. Ender is forced to hurt others in many instances. Each event leaves him a little more scarred than the last. His PTSD appears to progressively get worse. In the novel, Ender first fights a boy at school named Stilson who taunted and bullied Ender. After Ender beats up Stilson he feels awful and it seems he cannot to get past it. This response is indicative of the start of his PTSD. Later in the novel, the author reveals to the reader that Ender killed Stilson during that fight. This is an unintentional kill and similar to the instance when Ender is tricked into killing an entire alien species when he believed he was in a simulation for final evaluation. When he figures out what he has done Ender is furious that he was set up to kill the buggers, because he never wanted to hurt anyone. Once Ender fully realizes what he has done, and that there is no way to fix it, he experiences guilt and depression. He sleeps for days and begins to have nightmares about the aliens he killed.