Theme Of Genocide In Ender's Game

William Nolan

Mrs. Proctor

Honors English 2

8 May 2016

Intention-Based Blame: Genocide Is Child’s Play Intentions matter, but is the intent the only factor in determining the morality of an action and the means getting there? Stemming from this question, the biggest issue in Ender’s Game that is still the most controversial, still remains unresolved. Should Ender, the protagonist, be held responsible for the buggers’ deaths? This theme is the basis of Card’s belief of intention-based philosophy. In Ender’s Game and his sequels, he argues that the morality of an act is based solely on the motive of the person acting. The result is a character who can commit genocide and still remain innocent. Despite knowing the incredible atrocities Ender

The character that Ender emulates the most is Christ. The multiple religious references make the parallels obvious. In the first edition of Ender’s Game, Graff describes himself and Anderson as “the ones who are driving in the nails" (First Edition 106). When Ender’s friend Alai explains that his hello to Ender, “salaam,” is Islamic for “peace be unto him”, an image immediately leaps into Ender’s mind. He is reminded of his mother praying over his body as a child. That in turn evoked an image of revenge against his personal tormentor and brother, Peter (Card 87). Ender is reminded of, not of the message of Christian peace, but of righteous war and death. This vengeful mental picture is a consequence of Peter's identity in Ender and casts aspersions on his intent. In an essay entitled “Ender and Hitler: Sympathy for the Superman,” Elaine Radford, using these vengeful images and other clues, claims that Orson Scott Card wrote Ender as metaphor to Hitler. Both Ender and Hitler were the third child of their family. Both suffer abuse by adults. Both attempted genocide (Radford 2). In a response to that essay, Orson Scott Card said in an

By rising to power, hitler knew exactly what he was doing. By being manipulated by adults, Ender had no idea what he was doing. In a sense, the adults were more like Hitler, Stalin, and all other mass murderers than Ender was. Even in the trial of negligent homicide, Colonel Graff justified his abuse of Ender with the Nuremberg Defense and the exact same statement the Nazis used to justify their actions. Graff said he did “what [he] believed was necessary for the preservation of the human race” (Card 235). The I.F. did take control with extreme parallels to the Nazi takeover. But the colonel is not a complete Hitler figure. While Hitler’s attack in the Jews was completely unprovoked, the buggers had attacked Earth two earlier times, nearly destroying humanity. The situation this resembles the most is a violent end to the Cold war. Card wrote Ender’’s Game in ???? () in the middle of the Cold war. In Ender’s position, the war with the buggers is one that must end with the complete and utter destruction of one side the humans or the buggers. That outcome is exactly how a nuclear war between the US and the USSR would have ended with the total destruction of one side. Even the fact that Battle School is in space and how the Russians want to shoot it down represent the Soviet’s frustration at ultimately losing the space race. The fact that Orson Scott Card treats the