Mahatma Gandhi is a world known leader that inspires people every day with his story of fighting for freedom. He once made this claim about leadership, “I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.” This quote relates a lot to the character of Bernard in Ender’s Game. Bernard leads by using his body size in order to make the other kids feel small and powerless, but his method doesn’t exactly work out. The science fiction novel, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is about effective and ineffective leadership and reveals that a person can’t be placed in a position of leadership, true leadership must be earned over time.
According to Card, being a leader does not involve bullying for power.
…show more content…
The character Peter plays a significant part throughout the novel. Peter’s goal is to rule the world and have power over it. Near the middle of the novel, Peter and Valentine, Ender’s brother and sister, create two characters on the web. They both work together writing articles on world conflict in order to express their opinions, and in result, they gain followers. In the end of the book, the reader learns that Peter finally gained power over the world through being Locke and writing the Locke proposal. Peter was 13 when he created Locke and 16 when his proposal was accepted. Card made it so that it took Peter 3 years as Locke to gain enough trust and followers in order to become the leader of the world. On page 176, two I.F. leaders are discussing Valentine and Demosthenes, and Peter and Locke. One soldier states, “They have influence, but no power,” the other soldier responds with, “In my experience, influence is power” (Card). This confirms that one theme Card developed was that leadership had to be earned over time. Peter didn’t just walk into his position, he earned it. He was able to influence others and according to Card’s writing, influence is power, and that is how Peter earned his position as a leader. Leadership isn’t just handed over, it is