Ender's Game
...uarters where he was forced to follow strict rules: “I’ll have him completely separated from the rest of the boys by the time we get to the School” (27). During this period, Ender was prevented from the opportunity from making any friendships. Ender’s friends treated him like a superior, a person with more authority, and this, once again, separated Ender: “That’s how they think of me, too. Teacher. Legendary soldier. Not one of them. Not someone that you embrace and whisper Salaam in his ear…Now he was the master soldier, and he was completely, utterly alone” (140). Ender, along with other children at battle school, had no one to fall back on for comfort and support and was looked upon as a “little adult”: “Does it ever seem to you that these boys aren’t children? I look at what they do, the way they talk, and they don’t seem like little kids” (66). Finally, Ender was forced to carry out adult responsibilities which were unwillingly imposed on him: “And the despair filled him again. Now he knew why. Now he knew what he hated so much. He had no control over his own life. They ran everything. They made all the choices” (151). In implementing all these training strategies, the International Fleet was clearly unethical in robbing Ender of the opportunities of a normal childhood. In retrospect, when Ender’s life is viewed, the International Fleet’s actions towards him were immoral. Members of the International Fleet deliberately turned Ender into a killer because they felt that Ender had the capability of saving all the humans on Earth from the buggers. Against his personality, Ender was chosen for this specific task: “He kept remembering how it felt to kill the snake, grinding it in, the way he tore the ear off that boy, the way he destroyed Stilson, they way he broke Bernard’s arm…I don’t have murder in my heart” (118). In addition, by turning Ender into a killer, the International Fleet also encouraged his psychological resistance. Ender could never decide if he was killing someone because he was defending himself or because it was his goal as a leader: Well I’m your man. I’m the bloody bastard you wanted when you had spawned me. I’m your tool, and what difference does it make if I hate the part of me that you most need? What difference does it make that when the little serpents killed me in the game, I agreed with them, and was glad. (119) As a result of this, Ender struggled internally and his anger grew against the International Fleet. Also, in Ender’s DNA, there were mixed genes consisting of the loving personality of his sister Valentine and the killer instinct of his brother Peter, promoting greater inner conflict: “I am not a killer, Ender said to himself over and over. I am not Peter” (34). Knowing that Ender had a loving personality in him, the International Fleet still decided to turn Ender into a killer against his will: The watchers would stay, silently watching him run through a difficult simulation, and then leave just as he finished. What are you doing, he wanted to ask: Judging me? Determining whether you want to trust the fleet to me? Just remember that I didn’t ask for it (259). The final straw that led to Ender’s resistance resulted in self-mutilation: “Late one night he woke up in pain. There was blood on his pillow, the taste of blood in his mouth. His fingers were throbbing. He saw that in his sleep he had been gnawing on his own fist…As the doctor treated the wound, Mazer said, “I don’t care how much you eat, Ender, self-cannibalism won’t get you out of this school” (285). It is clear that the International Fleet did not have the right to put Ender’s life, one life, in danger for the safety of billions of others. Ultimately, the International Fleet’s actions were unreasonable because they deprived children, like Ender, of any essential and permanent home. Moreover, the actions of the International Fleet did not allow for proper development of all child recruits in battle school: “They say that weightlessness can cause disorientation, especially in children, whose sense of direction isn’t yet secure” (28). The International Fleet also stripped children of potential emotional and physical support from their parents by taking children away from home at such a young age. When Ender was isolated in the commander’s quarters, he did not know how to cope with his emotional struggles because none of the adults at battle school could or would replace the relationship of parents. One evening, one of the commanders sarcastically said to Ender, “We can’t drug you if that’s what you’re hoping for. I’m sorry if you have bad dreams. Should we leave the light on at nig...