I think this book was a good example of mythology because it definitely included all eight of the archetypes you can find in all mythology. I identified all of them, even though I only wrote up 4. It deals with some things that don't exist (in this case, futuristic themes), but writes them in such a way as to make you believe that they could actually happen. I thought on a whole, the entire book was captivating and inspiring. It was also very hard to read, as it dealt with some very hard concepts, and was written very maturely, so that sometimes it was easy to forget you were just reading about a child going through these experiences.
I think the easiest interpretations of mythology for me to find were the archetypes. The images were a lot harder, as they are more up to your own personal sense of interpretation, and what you yourself take out of the text. The archetypes were all very obvious. The book was well written so that you could tell it was a hero's journey, but you couldn't tell whether the journey was for a good end or for a bad, as is so typical in mythological stories.
I think the theme of mythology that was most lacking was the hero finding something good in themselves that they discover through hardships and their journey. While Ender discovers many things about himself during the book, not really any of them are good. It that sense, the book is very morbid and emotional, and sticks with you (at least with me) a feeling of sadness and incompleteness. I still can't describe the feeling I have about the story, and I finished the book a month and a half ago. It's very powerful in that way, although the term favorite doesn't seem to work, just plainly because of the entire story line. Another way the book was lacking was the ending. As it is a part of a series, and not really intended to be a stand alone novel, then ending leaves some to be desired, and you want to know more.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Images
Images
3
There are three sibling in Ender's family. Three represents light, spiritual awareness, and unity, as well as the male principle. I think in this book, the three of them represent a balance of some sort. They all have very similar qualities, such as their ability to gain, maintain, control, and utilize power (Ender with commanding in Battle School, and Peter and Valentine as Locke and Demosthenes). However, within this power ability, they are all very different. Peter is very aggressive, and often uses his power to harm others to get his way. Valentine is calmer, and uses her power with words to manipulate people's thoughts and feelings. Ender is a mixture of the two, who uses his power to command people as a cohesive group, and to understand how people's minds work so he can get inside of them and use what makes them tick to do what he wants.
Snake
The snake is a symbol of energy and pure force, and represents evil, corruption, sensuality, destruction, mystery, and wisdom. Ender encounters several different snakes inside his Free Play game. The first he destroys many times, until he shows it kindness and it morphs into his sister, Valentine. The second is a group of thousands of tiny snakes who swarm out of a mirror and bite his character to death. And the third is the snake he sees in Peter's mouth in a reflection in a mirror. I think these many different purposes of the snake in the book really represent how the snake is a mysterious creature, and the two links between snakes and death or evil represent Ender's feelings on Peter's corruption.
Wise Old Man
The wise old man in the book is Mazer Rackham. He shows up later in the book, past where I summarized, and his role as Ender's mentor and friend is instrumental to the outcome of the book. His knowledge, insight, and wisdom teach Ender in a way that is kinder than he was used to, and creative enough that Ender learned new things. He appeared when Ender was at his lowest low up to that point to provide guidance.
Black
The Battle Rooms that the students at Battle School fight in are dark, to resemble outer space. As black represents chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, and night, I would say that is a pretty reasonable color to make the battle rooms. This is because the battle rooms are essentially the place where they train the boys to command armies where people WILL die, and where they WILL kill buggers. It also represents the chaos Earth's society has been thrown into for them to send 6 year old children to become soldiers. I would also add that little is known about the bugger race, so they are pretty mysterious to everyone.
3
There are three sibling in Ender's family. Three represents light, spiritual awareness, and unity, as well as the male principle. I think in this book, the three of them represent a balance of some sort. They all have very similar qualities, such as their ability to gain, maintain, control, and utilize power (Ender with commanding in Battle School, and Peter and Valentine as Locke and Demosthenes). However, within this power ability, they are all very different. Peter is very aggressive, and often uses his power to harm others to get his way. Valentine is calmer, and uses her power with words to manipulate people's thoughts and feelings. Ender is a mixture of the two, who uses his power to command people as a cohesive group, and to understand how people's minds work so he can get inside of them and use what makes them tick to do what he wants.
Snake
The snake is a symbol of energy and pure force, and represents evil, corruption, sensuality, destruction, mystery, and wisdom. Ender encounters several different snakes inside his Free Play game. The first he destroys many times, until he shows it kindness and it morphs into his sister, Valentine. The second is a group of thousands of tiny snakes who swarm out of a mirror and bite his character to death. And the third is the snake he sees in Peter's mouth in a reflection in a mirror. I think these many different purposes of the snake in the book really represent how the snake is a mysterious creature, and the two links between snakes and death or evil represent Ender's feelings on Peter's corruption.
Wise Old Man
The wise old man in the book is Mazer Rackham. He shows up later in the book, past where I summarized, and his role as Ender's mentor and friend is instrumental to the outcome of the book. His knowledge, insight, and wisdom teach Ender in a way that is kinder than he was used to, and creative enough that Ender learned new things. He appeared when Ender was at his lowest low up to that point to provide guidance.
Black
The Battle Rooms that the students at Battle School fight in are dark, to resemble outer space. As black represents chaos, mystery, the unknown, death, and night, I would say that is a pretty reasonable color to make the battle rooms. This is because the battle rooms are essentially the place where they train the boys to command armies where people WILL die, and where they WILL kill buggers. It also represents the chaos Earth's society has been thrown into for them to send 6 year old children to become soldiers. I would also add that little is known about the bugger race, so they are pretty mysterious to everyone.
Archetypes
To reveal much more of the storyline at this point would be a bad idea, as it would give away too much. Suffice it to say, the ending was brilliant, unexpected, and perfect, all at the same time.
Archetypes
Hero: Ender
Ender sacrifices his life and childhood on Earth with the only family member he loves, his sister Valentine, to save the planet from the buggers. He has to sacrifice his ideals and personal morals as he becomes more like his brother Peter (hurting people to save or help himself) to make it through school. He also goes on a personal journey and learns to harness these familial tendencies and use them to make himself and others better.
'I am just like Peter. Take my monitor away, and I am just like Peter.'
'But to leave Mother and Father, and above all, to leave Valentine. And become a soldier. Ender didn't like fighting. He didn't like Peter's kind, the strong against the weak, and he didn't like his own kind either, the smart against the stupid.'
'That's what I'm doing to you, Bean. I'm hurting you to make you a better soldier in every way. To sharpen your wit. To intensify your effort. To keep you off balance, never ready for anything, read to improvise, determined to win no matter what. I'm also making you miserable. That's why they brought you to me, Bean. So you could be just like me. So you could grow up to be just like the old man. ... Well, what I've done to you this day, Bean, I've done. But I'll be watching you, more compassionately than you know, and when the time is right you'll find that I'm your friend, and you are the soldier you want to be.'
'There was no doubt now in Ender's mind. there was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you.'
Herald: Colonel Graff
Graff brings Ender to Battle School, taking him away from his family and his life on Earth, and he doesn't sugarcoat what life will be like for Ender.
'... for Ender, the choice has not been made at all. Conscripts make good cannon fodder, but for officers we need volunteers.'
"How many make it through the first year?" asked Ender.
"All who want to," said Graff.
"Ender," Graff said, "if you come with me, you won't be back here for a long time. There aren't any vacations from Battle School. No visitors, either. A full course of training last unitl you're sixteen years old-- when you get your first leave, under certain circumstances, when you're twelve. Believe me, Ender, people change in six years, in ten years. Your sister Valentine will be a woman when you see her again, if you come with me. you'll ve strangers. You'll still love her, Ender, but you won't know her. You see I'm not pretending it's easy."
"... It's like playing buggers and astronauts-- except that you have weapons that work, and fellow soldiers fighting beside you, and your whole future and the future of the human race depends on how well you learn, how well you fight. It's a hard life, and you won't have a normal childhood. Of course, with your mind, and as a Third to boot, you wouldn't have a particularly normal childhood anyway."
Shapeshifter: Peter
Peter is really hard to figure out. At any one time, you can't tell whether he loves his siblings or not, whether he embodies schadenfreude. He even sees it in himself.
'He lifted his good, took a step, and then knelt on Ender, his knee pressing into Ender's belly just below the breastbone. He put more and more of his weight on Ender. It became hard to breathe.
"I could kill you like this," Peter whispered. "Just press and press until you're dead. And I could say that I didn't know it would hurt you, that we were just playing, and they'd believe me, and everything would be fine. And you'd be dead. Everything would be fine."'
'Peter walked to the bed, and sure enough, he did not lift himself up to his bed. Instead he came and stood by Ender's head.
But he did not reach for a pillow to smother Ender. He did not have a weapon.
He whispered, "Ender, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know how it feels, I'm sorry, I'm your brother, I love you."'
"I know," he said. "It's what I'm most afraid of. That I really am a monster. I don't want to be a killer, but I just can't help it."
Great Mother: Valentine
As Ender's most loving family member, Valentine symbolizes life, feminine power, and home.
'And as he got into the car that waited silently in the corridor, he heard Valentine's anguished cry. "Come back to me! I love you forever!"'
'Valentine celebrated Ender's eighth birthday alone, in the wooded back yard of their new home in Greensboro. She scraped a parch of ground bare of pine needles and leaves, and there scratched his name in the dirt with a twig. Then she made a small teepee of twigs and needles and lit a small fire. it made smoke that interwove with the branches and needles of the pine overhead. All the way into space, she said silently. All the way to Battle School.'
'"I'm trying to solve this problem now, with the person Ender loves and trusts the most in the world..."
The only person Ender loves and trusts at all. She felt a deep stab of pain, of regret, of shame that now it was Peter she was close to, Peter who was the center of her life. For you, Ender, I light fires on your birthday.'
Archetypes
Hero: Ender
Ender sacrifices his life and childhood on Earth with the only family member he loves, his sister Valentine, to save the planet from the buggers. He has to sacrifice his ideals and personal morals as he becomes more like his brother Peter (hurting people to save or help himself) to make it through school. He also goes on a personal journey and learns to harness these familial tendencies and use them to make himself and others better.
'I am just like Peter. Take my monitor away, and I am just like Peter.'
'But to leave Mother and Father, and above all, to leave Valentine. And become a soldier. Ender didn't like fighting. He didn't like Peter's kind, the strong against the weak, and he didn't like his own kind either, the smart against the stupid.'
'That's what I'm doing to you, Bean. I'm hurting you to make you a better soldier in every way. To sharpen your wit. To intensify your effort. To keep you off balance, never ready for anything, read to improvise, determined to win no matter what. I'm also making you miserable. That's why they brought you to me, Bean. So you could be just like me. So you could grow up to be just like the old man. ... Well, what I've done to you this day, Bean, I've done. But I'll be watching you, more compassionately than you know, and when the time is right you'll find that I'm your friend, and you are the soldier you want to be.'
'There was no doubt now in Ender's mind. there was no help for him. Whatever he faced, now and forever, no one would save him from it. Peter might be scum, but Peter had been right, always right; the power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always subject to those who can, and nothing and no one will ever save you.'
Herald: Colonel Graff
Graff brings Ender to Battle School, taking him away from his family and his life on Earth, and he doesn't sugarcoat what life will be like for Ender.
'... for Ender, the choice has not been made at all. Conscripts make good cannon fodder, but for officers we need volunteers.'
"How many make it through the first year?" asked Ender.
"All who want to," said Graff.
"Ender," Graff said, "if you come with me, you won't be back here for a long time. There aren't any vacations from Battle School. No visitors, either. A full course of training last unitl you're sixteen years old-- when you get your first leave, under certain circumstances, when you're twelve. Believe me, Ender, people change in six years, in ten years. Your sister Valentine will be a woman when you see her again, if you come with me. you'll ve strangers. You'll still love her, Ender, but you won't know her. You see I'm not pretending it's easy."
"... It's like playing buggers and astronauts-- except that you have weapons that work, and fellow soldiers fighting beside you, and your whole future and the future of the human race depends on how well you learn, how well you fight. It's a hard life, and you won't have a normal childhood. Of course, with your mind, and as a Third to boot, you wouldn't have a particularly normal childhood anyway."
Shapeshifter: Peter
Peter is really hard to figure out. At any one time, you can't tell whether he loves his siblings or not, whether he embodies schadenfreude. He even sees it in himself.
'He lifted his good, took a step, and then knelt on Ender, his knee pressing into Ender's belly just below the breastbone. He put more and more of his weight on Ender. It became hard to breathe.
"I could kill you like this," Peter whispered. "Just press and press until you're dead. And I could say that I didn't know it would hurt you, that we were just playing, and they'd believe me, and everything would be fine. And you'd be dead. Everything would be fine."'
'Peter walked to the bed, and sure enough, he did not lift himself up to his bed. Instead he came and stood by Ender's head.
But he did not reach for a pillow to smother Ender. He did not have a weapon.
He whispered, "Ender, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know how it feels, I'm sorry, I'm your brother, I love you."'
"I know," he said. "It's what I'm most afraid of. That I really am a monster. I don't want to be a killer, but I just can't help it."
Great Mother: Valentine
As Ender's most loving family member, Valentine symbolizes life, feminine power, and home.
'And as he got into the car that waited silently in the corridor, he heard Valentine's anguished cry. "Come back to me! I love you forever!"'
'Valentine celebrated Ender's eighth birthday alone, in the wooded back yard of their new home in Greensboro. She scraped a parch of ground bare of pine needles and leaves, and there scratched his name in the dirt with a twig. Then she made a small teepee of twigs and needles and lit a small fire. it made smoke that interwove with the branches and needles of the pine overhead. All the way into space, she said silently. All the way to Battle School.'
'"I'm trying to solve this problem now, with the person Ender loves and trusts the most in the world..."
The only person Ender loves and trusts at all. She felt a deep stab of pain, of regret, of shame that now it was Peter she was close to, Peter who was the center of her life. For you, Ender, I light fires on your birthday.'
Salamander and Rat
"... I can't believe you haven't seen through all this crap yet, Ender. But I guess you're young. Theses other armies, they aren't the enemy. It's the teachers, they're the enemy. They get us to fight each other, to hate each other. The game is everything. Win win win. It amounts to nothing. We kill ourselves, go crazy trying to beat each other, and all the time the old bastards are watching us, studying us, discovering our weak points, deciding whether we're good enough or not. Well, good enough for what? I was six years old when they brought me here. What the hell did I know? They decided I was right for the program, but nobody ever asked me if the program was right for me."-Dink Meeker
These chapters cover Ender's first two armies, Salamander and Rat. He is transferred from his 'Launchie' group into Salamander army a year and a half before most boys. This causes resentment from his new commander, Bonzo Madrid. He is ordered to do nothing in the Battles, to wait as long as he can until he enters the game, and then sit there out of the way and not fire his weapon. Eventually, he can't stand it anymore, and he saves the army from losing a game by breaking the rules and disabling several of the other team's players. His position is at the top of the school standings, because he is never flashed, and as he hadn't been allowed to shoot, he had a perfect no-miss record. This catches the eye of Rat commander Rose, and Bonzo trades Ender to Rat.
In Rat army, Ender is placed in Dink Meekers toon, the small subgroups with toon leaders, the officers of the army. Ender likes Dink, who has a fresh perspective on how to play the Battles, promises to use Ender in battle, and has refused two promotions to commander because he doesn't want to be the pawn the teachers want him to be.
Ender also discovers about himself in these chapters that he is eerily similar to his brother Peter, he hurts people to save himself. He has a lot of self doubt and self hatred.
The Giant's Drink
"One is poison and one is not," said the Giant. "Guess right and I'll take you into Fairyland."-The Giant in Ender's Free Play game
This is an interesting scenario that is referenced several times later in the book. The children at Battle School are given a game on their desks called Free Play that builds a sort of virtual reality world that they can explore. The computer is sophisticated enough that it can create many different scenarios personalized the player and created to challenge them. One of these scenarios is The Giant's Drink. In this scenario, you come upon a giant who promises to take you to Fairyland if you pick the right drink out of two. One is poison, and will kill you in one of numerous awful ways. It is mentioned several times by the two mysterious voices that the Giant's Drink is an impossible game to win, and they are worried that Ender won't give up trying to beat it.
This is where things turn Star Trek, in Kobayashi Maru style. Ender is fed up with the unbeatableness of the scenario, and he attacks the Giant and destroys his eye, killing the Giant for the first time in the history of the game. Ender is the only student who has ever thought of a way to beat this game.
Chapters 4 and 5
"... Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something. Maybe humanity needs me-- to find out what you're good for. We might both do despicable things, Ender, but if humankind survives, then we were good tools."
"Is that all? Just tools?"
"Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive."
-Colonel Graff and Ender
Ender arrives at battle school, and quickly learns that the teachers are subtly setting him up to be hated by the other boys, something he must eventually work past. It is revealed that he has an extraordinary intellect, as he easily hacks into the school's computers, and twist the other boys around his finger with cleverly chosen statements.
Ender experiments in null gravity, the state of no gravity that the battles are fought in by the older boys. He also plays mind games, and thoroughly beats an older student at a tactical game, foreshadowing for his later abilities.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Chapters 1-3
"Ender Wiggin, if it were just a matter of choosing the best and happiest future for you, I'd tell you to stay home. Stay here, grow up, be happy. There are worse things than being a Third, worse things than a big brother who can't make up his mind whether to be a human or a jackal. Battle School is one of those worse things."-Colonel Graff
A conversation between 2 unnamed people begins chapter one, from which we gather that a child is going to go through some tough times, since the people think he can save the world. Chapter one covers the removal of Ender's monitor. The monitor is the way that the scientists monitor children. Monitors allow the scientists to track everything the children do, even what they think. They are trying to find the genius children, because the world is threatened by an alien species referred to as 'the buggers.' When the monitors are removed, it is assumed by the child and their families that the child didn't meet the requirements to be sent to Battle School. Battle School is the place where children are trained in command. After Ender's monitor comes out, he is teased by a boy named Stilson. Stilson knows Ender is a Third, the derisive name used for an extra child who is born because their older siblings showed command potential. Ender beats Stilson, which brings a visitor to his home.
In chapter two, the mystery people are discussing the likely possibility that they will 'screw him (Ender) up,' and how they are the wicked witch that promises gingerbread and then eat the 'little bastards' alive. Then we meet Peter, Ender's evil older brother. Peter is mean to both Ender and their sister (older than Ender, but younger than Peter), including making death threats. That night, when Peter thinks Ender is asleep, he whispers to him that he's sorry and he loves him.
Chapter three revolves around Colonel Graff coming to take Ender to Battle School. He tells Ender that it is his choice, but they really need him. Ender is 6, and they tell him he won't be able to come home until he is 12, and he won' be done with schooling until he turns 16. While Graff tries to persuade Ender to come by telling him they wouldn't be asking unless it was completely necessary, and leaving means losing Valentine, the main reason he chooses to go is to escape Peter.
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