Authors often switch perspectives throughout a story to develop ideas, themes, perspectives, and plots. Although the transitions from one character to another or from one setting to another are sometimes difficult to follow, they create a complex and intriguing story full of suspense. An example of this is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, a science novel set hundreds of years in the future where Earth's population is so large that there is a limit of children and aliens have attacked Earth twice. Much of this story is written through the eyes of a young, lonely boy, Ender Wiggin, providing great examples of changing perspectives through the context of the games. The common theme of games shows the difference between games and reality. The story features examples of changing perspectives through Valentine and Peter, Ender's training at Battle School, and Ender's bond with the bastards. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card Ender's brother Peter and sister Valentine are portrayed as the devil and the angel. Peter poses as a crazed madman with the devil incarnate who causes Ender to do evil. From an early age Pietro "was always a man of sorrow, planting him, raising him, devouring him greedily when he was mature". On the other hand, their sister Valentine pushes Ender to do great things like an angel would. However, both characters change perspectives and inadvertently play opposite roles. For example, Ender fears being like Peter, so he uses his psychotic episodes to keep himself sane. Furthermore, Valentine advises Ender to continue his battle school training without knowing that he would wipe out a peaceful alien race. Peter and Valentine also purposely switch roles. In a devious plan to broker a dangerous policy, Val and Peter take on the roles of two political debaters. Peter plays the role of Locke, who mediates the debates, and Valentine plays Demosthenes, who calls for conflict. Valentine's character, Demosthenes, made her realize that "there is more Peter in her than she can bear to admit" due to the conflict and war she stirred up due to her debates. Locke's involvement with Demosthenes made Peter realize “that he really is a monster. He doesn't want to be a murderer but there's nothing he can do about it." Over the course of the novel Ender faces numerous challenges, but the most important challenges he faces are at the Battle School. First, the fantasy game challenges him and adapts to his mind as he solves intricate puzzles up to the Giant's Drink. The Giant's Drink is known to be impossible because the level simply cannot be solved legitimately. Ender played the game until he finally cheated to win. Although Ender defeats the Giant's game, slowly perspectives change and the games turn into reality tormenting his mental state. The game makes him believe he is a murderer, says Ender “I am a murderer, even when I play. Peter would be proud of me." Afterwards, Ender proceeds with the game only to face even more challenges. The game involves Ender's close relatives, Peter and Valentine. This may seem positive; however, this makes Ender even crazier. Ender believes: “This game knows too much about me. This game tells dirty lies. I'm not Pietro. I don't have murder in my heart. And then a worse fear, that he was a killer, only better than Peter had ever been; that it was precisely this characteristic that the teachers liked. Ender is shifting the perspective from a point of view where battle school is a game, to a perspective wherehe realizes that the school is using him. First, "Graff had deliberately separated him from the other boys, which made it impossible for him to be close to him." This was supposed to make Ender slowly become self-sufficient and turn into the school's ideal soldier, but it made it seem like Ender is getting privileges from the school and they're screwing up. The privilege Ender receives from the teacher made him believe, “The teacher got me into this, they can keep me safe.” However, he did not know that the teachers would not protect him because if they did “he will never reach the peak of his abilities. Overall, the teachers and school are manipulating and using Ender as a subject for their own good. At the beginning of the story Ender and Peter play Buggers and Astronauts which may seem like a simple game; however, it is an interpretation of reality. Although this seems like a harmless game, it becomes ruthless, Peter intends to actually hurt Ender. Peter's intentions to hurt Ender stem from his hatred and jealousy towards his brother. This game represents the reality and idea that humans are the ones who hate bastards and want to destroy them. This idea portrays the opposite of what humanity teaches, which is that bastards are a threat to humans. Throughout the story Ender changes his perspective from hating bastards to developing compassion for them. Ender's compassion for the bastards was born from the fantasy game and his dreams. In an attempt to communicate with the earth after the damage caused by the invasions and scared of mass extinction they manage to connect to Ender through the fantasy game. Ender sees that the bastards were trying to communicate with him on a bastard planet when he sees the giant and the castle from the fantasy game. During training at Command School, the bastards also attempt to communicate with Ender through these dreams. Ender had difficulty managing dreams and said to Mazer “Mazer, I don't want to keep dreaming these things. I'm afraid to sleep. I keep thinking about things I don't want to remember. My whole life continues to unfold as if I were a tape recorder and someone else wanted to watch the most terrible parts of my life." Mazer convinces Ender that the dreams were nothing, he told him “I'm putting a little pressure on you for the first time in your life. Your body is finding ways to compensate, that's all. You're a big boy now. It's time to stop being afraid of the night." Ultimately, Ender's compassion for the bastards was stronger after he unknowingly defeated them. He took advantage of this at the end after saying “The moment I truly understand my enemy, I understand him well enough to defeat him, then at that precise moment I also love him. I think it's impossible to truly understand someone, what they want, what they believe, and not love them as they love themselves." Ender's teachers told him that he was training through a simulator, but in reality every training session was a fight against the bastards. Ender did not know to destroy them until Mazer said, “Ender, for the past few months you have been the battle commander of our fleets. This was the Third Invasion. There were no games, the battles were real and the only enemy you fought were the bastards. You won every battle and today you finally fought on their home world, where the queen was, all the queens from all their colonies, they were all there and you destroyed them completely. They will never attack us again." Ender felt terrible about what he had done and would never have done it if he had known. Ender was shocked and said, “I didn't want to kill them all. I didn't want to kill anyone! I'm not a murderer! You didn't want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you deceived me!” Finally, Ender realized.
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