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One may believe isolation to be a terrible weakness, but it can be a great advantage: confinement can be used to build individual strength, integrity, and character. In certain circumstances, teamwork may be increasingly beneficial, but that team calls for a strong leader to take them all the way. A capable leader is a vital part of a team, providing Graff’s necessity to make the best commander of Ender through isolation. In Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card, this can be demonstrated throughout Andrew ‘Ender’ Wiggin’s life as he makes his way through childhood and blossoms during Battle and Command School. Ender experiences many hardships put forth by his teachers, but ultimately, these hardships result in a triumph that saves mankind. In Ender’s Game, Card demonstrates how isolation builds individual strength through the meticulous characterization of Ender Wiggin, the symbolism of the Battle Room, and the use of a limited third-person point of view.
Orson Scott Card uses the idea of isolation to depict how being confined can help an individual become stronger and more capable than he or she has before. For example, Card illustrates that isolation can help make an individual more able and intelligent: “Graff had isolated Ender to make him struggle. To make him prove, not that he was competent, but that he was far better than everyone else. That was the only way he could win respect and friendship. It made him a better soldier than he would ever have been otherwise” (Card, 142). Individual strength can be built up in many ways, and Graff determines he will confine Ender to heighten his intended results. This isolation causes Ender many struggles, however, he becomes a stronger and more gifted fighter. Second, Graff reveals to a fellow authoritative individual that ‘when Ender is given command of an army, he is further isolated by his inability to share the burdens of command” (287). Once Ender becomes the commander, he must take it upon himself to learn to cope with the intense burden placed on his shoulders. This added difficulty shapes Ender’s character to become more ruthless toward the enemy. Ender represents the ideas sketched in Graff’s head of the most competent soldier, and with confinement, he can achieve these standards.
Andrew Wiggen, nicknamed ‘Ender’ by his sister, reveals his compassion and vindictiveness through his relationships with others. To illustrate, Ender can be depicted throughout the plot line as “ruthless enough to earn the total victory, but compassionate enough to hate the methods needed to gain it” (Napierkowski). Due to these traits, Ender possesses the perfect balance needed to be a successful fighter in times of war. An individual’s temperament can greatly impact his or her thinking, implementing great stress on the ideal mindset. In addition, as Ender reveals his inner thoughts to his sister, Valentine, he states
At that moment when I truly understand the enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment, I also love him. I think it’s impossible to understand someone, what they want, and what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them –’ You beat them”. (127)
The compassion he learns from his sister is brought with him to Battle School, helping Ender create level-headed decisions. Learning about the enemy until you know everything about them proves to be tough for Ender, but due to his rational thinking, he manages to become very successful. Ender’s mature brain must be properly used by the military to produce the largest positive outcome with the fewest amount of consequences during this war.
Orson Scott Card wrote this story in a generally limited third-person point of view creating depth to Ender’s character. To demonstrate, while Card was writing this novel, he declares that he “believes that a breakthrough occurred for him when he discovered that fiction allows the writer to reveal a character’s thoughts, whereas playwriting does not” (Napierkowski). The card used this breakthrough to reveal the internal thoughts of a few characters, including Ender and Graff. By understanding the internal thoughts and conflicts a character has, one can grasp the reasoning for various actions taken. Furthermore, at times the story “very easily slips into a first-person viewpoint by dropping into Ender’s thoughts” (Napierkowski). Ender provides imperative insight with his feelings and ideas offering more detail and structure in certain situations. These added thoughts provide his internal conflicts, giving a personal relation with Ender while keeping one from guessing about what he may be thinking. The reveal of personal feelings offers an intimate relation to the character adding importance to the thoughts being shared.
Card uses metaphors to provide an underlying message revealing hidden ideas. For instance, while Ender is in Battle School, Blackmore, a critic writer, claims, “Card uses the Battle Room as a metaphor for life. Winning does not mean peace; it simply means one is allowed to play again” (Blackmore). The Battle Room is used as an area to practice, offering the ability to fight numerous times without direct consequences or losses. Outside of the Battle Room, there are no do-overs for one’s mistakes, delineating the bitter reality of the real world. Additionally, as time moves on, it can be shown that “the Battle Room is an apt symbol of Ender’s growth and maturation throughout the novel” (Blackmore). Ender lives his life drifting from moment to moment, similarly as he drifts inside the zero gravity chambers in the Battle Room. With time, as Ender masters how to control himself in these chambers, he learns to take control of his destiny. Ender’s future is being created every moment that he trains in the Battle Room, providing a grand significance to these chambers.
In conclusion, isolation can be used in a variety of ways to provide positive results depicting the idea isolation builds individual strength. Confinement strengthens the individual character as a whole in a multitude of ways creating an exceptional leader. One may experience a hardship in their path, and use it as an excuse to give up. Ender uses the numerous misfortunes he repeatedly runs into to make him stronger and superior to his peers. By using rational thinking, one can turn a dreadful situation into a positive one to promote individual growth.
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