Enders Game

The book Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is a book about a futuristic six-year old boy named Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who is recruited to a military school for kids. He is determined to be the best one, and battles the Formics, an alien species more commonly known as “Buggers”. In this book, Ender learns that killing your enemy doesn’t always mean winning. In the book, Ender is put up against multiple enemies. Each time, though he wins, he does not rejoice in, instead crying over the fact that he had to fight at all.

One of the fights Ender endures is with his former commander, Bonso. When Bonso feels like Ender made a fool of him, he attacks Ender in the bathroom, with intentions to kill. When he has Ender in a headlock, Ender head-butts him in the nose, driving his nose back into his skull, unintentionally killing him. Even though Ender doesn’t find out he killed him until later in the book, Ender still cries as he is escorted away from the scene. When his friend, Dink, is helping him away from the scene, Ender says to him “I didn’t want to hurt him.” Even though Ender was the one attacked, Ender still was crying. Even though Ender won the fight, he still was sad that he had to fight.

Another battle that Ender has to fight is with the Buggers. He is told he is playing a combat simulation, while he is actually fighting real battles. After his final battle, Ender burns the whole planet, committing genocide and  wiping out the buggers forever. After he finds out that the battle was real, he breaks down. A couple days later, when he awakens, his explanation is “In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them.... I destroy them.” Ender felt empathy for the Buggers. He did not want to destroy them. Even though the buggers had endangered the whole human race, Ender still wanted to call a truce instead of fight. And after he was forced to fight, he felt so bad that he spent the rest of his life looking for a place for the last bugger egg that the last queen bugger had given him where the  buggers could colonize again.

Throughout the book, Ender is faced with many enemies, all of which he defeats. And, after he defeats each enemy, he always cries. Even though Ender kills all of the enemys, he still doesn’t win because he never wanted to kill them. In our time, there is a lot of war that our world endures. In the war, many people are killed. But in the end, what is gained? Really, the only thing that comes from fighting is death. And nothing good ever comes from death. Ender learns a very important lesson - that hurting your enemy doesn’t mean winning. And I think that is a lesson that we all should learn.

Charlotte Kahn 802

In the book Out Of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper, the main character, Melody, is presented with many obstacles because she has cerebral palsy and is very smart. Melody learns that just because someone doesn’t believe you can do it, doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Melody learns to overcome the obstacles of her appearance and superior intellect to face other peoples judgemental behavior and jealousy.

In a scene she remembers from childhood, Melody's doctor quizzes her about four objects. He asks, "Which one of these is not like the others?" Melody thinks for a minute and when she points to one, though she is right, the doctor underestimates her ability of understanding, and tells her she is wrong, and tells her mom Melody is retarded. Melody remembered that, and even though that doctor didn’t believe in her, she pushed through and was able to go so far as to be the only one in her school to ever get all the right answers on a extra-hard test her teacher gave. Even though the doctor said she wouldn’t be able to do it, she did.

Melody was also faced by her teacher, Mr. Dimming, who made a rude remark to the classroom about Melody’s disability. To reciprocate, Melody works very hard to prove him wrong with her neighbor, Mrs Valencia. "You know how athletes get ready for the Olympics? They swim early in the morning and late at night. They run around the track for hours and hours without a crowd to cheer them on". When Melody jokes, "I can't run very fast," Mrs. Valencia says that she will have the "strongest brain in the school" after studying with her. Mrs Valencia helped Melody prove to Mr. Dimming and herself that she did have what it took, and she proved it by acing Mr. Dimming’s test.

Melody is presented with many obstacles and must rely on herself and others to help her overcome them. She overcomes them by making the quiz team by acing her test despite her disability, and showing her class and teachers how intelligent she is. Many people today are marked with cruel, unnecessary labels like ‘fat’ or ‘retarded’. Not only is it cruel and offensive and inconsiderate, how can you say that without even knowing the person? It can hurt the person much more than you know. Next time you see something, be sure to say something. Treat others how you want to be treated. And most of all, believe in yourself.