Ender's Game

Why Ender's Leadership in Ender's Game was so Successful Compared to Other Leaders

By Ellie Rosch

The Book Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card tells the story of a young genius in a sci-fi world going through strenuous training to defeat enemies that are trying to kill everyone on Earth. The main character, Ender, has to be taught how to lead and strategize platoons of soldiers to defeat the Buggers, who are connected to a hive mind trying to kill Earth. In battle school you get assigned to armies where you have a commander that leads soldiers into war games. War games is most comparable to a mix of capture the flag and laser tag. It's a place to try out strategies and learn how to use weaponry. Gravity also is constantly changing throughout the game; A concept that many don't understand.

Graff, the administrator of battle school, puts Ender in Salamander Army where he meets his commander, Bonzo. Bonzo is described as a young and aggressive leader who hurts anyone that steps out of line. We see this the on the first day when Ender meets Bonzo when he told him "Don't give me any problems or I'll paste you to the wall" (Card 68). Ender does not like Bonzo's leadership because he thinks that good commanders don't have to make threats and instead should earn the trust of their soldiers. Commanding with trust and friendship instead of fear. Throughout Ender's time at the Salamander Army we see him time and time again obey Bonzo but in a way that makes Bonzo look like a stupid commander; He makes Bonzo lose the fear and respect the soldiers have for him. One example of this was when the Salamander Army was in a war game and was losing. Bonzo had directly ordered Ender to not draw him gun under any circumstance so when the opposing army was about to win and Ender had an open shot that could have drawn the game, Ender did nothing and the opposing army won (Card 72). Bonzo was embarrassed and tried to punish Ender for losing them the game but couldn't do it publicly because it was a direct order that he gave Ender in front of everyone to not draw his gun. Ender kept following orders but always found loopholes and made Bonzo repeal the order because it was hurting him more than Ender. After all of this Ender had made a name for himself and was popular enough to get traded to another army; Bonzo took the first offer he got to get rid of Ender, but not before beating him and says how Ender repeatedly disobeyed him.

Ender got introduced to his new army called the Rat Army. The commander was named Rose and he  immediately puts him in a platoon run by a boy named Dink and tells Ender to act like Dink is god (Card 78). Ender doesn't like Rose from the start. He's lazy and depends on other people to do work for him. He also likes to goof off and perform inappropriate actions in front of his army. Despite this, he's smart and immediately orders Ender to not use tech outside of the war games because that's one of the ways he was able to frustrate Bonzo by hacking into his tech. Ender thinks "how does a boy who spends his time like this win battles? (Card 78). Ender then met Dink. Dink is the first one to see promise in Ender and wants to actually train him. Dink does not consult or even talk to Rose. Ender likes Dink. He likes the way he leads his toon, the way he takes time to talk to the soldiers instead of just ordering them round. Ender and Dink grow and learn together with Dink teaching Ender the basics and Ender teaching Dink how to understand and manipulate the gravity. While Ender is getting better he gets into many fights with Rose. He repeats the actions that he took with Bonzo but with a bit more defiance. An example of this is when Ender uses technology to complete a trigonometry assignment even though earlier Rose told him not to use any type of tech. Rose gets really mad at him and tells him to basically commit suicide in the next war game by telling him to charge straight down into the enemy's main toon with no chance to survive and remain a player in the game. Ender followed orders but not before taking a lot of the enemy out with him gaining the respect of many soldiers. (Card 81-83). Rose likes winning, but he hates Ender more so after a few more battles and arguments with Ender he gets traded yet again to Phoenix Army. 

Ender does not stay in Phoenix Army for long, but there he meets Petra. Petra is the Commander of Phoenix Army and is the best sharpshooter in battle school. Petra lets Ender do his own thing because at this point he is so good at strategy and shooting that he wins every battle he's in. So good that he soon becomes his own commander.

Ender becomes the commander of the Dragon Army. The Dragon Army was a failed attempt of adding another army long before Ender got to battle school but because they still had all of the uniforms they resurrected it and put it in command of Ender. Because it was a new army Ender recieved young kids that didn't know how to play or how to follow instructions.While Ender is training the army he notices that one kid stands out because this kid reminds him of himself. His name was Bean and at first Ender noticed himself isolating Ender because that's what Graff had done to him when Ender first came to battle school; Making sure Bean felt alone with nothing to rely on but his own genius and strategy. As soon as Ender realized what he had done he tried to change. He didn't want to be like all of his past commanders so he made jokes and earned the army's trust; He let Bean make friends, and when Bean asked to be a toon leader he made him work for it even though he knew Bean would be a toon leader from the moment he was being taught by Ender. Ender knew when to be hard and when to be soft. He allowed people to see him as human instead of just a commander. Because of this the Dragon Army never lost a game even when all of the odds were stacked against them. They faced multiple battles in one day, battles before breakfast, battles where two armies were up against Dragon Army but no matter what battle school threw at Ender and Dragon Army they always won. 

I feel like this is reflective of the leadership styles that commanders employ. In the Salamander Army, Bonzo was harsh and didn't connect with his team. He ruled on threats which made it easier for Ender to work around him because he seemed to be all bark and no bite. Bonzo had the best soldier battle school had ever seen and told him not to fire his gun. Salamander Army did not do well in the rankings because of Bonzo's lack of strategy and teamwork. The same would be said for the Rat Army but it happened that Rose had an excellent toon leader, Dink. Dink taught Ender what it was like to actually have a connection with his leader. Ender was willing to do whatever Dink told him to, not because it was an order from Rose, but because Dink had earned Ender's trust. Rose's leadership was exactly like Bonzo's, he just got lucky with having such a great toon leader that actually cared about the soldiers he was teaching. That's why the Rat Army was ranked higher than the Salamander Army, but it was the disconnect between Rose and Dink and the pettiness of Rose that ultimately made them worse than they could have been. With Petra there was nothing she could really do to teach Ender more. We aren't able to see many examples of her leadership because Ender didn't need to be lead. We see this when Pheonix Army quickly rose to be one of if not the best army in battle school at the time. Ender was just that good and that's why pretty quickly he was his own commander. Ender took everything that he learned from his previous commanders and perfectected his leadership. From Dink he knew to make a connection with your army and to gain their trust. With Petra he knew when to leave people alone. Like when he allowed Bean to have his own toon and only teach him when necessary (Card 151). He even learned things from Bonzo and Rose; When to be hard on your team. It is ultimately Ender's ability to lead and his genius of strategies that make him so successful. 

Works Cited

Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. Tor Books, 1985.

Writing Blog: What do you think is the best part of having siblings? What is the hardest? What is the greatest gift they have given you?

             I have ten siblings. The majority are older than me, and we don’t talk much. Except for Randy and I, we could spend hours upon hours talking about nothing. When I think of siblings, his face flashes across my mind. When I need someone to talk to, my phone is already ringing, with him on the line. I think of all the adventures we’ve been on, and all the rolled ice cream we ate. I think of him poking fun at the melted chocolate ice-cream running down my chin, asking me if I knew where my mouth was.

        The best part of having Randy as a sibling is that he cares for me, without fail. Even when we are far from each other, I know he cares. Writing me letters and sending me books to authenticate his dedication to being present in my life. I never even sat to question if he cared or not, because without a second thought I know he does. Whether through his actions or his words. Not ever has he been so fruitless with his words. He always finds the most beautiful ways to tell me how much he cares. He often tells me that I am a gift to him, a gem. His actions, just as graceful as his words, always taking my words into consideration, getting the most thoughtful of gifts. Randy is simply good at making the people around him feel good, and worthy. If I could go back in time, I would make sure he had a person just as wonderful as him growing up.

        The hardest part is our proximity. There’s always a little part of me that hopes when I pick up the phone, he’ll tell me to come to my front door. He’d give me a big hug and we would go to my room, and I’d catch up with him on all the awards he’d missed and all the new books I got while he was away. We’d spend hours talking to each other while I taught him how to crochet. Then when it was time for him to leave, he’d walk out the door and do it all over again, days to come. As lovely as that would be, we can do that over the phone for now. It makes me sad sometimes, to think that I might not see him for 5 years at a time, but he made me promise him never to entertain the idea that he would leave and never come back. 

        The greatest gift he has given me is patience. Randy is the most patient person I’ve ever met. He has never unveiled his anger to me, even if he might’ve wanted to. Unlike the men of our childhood, Randy is always so conscious of the world that surrounds him, he knows when to act and when to wait patiently and listen. Randy motivates me to do the same for my younger brothers, Sebastian, and Paolo. I want to be that model for them. I want to be that sibling for them, the one who cares and will listen to all the trials of childhood. I want them to talk to me about boring math assignments, bullies, and their newly found passions, like I do with Randy. I want them never to question my love for them, and never be afraid that I might get angry. I want to be there for them, as Randy is there for me.

 

Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets (Book Review)

  Harry Potter Book Review And Thoughts 

by: Amari Dixon 

    

    The Blog post is going to be about my thoughts on the book that I am reading during my free reading days: Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets. At the beginning of the book, it starts with Harry in his house with his step-parents. After Harry came back to his step-parents, his step-parents were scared of him because he had magic abilities and they locked him up in his room. Luckily Ron and his brothers came and took him to Ron's house. For the rest of the summer, Harry and Ron went to Diagon Alley and bought stuff for Hagworts. 

    After the summer, Harry and Ron decided to ride Ron's dad's flying car. Sadly, when they got to Hogwarts Ron and Harry found out that 2 humans saw them. Luckily the humans didn't make a big deal but Harry and Ron got in serious Trouble. After The next few weeks, Harry started to practice quidditch again. Until Draco Malfoy came. Draco is Harry's rival and he calls Hormine (Harry's other friend) a mudblood, which is basically a bad word in the Harry Potter world. Ron gets very angry and uses his wand which backfires and he hits himself. 

    After Ron gets better, Harry and Ron have to pay for breaking the rules of the school. Harry has to Read and sign fanmail, and Ron has to Clean trophies. When Harry is doing fan mail he hears a voice and it is telling him that he is coming for him. He tells The teacher about it but he says that he is just tired and he should get some sleep. (This is the part that I am on)

    So, My review so far on this book so far. I think it is really interesting it always finds a way to keep me interested in it. I also love Hormine as a character, she is the best at everything and supports her friends. I also like how Ron is willing to stand up for Hormine (even though it backfired) My favorite part about the book so far is when Ron rescues Harry from his step-parents' house. I loved the action in the scene and it kept me hooked into the book. It was a great start for this book and I loved it.

    So far, compared to the first book I like this one better. Even though it is not fully into the action, I still love to see how Harry interacts with new characters. Like Collins who is a Harry Potter fanboy and likes to follow him all around the school. It is very funny to me when he always knows what Harry Potter is going to do next. In addition, I love how the classes work in the book. It is always very entertaining for me. For example, when they were learning about the Mandrake which is a plant baby that cries so loud that it can kill you. It was very entertaining to see Harry deal with them. 

So far, I have not gotten very deep into the action part of the book. I am hoping to see Harry do another quidditch match I loved to read those in the first book. I am also hoping to have more Hargrid scenes. I am very excited to read more about this book in the future. 

  

 

Forced into Change (Wings of Fire: The Lost Continent)

 Kabir Thirodira                        

The Lost Continent is the 11th book in the Wings of Fire series. In this book there is a hierarchy of species. Silk Wings are dragons that use their silk to build important structures. Most of them are workers and have no important status. Hive Wings are dragons that live in nice places and use Silk Wings as their servants. 

Blue, a character that features in this book, adds a very unique twist as a Silk Wing. Most characters in this series are both courageous and rule breakers, but Blue is neither, largely in part due to his low Silk Wing status. His whole life he followed every rules to the tee and believed everything a Hive Wing told him. The system brought him up to be a loyal and dedicated citizen to the Hive Wings and an example of that is when his friend was mad, breaking things and Blue thought, "This is vandalism!... And destruction of Hive property! There are definitely rules about this!" (Sutherland 124) 

To my surprise he did break a few rules, but only when someone important to him was in danger. The dumbed down explanation of the first rule he broke goes as follows: he ran away from home because his sister was just taken away in front of his own eyes, and he was practically forced to leave by people who wanted to keep him safe. An additional very important detail to properly display the personality of Blue is his thoughts the whole time he was escaping. He had just witnessed his sister get aggressively captured but he was still thinking about turning back. He was thinking he could turn back and all would be well, all the people that came after his sister and him would forgive him, and he could go back to his basic rule following life. 

However, he didn't, and he continued to show this intriguing character arc, but it is almost forced onto him. Even after he escapes he constantly thinks about going back, but he knows he has to both rescue his sister and keep himself safe, and in the middle of the book he has to steal an extremely sacred object in exchange for the location of his sister. He has no choice but to keep going and keep breaking rules, which makes him an example of a very unique change in character.