Ender’s Game Good vs Evil

Ender’s Game – Good vs. Evil Writing In an epic saga capturing the struggle between two brothers, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, Ender and Peter are constantly at each other’s throats. Ender is the better of the two brothers as throughout the book he displays noble deeds and a strong mindset. Thus being said, Peter is the lesser of the two who throughout the book is doing something of malcontent, whether it is threatening to kill, killing, or fighting.

Peter the older, power hungry brother is the evil to Ender’s good. From the beginning of the book, Anderson and Graff are, “Afraid of what (Peter) will do to (Ender). ” (Card, 9). Later in the book, around the same time as when Ender is in Flight Commander school, Valentine is disgusted with Peter when she finds a squirrel’s dead carcass, “half – skinned, spiked by its little hands and feet with twigs… She pictured Peter trapping it, staking it…how long had it taken the squirrel to die?

And all the while Peter sat nearby, leaning against the tree where perhaps the squirrel had nested, playing with his desk while the squirrel’s life seeped away” (Card, 123) Peter is a ruthless killer who even tosses the idea of, “ “whether to kill (Valentine) or what. ” ” (Card, 124) What other 12 year old child would commit such cruel acts? An evil one, one who skins animals to watch them die, one who threatens to kill it’s own sister, and one who torments all nearest to him, while acting under a blanket of innocence to hide his misgivings.

Peter is a demon of a child with a lust for evil and wrong things to commit and threaten with. Ender the good to Peter’s evil, is the “better” of the two brothers. Ender does not want to, “ (hurt) people again, just to save (himself). ” (Card, 115) Ender does not have the same lust to kill or eradicate as Peter. For instance, Graff had to trick, “ “(Ender) into (Commanding human forces to exterminate the buggers)…“It had to be a trick or (Ender) couldn’t have done it…(They) had to have a commander with so much empathy that he would think like the buggers, understand them and anticipate them. ” (Scott Card, 298) Ender had to be tricked into doing something that was against his morals for the greater good of his society, for the greater good of human existence. Even if that meant going against his personality, morality, and even his own human nature. With that the reader can promptly assume that Ender is the face on a TV ad trying to sell good. He is understanding, kind, but also will defend himself if provoked with an attack. Not to attack for the sake of attacking or attack for bloodlust, but simply as a reaction instilled in humans through the ages by the name of fight or flight.

After the comprehension and understanding of Ender’s Game the reader finds that there are two polar opposite characters, Peter and Ender, who differ from each other more and more throughout the book, Peter the evil, and Ender the good. Peter the cold, heartless, killer and Ender his brother, who is, nothing like him at all. Kind, compassionate and understanding are all choice words when describing Ender. There is an old saying that reads, “ Where there is good, there is also bad, and where there is bad, good will always triumph for it is fate. ” (Anonymous)