It Seemed Like a Perfectly Good Weekend to Read Ender's Game

With the threat of 8 inches of snow coming to Champaign, Illinois, it seemed like a perfectly good weekend to read Ender's Game. Luckily, there was much less snow than anticipated, but that didn't stop me from hunkering down and getting cozy in some blankets to get through the first in the quartet of books by Orson Scott Card about Ender Wiggin. Admittedly, I don't read much science fiction, but this book has been on my shelf since about 2009 when a friend in grad school considered doing her master's thesis on Card's work. Instead, she took a medieval studies route, but still her consideration of doing such in-depth work on the author had me intrigued. Of course, with the release of the movie (which I did not see), I was reminded that this book sat gathering dust on my shelf, and it has been sitting at the top of a stack these last few months, just waiting for a weekend of crappy weather to present me with the opportunity to dive into the story.

Mildly familiar with the plot, it was easy to get absorbed quickly and finish the book in two sittings. On top of that, I find it easy to get drawn into stories about exceptional people--after all, don't we all wonder what it would be like to be exceptional? Yet another draw was the dystopian aspects of the book. I have always been keenly interested in dystopian fiction, and while this book was an interesting departure from other more typical dystopian plot lines, perhaps the differences helped to accentuate the politcal games that are given a different presentation in other dystopian books. So often, the political wag the dog is what characters in dystopian novels are trying to overcome; however, Ender's game is indeed him being instrumental in the wag the dog, though often unaware of the real effects of his actions. While Ender is endlessly called upon to simulate and strategize war games, that is only one, overt game within the book. The other  more covert (in more than one sense) game is how the official higher ups manipulate his social settings in order to create a person they believe will be the ultimate commander for what they consider a humanity-saving mission.

For as serious as I can take this book to be, it did get me pondering a more lighthearted notion involving another exceptional youth in literature. I found myself entertaining the thought of what it would be like to match the serious and often dark but well-meaning Ender with the equally powerful and well-intending but sometimes vengeful Matilda. After all, both effortlessly manipulate the realities around them with their minds. Matilda literally moves objects through space with the power of her telekinesis, which is so very similar to the way Ender masters reorientation within gravity-absent situations and can seemingly move himself through zero gravity with the power of his mind through logic and strategy. For both of these characters, their special abilities create problems for them, but in a way also create solutions and eventually afford them agency over their own futures. Mostly, though, I think it would be super cute for them to be boyfriend and girlfriend and hold hands on the playground; alas, for children who have been treated and have acted like adults for most of their lives, they would perhaps scold me for my childish wish for them.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. New York: Tor, 1994.