Comments on: Reading Ender’s Game

By: Fear of the World | Koreanish

Fear of the World | Koreanish — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:32:42 +0000

[...] have lately seen a lot of praise for not being perfect. I like this above quote because it encourages the writer to just be alive. I’ve written some a…, and back then I was only amazed at the seemingly childish attack on style Card makes in the new [...]

By: koreanish

koreanish — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:12:46 +0000

I’d be more on the side of that interpretation if I didn’t remember how much of the story was about Ender finding people to be selfish toward him, threatened by his abilities and trying to manipulate him. I can appreciate his disillusionment, but his illusionment, the time he begins to have faith in people, I never see that. I only see him increasingly believing in just himself.

By: susanamai

susanamai — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:00:09 +0000

My explanation for why Ender doesn’t realize he was actually killing aliens is because he tries to see the good in people, because he has too much trust and faith in the authority. In the sequels, you find a disillusioned Ender, one disgusted by how blinded he was. Meanwhile in the companion novel, Ender’s Shadow, told from the perspective of Bean, we see that Bean knew all along what was going on, but that because he is a largely analytical, unemotional being, he doesn’t care. Therefore it is Ender’s compassion that prevents him from using his brain.

By: The Nervous Breakdown

The Nervous Breakdown — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:58:55 +0000

[...] For an example of story crushing style, see my take on Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game. [...]

By: The Nervous Breakdown

The Nervous Breakdown — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:59:12 +0000

[...] an example of story crushing style, see my take on Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Share and [...]

By: Why Must the Novel Be Boring? « Koreanish

Why Must the Novel Be Boring? « Koreanish — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:12:20 +0000

[...] a sense of what happens in the other direction, when story destroys style, read my take on Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)All Over the World, This Is How People Tell [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:51:37 +0000

I’ll have to put Ender’s Game on my to-read list, and I did just reread the wikipedia entry for Songmaster; after searching for more information on it, I found this part of a larger article Card wrote on his views of homosexuality: ” It is quite possible for me to regard homosexuality as a temptation toward a difficult sin, much to be avoided by members of my religious community, and at the same time recognize that others feel differently about it — and that even those homosexuals within my religious community (which means most of those I have known in my life) are people of value, as they either struggle to control their desires or, despairing of that, leave the religious community that requires of them what they no longer desire to do. The only people I have contempt for are those who try to remain inside Mormonism while denying the validity of guidance from the prophets, and I oppose them, not because they live as homosexuals, but because of the hypocrisy of claiming to be Mormon while denying the only reason for the Mormon community to exist. If they prevailed, it would destroy our community. Homosexuals themselves pose no such threat, provided that those who are Mormon admit that a homosexual act is a sin as long as the prophet declares it to be so, while those who do not accept the prophet’s authority refrain from pretending to be Mormon.

Given my personal feelings about the individual homosexuals I have known and, in some cases, have regarded and still regard as dear friends, and my religious beliefs about what God requires of those of us who take upon ourselves the commitment to be members of the Mormon Church, it is hardly likely that Songmaster would be either “for” or “against” homosexuals. What the novel offers is a treatment of characters who share, between them, a forbidden act that took place because of hunger on one side, compassion on the other, and genuine love and friendship on both parts. I was not trying to show that homosexuality was “beautiful” or “natural” — in fact, sex of any kind is likely to be “beautiful” only to the participants, and it is hard to make a case for the naturalness of such an obviously counter-evolutionary trend as same-sex mating. Those issues were irrelevant. The friendship between Ansset and Josef was the beautiful and natural thing, even if it eventually led them on a mutually self-destructive path. And both of them were cruelly used by the society around them, being regarded as expendable or exploitable. ”
The whole article- http://www.nauvoo.com/library/card-hypocrites.html

By: dearJ

dearJ — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 22:34:45 +0000

Now that I think about it, I remember he wrote a story, then a novel -- much like Ender's Game's development -- either called Treason or A Planet Called Treason -- exploring the life of one of the aristocrats who suddenly becomes stricken with the outcasts' disease called radical regeneration. In his case, he finds out by sprouting a female chest overnight; not sure how that ties into Card's overall view, but the character is portrayed sympathetically.

By: koreanish

koreanish — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:07:04 +0000

Chris: You should definitely check it out—it’s a classic, is the thing. I read it because its such a huge cultural reference. The Wikipedia entry suggests actually that Card was defending his characters as queer to social conservatives, and it makes me want to read the book.

Mike: I guess it would be in the questioning—over time, I’m less in favor of open confrontations, more in favor of subtlety? So I say. Maybe read Ender’s Game and see if you see the queer subtext, and if you do, maybe ask him about it.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 05:19:22 +0000

Well your posting enforces my trepidation of reading Ender’s Game, even though it’s been recommended to me by many scifi/fantasy fans over the years. Card actually had an early novel that had a male/male relationship in it, but from the synopsis it sounds more like pedophilia; Card himself apparently calls it an “examination of a destructive relationship,” in a long article linked on the book’s wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songmaster
One of my favorite scifi/fantasy authors, China Mieville, had an interesting variety of gay relationship in his latest adult book, Iron Council, where the character Cutter, has an worshipful love, obsessive passion towards the character Judah Low (a messianic leader of a revolutionary group,) even though he knows Low sees him only as a fond follower, to consumed by his leadership. It wasn’t really a love story, but an interesting look at all consuming one sided passion, with the fact that both of them being men not an issue.