Everyone is different. We cannot change anyone unless they want to. But, when a person is pressured and demoralized by their family, that person can quickly change- for better or worse. It depends on how the person interacts with them. A novel, Enders Game, by Orson Card, discusses the difficulty Ender, the main character, exhibits- from social disorders to family effectiveness.
We all have our own successes and flaws. Many people today to do not recognize their mental problems and sometimes disrupts ones actions and social advantages. Card also discusses the social problems Ender encounters. The principle manipulated him by saying that his family hates him and does not want him, and so this made him go to a camp. In this camp, Ender is segregated by all the other people- alone. They do this particularly because they say he gets manipulated easily and will not be as smart. But, when he is alone, he thinks a lot and builds up his memory. Ender has many social problems that his sister, Valentine, soon gets involved in. Graff states,
“I wish I could tell you everything about Ender’s situation. But it would take hours, maybe days, and afterward, I’d have to put you in protective confinement because so much of it is strictly confidential. So let’s see what we can do with limited information...” (pg. 144)
Based on this quote, Graff describes Ender as if he is a monster- scary, unwanted, and “special,” essentially because he says, if he tells her (Valentine) about his situation, then something will happen to her- he is threatening him to prevent Valentines presence in this situation. This fears and gives a whole new perception to Valentine about her younger brother. In addition, Graff maybe saying this just to get something out of her.
From Ender’s perspective, he wants to be normal, and the supervisors restrain him from doing so. Although they may assume it is better for him, it definitely is not because he is not allowed to exploring life freely- similar to a prisoner- gated and innocent.
As a society, this also relates to the billions of children around the world who have social disorders. For example, many children sometimes have a challenge connecting to “non-disorder like children” and they do not know why- they feel lost and depreciated. Often times, they ignore the fact and just appear as them selves as if they do not have a mental disability. This causes confusion and awkwardness to the “normal” people mainly because they do not know what to say or how to react. Ender has the same challenge. But because he does not have the ability to “chill” with other people, he is assumed to be documented as having some type of social disorder.
Therefore, Ender’s Game has a distinct correlation with our current society.
Likewise, relatives are important. They affect each person in a household differently. When an individual in the home has a negative characteristic, it affects the others differently, and is more based on how long they know that certain person. Card also discusses about the situation dealing with Ender and how it affect his relatives.
Graff has an intense discussion with Valentine about Ender, and she goes out-of-control:
“I know what you’re thinking, you bastard, you’re thinking that I am wrong, that Ender’s like
Peter. Well maybe I’m like Peter, but Ender Isn’t, he isn’t at all, I used to tell him that when he cried, I told him that lots of times, you’re not like Peter, you never like to hurt people, you’re kind and good and not like Peter at all!” (148)
Valentines love for Ender is easily symbolized here. She continuously states that Ender is not like Peter and how they are drastically different from each other. In addition, it also seems like she is taking the blame for Ender’s condition. Her negative tone shows how much she worries and puts in a lot of effort for him (this is what older sisters usually do for there younger siblings).
Also, this demonstrates that Peter is a bad influence on both, Ender and Valentine. They fear their own brother, and follow his commands even though they do not want to, personally. But, I clearly understand why they do so: first, he is their older brother, and second, he is a fearful monster.
Ender’s influence, especially from his older brother affects him more than his sister- essentially because he is the same gender as him. Most importantly, Ender does not understand how much of a bad affect he is, and realizes how much he affects him (Ender) - in my opinion.
Overall, every single human in a household affects each and every organism differently. Each person influences others without even noticing/ trying. So, what I am trying to say is that: Be careful what you say and/or do, because it affects the people around you.
Also, the camp he is in ruins Ender, socially because they say,
“Isolation is-- the optimum environment for creativity,” (149).
It is his ideas they want. They just want his knowledge and creativity. His physical self is not want they essentially need/ care about. It is a shame how people could treat kind-hearted individuals nicely but at the end of the day, they are just negative a influence and unwanted humans.
Ender had many challenges, from personal to outside situation. Adventuring and learning new things/ ideas are important for people, mainly because their is also a connection between the two, which will be beneficial for the future. Life is life. Learning how to make life easier and dodging the struggles and obstacles out of the way, is a key task to learn.
Therefore, social disorders and family interactions have a correlation between each other. Often times, these will never change, but with patience, anything can happen.
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