Let’s go to battle school for a while

I read Ender’s Game for the first time when I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. I remember distinctly that my mom borrowed it from the library for herself, but I thought it was for me and had the whole thing read by the time she noticed I stole it from her bag. That’s the appeal of the Ender books — particularly the first — children and adults can both enjoy and learn from them. I’ve reread Ender’s Game and its sequels every few years since then, and every time, I catch new things and feel more for the characters than the time before.

“In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it’s impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them…. I destroy them.”

So for those of you who don’t know — Ender’s Game is set far into the future, after mankind has been attacked twice by ant-like aliens called the Buggers. Gearing up in preparation for the third attack, the entire world has focused on finding the right child to mold and shape into the ultimate battle commander. Andrew “Ender” Wiggin is that child, and the Battle School puts him through terrible things in order to prepare him to save the human race.

I think one thing that struck me more on this re-reading than any other is how very, very young these characters are. When I was 9, and reading about 6 year olds going through all of these horrible events in order to save the world, I didn’t feel so far removed from that age that it didn’t seem plausible. Even as I grew older and re-read the books over and over — it just didn’t seem too young. Now that I have kids — a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old — it’s terrifying to think of the pressure put on the very young children in these books. But as a kid — I remember thinking that I could do it, given the chance.