Ender's Game Movie Vs Book Essay

In Orson Scott Card’s surprising novel and film Ender’s Game, Ender Wiggin is burdened with the responsibility of saving the world from their alien enemy, the Buggers. Though every person on the Earth has their own responsibilities some aren’t as important as saving the Earth. In the novel and film Ender faces many obstacles but will soon overcome them. While watching the film there were two differences from the novel that stood out, Ender’s age and when all of the characters were introduced. There was a difference in the subplot however, the whole idea of Ender being a “third.”
Ender Wiggin’s timeline is changed remarkably throughout the film. In the novel, Ender is first introduced at age six and he promotes into young adulthood and then adulthood by the end of the novel. In the film, Ender is already an older child and it speeds up the urgency of the battle for humanity so that the protagonist can remain the same age throughout the film. Even though the ages were obviously different the roles of the characters were kept the same. The second difference between the film …show more content…
The novel and movie were both set in a futuristic America, governed by the International Fleet. There is a regulation in the novel that enables each family to have only two children and if they wish to have more the parents must get special permission. When the International Fleet realized that both of Ender’s older siblings were almost what they needed to defeat the Buggers they gave that permission to Ender’s parents so Ender could be the general they needed. The ‘less than’ status Ender shares with other kids is best described by this quote, “we’re people, not thirds” (Card 7.) By the end of the novel, Ender’s sister Valentine stated, “The most noble title any child can have is Third” (Card 53.) Although this is not crucial to the novel and film it adds a sense of humanity and realism to