Definition: control or influence (a person or situation) cleverly, unfairly, or unscrupulously.
I think that manipulation is a very evident theme throughout these few chapters. We start each chapter with a conversation between two adults looking over Ender. The way that these people interact set the mood for the rest of the chapter. We as readers get an idea of how Ender is supposed to act in order to meet the criteria of his superiors. Perhaps the way Ender is meeting their criteria is foreshadowing into the leader Ender might result in being. When Ender disobeys their standards for him the observers become distressed. These people watching over him have planned out his entire, even his birth was done …show more content…
“They love you. The question is whether they want you here. Your presence in this house is a constant disruption.” (page 23) Ender is convinced that since he is a third his brother resents him and his parents are ashamed of him. Graff continues to persuade him into going, claiming that he will not be missed. He later states, “Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive.” (page 35) This comment makes the conspiracy of manipulation in his words apparent. After talking to Graff, Ender then decides to leave his home to go help save the world. “It’s what I was born for, isn’t it? If I don’t go, why am I alive.” (page 26) He endures wearying tests and lonesome isolation. Ender wants to go home, but the society around him has already provided him with a required purpose for his life: destroy the buggers. Therefore, he cannot leave.
It is clear that Ender’s whole life is being lived under the manipulation of those around him. However, he shows promise for rejecting that manipulation. As he out smarts the unbeatable games and manages to send secret messages within the first few weeks of being there. Lets see if throughout the story he continues to defy the influences of the superiors and people around