The censorship and banning of books has impacted society greatly due to the the editing of books or complete prohibition of reading them. Books can be banned for many reasons says Debra Whelan, “The reasons range from a book’s sexual content and gay themes to its language and violence.” Similar content is evident in Ender’s Game causing it to be banned in many places. Ender’s Game is about a boy name Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who, at six years old, was selected to join the International Fleet (I.F.) to fight the aliens (Buggers) who have threatened to invade Earth. He excels at Battle School and is sent to Command School, where he fights the Buggers through simulations. In reality, the simulations were the actual fights, which he didn’t know
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Sara Day says, “both adults and children cross the lines between moral and immoral behaviour” (Day). Children and adults do many things that would not be acceptable in this society. For example, when Ender is confronted by Stilson and his gang, he attacks Stilson violently and sends him to the emergency room, and he is congratulated for his skills by Colonel Graff. His cruelty toward Stilson is ignored and his ability to beat up his bully was given priority. As John Kessel says, “rightness or wrongness of an act inheres in the actor's motives, not in the act itself, or in its results” (Kessel). The society in Ender’s Game finds murder, assault, and many other actions as acceptable as long as it done for a good cause or with good intentions, which is not something that should be exposed to teenagers. In the book, Ender has to repeatedly “remind himself that Graff was only acting like a friend, that everything he did was a lie or a cheat designed to turn Ender into an efficient fighting machine” (Day). All of the students enrolled in Battle School, Tactical School, and Command School are being deprived of a childhood, owned by the I.F., and manipulated to be used to someone else’s advantage. That makes them slaves because the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines slavery as “someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay” (Merriam-Webster). According to the UN Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor that occurred in 1999, “The Convention defines these worst forms, to be prohibited to all persons under 18 years, as…work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children” (Resources for Speakers, Global Issues, Africa, Ageing, Agriculture, Aids, Atomic Energy, Children, Climate Change, Culture, Decolonization, Demining, Development, Disabilities, Disarmament,
Sara Day says, “both adults and children cross the lines between moral and immoral behaviour” (Day). Children and adults do many things that would not be acceptable in this society. For example, when Ender is confronted by Stilson and his gang, he attacks Stilson violently and sends him to the emergency room, and he is congratulated for his skills by Colonel Graff. His cruelty toward Stilson is ignored and his ability to beat up his bully was given priority. As John Kessel says, “rightness or wrongness of an act inheres in the actor's motives, not in the act itself, or in its results” (Kessel). The society in Ender’s Game finds murder, assault, and many other actions as acceptable as long as it done for a good cause or with good intentions, which is not something that should be exposed to teenagers. In the book, Ender has to repeatedly “remind himself that Graff was only acting like a friend, that everything he did was a lie or a cheat designed to turn Ender into an efficient fighting machine” (Day). All of the students enrolled in Battle School, Tactical School, and Command School are being deprived of a childhood, owned by the I.F., and manipulated to be used to someone else’s advantage. That makes them slaves because the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines slavery as “someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay” (Merriam-Webster). According to the UN Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor that occurred in 1999, “The Convention defines these worst forms, to be prohibited to all persons under 18 years, as…work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children” (Resources for Speakers, Global Issues, Africa, Ageing, Agriculture, Aids, Atomic Energy, Children, Climate Change, Culture, Decolonization, Demining, Development, Disabilities, Disarmament,