Ender's Game Answers to Questions Chapters 1-5

Ender's Game Questions Chapters 1 - 5

Chapter 1 – Third

1. Question: What attitude motivates the adults to lie to Ender?

  Answer: When Ender had his monitor taken off, he thought it meant that he was not accepted to battle school, but it was actually the adults final test to see what he would do without the monitor on. They wanted to make sure he was qualified because they knew he was a genius already. The adults wanted Ender at Battle School very badly, and knew that it was the only way to figure out for sure if he would be a good soldier.

2. Question: Explain what it seems to mean for Ender to be born a "Third". Show whether this is

a negative or positive fact to:

- his parents,

- his brother, Peter,

- his sister, Valentine, and

- his classmates.

  Answer: Ender being a "Third" means that he is the third child of his family.

  For his parents, having a third child was negative. They had both come from very religious families and were embarrased and ashamed as children. They both moved away and started a normal family with two children, but the government asked them to have a third child. That ruined everything they worked towards.

 This is a negative thing to his brother, Peter, because it made Peter feel like he wasn't good enough when his parents were asked to "try again." Peter doesn't like Ender because it seems like he is the best out of the three of them.

  To his sister, Valentine, it was a positive thing because Valentine and Ender have a strong, loving relationship. Valentine would do anything for Ender and she is glad to have him as a brother.

  Ender being a third is a mostly positive thing to Ender's classmates. It gives them someone to bully and an excuse to do it. They like having him there as someone to push around when they feel like it.

Chapter 2 – Peter

1. Question: Was Peter joking when he threatened Ender and Valentine?  Support your answer with evidence from the novel.

  Answer: Though his previous speech on killing Ender might indicate otherwise, Peter said in the chapter that it was all a game and that he could make Valentine and Ender do or believe anything. This makes me believe he was joking. 

2. Question: Why is Peter’s behaviour at the end of the chapter so completely different from the rest of the chapter?

  Answer: The parents came home and both talked with Ender about him not being accepted to Battle School because he had his monitor taken off. Ender felt frustrated at them because now there was no reason for him to be a third child. Peter must have noticed the frustration on his face and felt empathetic towards Ender. Peter wanted to tell him that he also knew what it felt like to be rejected.

3. Question: How do you feel about each of these characters (Ender, Valentine, Peter)?  What did the author do to help create these feelings?  Give examples.

  Answer: I feel that Ender is a brilliant little boy who has the ability to hurt people, but hates to do so because it makes him feel like his brother, Peter who he hates. I think this because Ender does things in a mature way. An example could be when Stilson began to bully him, but instead saying anything that could get him into more trouble, he didn't speak. I know he has the ability to hurt people because he beat up Stilson, but know he hates to do so because afterwards, he cried about it. 

  Valentine seems like a gentle girl who is very protective of her brother, Ender. I learned this when she came to Ender's defense when Peter stepped on him. 
  I feel like Peter is a strong boy with a low self esteem and uses his strength in bad ways. My feelings come from the part of the book when Peter forced Ender to play Bugger and Astronaut, then stepped on him and threatened to kill him. I think he has low self esteem because when he noticed that Ender got his monitor taken off, he boasted about how he got his taken off at a younger age, trying to made Ender feel bad and trying to make himself feel better.

Chapter 3 – Graff

1. Question: What did Graff mean about evolution working against girls?

  Answer: When Graff said, "..They don't often pass tests to get it. Too many centuries of evolution are working against them..." he was saying how over the years, girls were becoming less focused on fighting and more into girly things that would make them less eager to fight in a war.

2. Question: Ender is leaving to learn how to fight a war, yet he takes Graff’s hand. Why does Orson Scott Card (OSC) include this action?

  Answer: By leaving to fight in the war, Ender is letting go of all that he has and is bringing no possessions with him. Holding Graff's hand is used as a metaphor to show that he needs something to hold onto.

Chapter 4 – Launch

1. Question: Explain the meaning of the following statement: “Individual human beings are tools that the others use to help us all survive.”
  Answer: Certain people are needed to do things to help us live that others can't. For example, certain people grow food on crops that we eat, others make clothes that keep us warm, and we all depend on each other. Graff said this because he was trying to persuade Ender to join the battle school, and was telling him that people needed him to help them all survive.

2. Question: Explain the following quote: "Isolate him enough that he remains creative - otherwise he'll adopt the system here and we'll lose him." Your answer should include the terms: isolation, creative, adopt, lose.
  Answer: The isolation of Ender will make him believe that no one will be there to help him and he will have to be creative to find ways to fix his problems. If he were to adopt the system and think that someone will help him, he will lose the feeling of having to fend for himself.

3. Question: Did Ender mean to break the other boy’s arm?  What does this incident tell us about Ender?  Is it acceptable to do despicable things for survival?  Why or why not?
  Answer: Ender didn't mean to break the boys arm, but in the null gravity he was flung back and landed on his arm. This tells that Ender has more strength than he thinks and can settle his own problems. I think that in most cases, it is acceptable to do despicable things because if it is a matter of life and death than what must be done is done, but if it is something so despicable that living after it would be worse, than it isn't acceptable. It also depends on what it is and who it is done to. 

Chapter 5 – Games

1. Question: Ender works hard to express his feelings in private and not show homesickness in front of any other person. Is it healthy for him or not?   What is positive and what is negative about showing feelings? What is positive and what is negative about not showing feelings?

  Answer: It isn't healthy for him to not show homesickness in front of any other person because he is keeping his feelings bottled up inside. It's positive to show feelings because it can give others a sense of who you are and it releases stress that has built up inside of you, or releases a good feeling. It can be negative to show feelings because it could make others feel bad or make you embarrassed  For example, if someone did well on a test and let it show, others might feel bad or, if someone was sad and started crying, others might make fun of them. A positive thing about not showing feelings is that it could get a person out of a situation they don't want to be in and could teach a person how to control them self.  It is negative to not show feelings because it could eventually make someone immune to feelings and become emotionless. 

2. Question: How did Ender beat Bernard? Is this an unusual solution to his problem?

  Answer: Ender beat Bernard by creating a fake file on the messenger under the name GOD. He wrote to all of the students an embarrassing message about Bernard and then wrote another one under Bernard's name. I think it's unusual, but clever because Ender did it without physically touching Bernard or speaking to Bernard an he did it anonymously. 

3.Question: List the different coping mechanisms (ways of dealing with difficulties) Ender shows. For each one describe whether the overall result of each is helpful or harmful to Ender.

  Answer: When Ender came into his room and noticed that the only remaining bunk was the lower one by the door,he thanked them for leaving it for him instead of showing that he was upset about it. The overall result of his reaction was helpful because he later found out that the lower bunk by the door is normally for the chief officer.  
  When Ender felt homesick, he began to count doubles and that turned out positive because after getting to as high a number as possible, his sadness was gone.
  At night, Ender was homesick again and began to silently weep. This turned out positive because by the time Dap came over, his eyes were dry and he didn't look as if he had just been crying.
  When Bernard started to do things like kick Ender's bed and tripping Ender on the ladders, Ender learned to be quick on his feet, not leave his belongings outside of his lockers and to catch himself. This turned out to be positive because in the end, Ender beat Bernard.  

Ender's Game Anticipation Guide

Lying is justifiable if it's for the greater good.
This was the first statement in the anticipation guide I took for the book, Ender's Game. I had to choose a bubble out of five, one being strongly disagree and five being strongly agree. For this statement, I chose a four because though I know that lying is never good and doesn't often lead to a good thing, I have been in situations were lying is the best option.

Sometimes violence is the only way to solve a problem.
For this statement, I chose the second bubble because I disagree. Communication is the most important thing when there is a problem and violence just leads to something worse. I don't like it when violence is involved in fights and though I don't strongly feel that violence is the most horrible thing in the world, I avoid it when I can.

It is okay to kill someone in self-defense. 
This was hard to choose, because I would hate to even be in a situation where I might need to kill someone in self defense. I chose the third bubble because if that is the only option, it's what needs to be done. Killing someone would be a horrible thing though, and it would be hard to live with myself if I ever did. I hope I never need to make the choice.

Words are stronger than fists. 
I answered this statement with a four because there are certain words that can sting more than a punch. Some things that people say hurt very bad, and though it's in a different type of pain than physical, words can be just as bad if not worse. I didn't choose a five for this one because it isn't always true. Sometimes, being beaten up hurts more than a rude remark.


Bullies hurt others because they have low self esteem. 
This statement I agree with for most cases and chose a four again. Bullies that I can think of usually have issues and need to take it out on others. It is something that I would want to feel bad about, but may not because of how they deal with their problems. Of course, there are people who simply feel the need to be mean and that is why I don't strongly agree.
  
Only the best and brightest students should receive the best education to become a nation's leaders.
For this statement, I answered with a two because if someone tries very hard, their level of intelligence doesn't matter. To be a leader, one needs to be at least a little smart, but they may have better leader skills than math or science. Also, they could have changed since they were a kid and became much more mature.

 Revenge is never justified. 
I answered this with the third bubble because I know that forgiveness is a great personality trait, but I have definitely felt the need to give back what I've taken. It is bad to feel this way, but I can't help that I do and that's who I am! Since I understand both sides of the statement, I decided to be in the middle.

 Crying is evidence of weakness.
I strongly disagree with this statement and decided to give it a one. Crying can be really helpful when stress builds up inside and shows strength in my opinion that one isn't to afraid to let out the bad feelings inside. Sometimes, after a good cry one will be ready to take on more because of letting go of the past problems.

Any action is acceptable in war.
For this statement, I wasn't really sure what to put, so I went with the third bubble. I think that when something drastic needs to be done, it just needs to be done and their is nothing that can be done about it. I don't have any experience in war, so I wouldn't know when something is acceptable and when something isn't. 

Teenagers need discipline and rules because they can't control themselves.
I agree that teenagers need discipline and rules, but I don't agree that all teenagers can't control themselves and that is why. Rules are there for organization and so that things stay in order, but without rules, there are many teenagers who would do just fine without strict discipline. Because of my agreeing to the first part of the statement, but not the second, I chose the second bubble. 

Only though personal sacrifice can someone create positive change.
I answered this statement with the third bubble, because though there can be sacrifices made, there doesn't have to be. Positive change can be as big as starting an organization which will often take some sacrifice, but can also be as little as sitting with someone new for lunch which wouldn't usually take sacrifice. Since it may or may not take sacrifice, I chose the middle one meaning I agree and disagree. 

Generating compassion for your enemies is the only way to create peace.
For this statement, I chose the fourth bubble because I mostly agree with this statement. When someone wants to fix a problem or fight, they must communicate with the enemy in a calm way and sometimes, the only way to do that is to surrender to the enemy and be mature about forgiving them. In certain cases, the problem can be fixed in other ways that aren't as nice like finding a way to get rid of them. I think that creating peace would be the best way, or at least pretending to create peace.

My Learning Styles

My mantra: That sounds good to me!
I sing to myself while walking down the street. Musical intelligence is associated with enjoying music, singing (vocalists), making music (composers), and playing an instrument (instrumentalists). I am sensitive to sounds and the emotions music conveys. I have a unique ability to know when something is off key.

After taking the survey, What's Your Learning Style?, I got musical as my highest result at 94%. I agree with this because I enjoy singing songs, playing instruments, and composing. I play music because it is a passion and an outlet for me. Singing is what I hope to have as my career someday and I practice by singing in the school choir and singing songs personally. I play the clarinet, ukulele, guitar, and piano mainly as my instruments and I am currently taking piano lessons. I'm also in the school rock band playing guitar and I play clarinet in the school band. Music is a big part of me so I think that the survey was right about this part!

My mantra: Why? Well, because it's logical.
Logical-mathematical intelligence is often what we refer to when we call someone -- such as a mathematician or an engineer -- smart. I possess the ability to understand complex problems, both logical and mathematical. This intelligence asks questions, finds solutions, and reflects on the problem-solving process.

My results for this learning style were very low at 38% and I had hoped to get higher considering math is my favorite subject. I try to figure out problems in logical ways and most often figure them out! It's strange that I got such a low grade and I wonder if it's true? In my opinion it's not, but I can't know for sure. I like math too, because it's very related to music!

My mantra: Let's investigate the natural world.
Naturalistic learners often understand the patterns of living things, and they apply scientific reasoning to the world. I recognize (and can classify) different types of plants or animals. I also empathize with animals. Some well-known careers for those with naturalistic intelligence are farmer, naturalist, animal behaviorist, and scientist.

For this learning style, I got 75%. I thought I might get at least a little higher for this because I really do love nature! A time that I can really connect with it is when I go to camp in the summer and get away from electronics. Though I can't classify or identify many types of plants, I appreciate nature and try to care for the environment as much as possible. When it said that I also empathize with animals, I thought this was very true. Certain things like sad videos or pictures of animals make me extremely sad and I don't like to see them. I am thankful to have pets because I can turn to them when I need someone and they will always be there. Animals that I don't see in person I take an interest in like the mandrill monkey or koalas. My favorite animals are porcupines, meerkats, mandrills, and koalas.  Though I don't think I'll become a farmer, naturalist, animal behaviorist, or scientist, there's always the possibility!

Fifteen Miles To Eagle Peak

I could feel a blister forming as I hiked on the long, everlasting trail in the hot sun being weighed down by my heavy backpack. As I hiked along in the single-file line of us  eleven girls, I was eager to get to the final leg of our journey and then heading back to the base camp of Camp Unalayee. To the left of me was a ridge sprinkled with hundreds of evergreens, shrubs and wildflowers, just as all of the ridges in the Russian Wilderness were. On my right, was the spacious and beautiful view abounded in hills of granite and an endless deep blue skyway. The air smelled of sweat, a smell I had gotten to know well. An uncomfortable feeling had been gradually growing on me all day since we started the big hike at seven this morning. There was sweat from my forehead to my aching feet, I was tired of walking all day, and my thirst grew stronger every step.

“Sarah! When can we take a break?” whined my friend, Lucy who had been wearied from the constant hiking all morning. Lucy Bock was a tall, dancer going into eighth grade whom I had met at camp the previous year. She wore a sweaty pink camisole and pink tie dye shorts with her wavy, mermaid-like hair falling out of her ponytail.

“We can stop in three miles!” Sarah responded with a yell to Lucy who was near the end of the line. Her tone implied that three miles was effortless.

Maybe for her, anyway.

Sarah Camp; a tan woman strong enough to carry seventy pounds on her back with hair being a mix of honey, walnut and scarlett who knew what she was doing and spent many months in the wilderness every summer. Sarah had been going to camp Unalayee her whole life, making her last name quite true.

“I’m hungry!” cried my tall, blonde friend, Maddy. A chorus of “Me too’s” had begun.

“If you guys have such a voracious appetite, just eat your trail snacks!” reminded Trula, a good friend who I had also met at camp the year before. Trula Rael was a kind, mature twelve-year old girl with pale skin and dark brown, curly hair. She had been going to Unalayee her whole life along with Sarah and my friends Ursula and Amanda.

Ursula was a very skinny girls with straight blonde hair and a kind personality. Amanda, her sister, was also blonde and was usually quite. Both of them were strong soccer players and though they were two years apart, were both born on November sixteenth.

My first year of camp had only been a year before when I was eleven. This made me very skeptical about signing up to be part of the Trail Tribe with my friends, but I was up for the challenge.

I didn’t know we would have to hike fifteen miles in one day at the time.

“Lets play a game or something, I’m getting bored!” suggested our other counselor Becca who was the caboose of our line. Rebecca Fitch was a fun girl in her young twenties. Becca, though was strong like Sarah, had a sweet, cheery feeling that beamed through her long, blonde hair.

For the next couple of hours, we hiked on the Pacific Crest Trail playing games and telling riddles until we took our first rest break since we started.

We lay on our packs panting, too tired to talk, until Sarah got up and stretched while she said, “Alrighty then, let's get going before we get too comfy. I mean, I'd love to sit here all day, but the sooner we get hikin the sooner we can make it to Eagle Peak!”

Everyone took their last sip of water and after relishing those short five minutes, I reluctantly swung on my pack, tightened my straps and set off, thinking the same word every step: lunch, lunch,lunch!

At least hiking on the PCT made things easier. The trail was mostly a flat, paved line that was about as straight as a train track for many miles at a time. For the first few days of our all girl hike, titled Girls Getaway, the terrains were so extreme that we ended up having to take whole days just to hike two or three miles.

Our first day was a hike to Bingham Lake, we spent two nights there. On our layover, we hiked the highest Peak in the Russian Wilderness, Thompson Peak. On our second day we hiked to South Sugar Lake. This hike was as far from easy because we had to go down a ridge steeper than the drop of my stomach when I first saw what we would be climbing down. The mountainside began to throw rocks at us once we crawled halfway down and dodging them was quite difficult!

The next day we hiked to High Lake and the granite that our group carefully stepped over this time, was much less dangerous. The boulders seemed as though they were glued to the dirt and grass because of how stable they were.

After High was Little Duck Lake and since the hike was fairly easy besides the steep hill, we got to lie in the sun all day and swim. Our worn out figures resembled seals on a rock.

The day after that, we hiked three miles to Statue Lake, an amazing sight to see. When we made it to a big flat rock or in our case, the campground, we stood below a pile of humongous rocks. Once we climbed over the rocks, inside of them, was a small little lake. It looked as if the enclosed area was a bowl of granite filled halfway with water.

Our next stop was Big Blue Lake, a day that I think of as a rehearsal for our fifteen mile hike. Since we had been used to going two or three miles, five miles made us work a lot harder. Finally, when we got to the top of the ridge, we had to hike down the steepest hill I had ever seen. It seemed as though it was slanted at an eighty degree angle and the only way we could get down safely, was by grabbing on to the small trees barely attached to the ground.

The next day was even harder, and it was nine miles to Golden Russian, or so we thought. This was the day we went on our solo hike. Hiking by myself was a strange thing. It wasn’t scary because though I was surrounded by tall trees at certain times, there was also sun peaking through them like a child playing hide and seek checking to see if someone could be found hidden in the trees. I wasn’t scared of getting lost, because there was only one path that day and it was on the PCT so it was easy to know where to go. The part that seemed hard was not knowing when to stop. While hiking, I preferred to know when I could stop so I could have a goal to work towards. Since Sarah was the leader going three minutes ahead of the following person, I felt like I would never be able to stop! Luckily, I found Sarah and the others in front of me sitting in the shade about three miles after we had split apart. Later in the day, we decided to make a decision: have a one day layover at Golden Russian, hike to Russian and then hike to Eagle Peak. Our other option would be to hike to Russian which would mean four more miles that day, then have a two day layover, and then hike to Eagle Peak. We decided to go all the way to Russian because we wanted that two day layover and after a full day of hiking, we finally made it.

Once those two wonderful days of relaxing and building our own sweat lodge was over, it was hard to put my backpack on again. Tomorrow, we would hike five miles back to our base camp where everyone else was. Then it would be over, and the challenge overcome.

As I thought about all this, I realized how hungry I was. Without thinking about it this morning, I ate my trail snack an hour after we got on the trail so now I nothing to eat. I thought about asking Sarah if we could have lunch soon, but decided against it because I was sure she had a good place in mind to sit down that wasn’t in the middle of the PCT. I joined in a game of Contact with the Maddy, Lucy, and Trula as our pathway suddenly, changed.

Instead of a dusty pathway surrounded by grass, flowers and trees as it had been before, the trail now turned red and had more dirt around it like a desert almost, except without sand.

“Sarah, where are we?” asked Ursula.

“The PCT,” Sarah answered without noticing the drastic change in scenery.

I figured that we would be able to get off of it soon, but after an hour, we still walked along the dry and flat surface. I listened to people tell and guess the answers to riddles and jokes.

When I was asked to help create a story, I replied, “Sure!” with the intention to get my mind off of hiking.

“Sophie!” yelled Maddy from the back of the line.

“What?” I panted realizing my mouth was in desperate need of water.

“It’s your turn!”

“Huh?”

“To make part of the story!”

“Oh uh...well once there was.. a king... and he...” I couldn’t finish.

I could barely walk and the heat was badly exhausting me. I needed water but didn’t have enough energy to reach back and grab my camelbak tube. Everything seemed ten times worse than before, and to stop myself from passing out I knew I had to ask Sarah to stop.

“Sarah! I need to take a break!” I yelled with all the energy I could find in myself.

“Well, you can stop whenever you want and Becca will wait for you, but until we find a place to eat lunch, I’m gonna keep going,” Sarah said to me.

I have to stop, a part of me said.

The other part told me to keep going and stay in the front of the line.

We're almost there. Just a little further!  I tried to convince myself for what seemed like hours, but was really only minutes. Just when I knew I couldn’t make it any further,  a stroke of luck came to me, and Sarah dropped her pack.

I put my backpack down with the last bit of energy I could find. It felt like the last breath of air I could take until drowning. Finally, I lay on my pack, sipping my water in big gulps, but cautious not to drink so much that I might get a cramp. My legs felt funny because I wasn’t walking and as I took my cap off, I wiped the bucket full of sweat off of my forehead. We once again, ate crackers, hummus, and nuts. I drank my water and sat in the shade to eat. I felt so good! Re-energizing was all I needed.

“How much longer till we’re there?” questioned Lucy.

“Just a little longer, what, three four miles?” asked Sarah in answer to Lucy’s question.

“We’ve got four miles left. I hope we get there before dark. I know we haven't night hiked most of this trip. But I just wanna get there soon!” Becca replied.

The thought of having to night hike made my pace quicken.

The blister that was forming this morning was now twice as big and I could definitely feel it. As we unwillingly began to hike again, my foot was finally giving me my punishment for putting it through the hiking and sweat I had all week. Every single step, I felt pain as sharp as a knife and after a while, I was walking on the other side of my foot to try lessening the stinging friction inside of my shoe.

Our hike took a turn into the forest of trees to shade us and we stopped once we got to a spring that flowed down the path like a long snake sliding fast across the trail.

”This is the last time we’ll see water until tomorrow, so wash everything you need to!” Sarah warned us.

I washed my pink bandana that I would use to clean my bowl and put some moleskin on my blister that was now looking like a sixth toe.

“Sarah are we having soup tonight?” asked Maddy. For dinner, we always had soup, or as Sarah called it, Salt and Water. After the soup, we would have some dehydrated food like beans and rice or mashed potatoes.

“Well, we are, but since this is our only water source available , I’m going to have to carry the pot,” Sarah replied. I knew right away that Sarah couldn’t carry it too long, so I didn’t worry about getting too tired again.

I was right, because in a half an hour later, Sarah stopped at a cliff overlooking small lakes called East Boulder Puddles. The grassy area had flower patches and bushes that we sat down in as Becca heated up the pot of water. After sitting and singing some fun songs, we got to drink our hot, salty and delicious soup!

Once we had all slurped up all of what used to be in the pot, Sarah told us the plan for the rest of the hike. We would hike two more miles on the PCT, then go cross country for the rest of it. She warned us that the cross country was all uphill, but I didn’t worry.

It can’t be too long.

The next two miles was easy, but I was eager to come off of the trail so we could finally get there. The sun was getting lower every minute and everything else followed along. I knew my energy would soon be gone and the pain of my blister would soon be unbearable, even with the moleskin. I had gotten used to life in the forest and knew that the bugs would start to buzz in my ears soon.

The night was quiet. Besides the stomping of our hiking boots, nothing seemed to make a sound. I guess we were all too excited to talk.

Just as I was starting to get bored, Sarah stopped, turned around.

“We’re gonna get off now and start hiking up this hill. It’s gonna be hard, but this is the last of it.”

We started out fast, eager to reach the top, but our quick pace slowly turned into us panting with every step. Ursula, Lucy,Trula and I told riddles until the hill slanted even more upwards. I, again, got too tired to play and focused on my walking. Each step was a new goal and I started to count them. I did everything I could to keep going.

Suddenly, a boy who looked about ten with curly brown hair walked out from behind a bush.

“Who are you?” cried out Ursula.

“I’m Jevon. Who are you?” the confused boy answered.

“We’re Girls Getaway, a trail tribe from Camp Unalayee! Are you from a camp too?”

“Ya, we’re from Unalayee too! We went on a four day hike; everyone at camp did and I guess my counselors didn’t realize you guys would come here too.”

“Wait, where are we?”

“Eagle Peak.”

I couldn’t believe it! I actually hiked fifteen miles in a day. My heart was racing with joy and relief. After throwing off my backpack, I triumphantly ran up to the very top of the peak with my friends just in time to watch the sunset. That night, I realized that anything really is possible, if you set your mind to it.