There is no Teacher but the Enemy: Humanitys Struggle Between Violence and Empathy in

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game

In Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, Card juxtaposes Ender's violent and peaceful sides
to symbolize humanity's antithetical character traits; thus, Card uses Ender's journey to
demonstrate that although humankind historically resorts to ruthlessness to resolve conflict,
possessing empathy for the enemy and understanding their pain leads to peace.
Throughout the novel, Ender demonstrates humankinds deadly tendency to turn to futile,
unnecessary violence in times of conflict. At age six, he faces enemies at school that torture him
for his disgraced title of "third." When Ender's primary tormentor, Stilson, and his pack of
friends corner Ender after school one day, Ender violently beats Stilson. Burdened by selfloathing and loneliness, Ender "leaned his head against the wall of the corridor and cried until the
bus came and thought to himself, I am just like Peter. Take my monitor away, and I am just
like Peter" (38). Card establishes Peter and Ender as foil characters to highlight their emotional
and moral differences. However, Ender's ruthlessness towards Stilson proves that the brothers
share a tendency towards violence. When Colonel Graff recruits Ender to attend Battle School,
he first questions Ender's reasons for severely beating Stilson. Ender explains, "'Knocking him
down won the first fight. I wanted to win all the next ones, too. So they'd leave me alone'" (49).
Even as a young child, Ender believes that people can only attain peace through extreme
violence. This idea represents a crucial motif as Ender continues to follow this philosophy of
doing whatever it takes to establish dominance and induce fear in his enemies. Years later with
Ender's graduation from Battle School approaching, yet another envious peer attacks him. This
time the enemy, Bonzo, intends to kill Ender. In the middle of the brawl, Ender has an epiphany:

"The only way to end things completely was to hurt Bonzo enough that his fear was stronger
than his hate" (250). Card uses the motif of fear to show that although Ender does not possess
Peters inherent evil, he recognizes and utilizes the deadly power of engendering fear in his
opponents. After Ender's brutal victory over Bonzo, he realizes that people achieve supreme
power through harm and destruction. Ender concludes that "the power to cause pain is the only
power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can't kill then you are always
subject to those who can" (251). At this point in his life, Ender doubts that he will ever reach
peace, both internally and with others. His cynical beliefs regarding power and killing symbolize
a dark period in his internal struggle between his Peter side, and the side of him that hates
destruction.
Ultimately, Ender grows to respect and understand the buggers, revealing that through
learning to grasp an enemy's pain and feel empathy towards that enemy, people reach a state of
nonviolence and harmony. Before Ender goes to Command School, the I.F. returns Ender to
Earth hoping that Valentine will convince him to continue his endeavors at Command School.
Ender kills a wasp and, envisioning the wasp as his enemy, Ender admits to Valentine, "'In the
moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in
that very moment I love him'" (279). This revelation represents a turning point for Ender because
he finally acknowledges that he must understand his enemy to succeed; Ender even begins to
love his enemy, creating the theme of empathy. Every time Ender ruthlessly defeats an opponent,
a part of him mourns for that enemy. At command school, Ender meets Mazer Rackham and
learns an invaluable lesson about the key to success in warfare: "'There is no teacher but the
enemy...No one but the enemy will teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy
shows you where you are weak'" (304). Mazer informs Ender that ironically, only the enemy can

guide a person to success and improvement. Mazer encourages Ender to use this guidance to
defeat the buggers. After Ender and his fleet destroy the buggers, Valentine and Ender must
discover themselves, and in the process, they begin to understand the bugger race. Filled with the
remorse of destroying the buggers, Ender decides to help establish a colony on a planet that
buggers once inhabited: "'maybe if I go there I can understand them better. I stole their future
from them; I can only begin to repay by seeing what I can learn from their past'" (358). Although
Ender cannot take back his mistakes, he realizes that through exploring and learning about the
bugger species he can finally begin to make peace with himself. Ender's transition from violence
to understanding illustrates Cards purposeful character development. At the end of the novel,
Ender discovers a queen's cocoon that the buggers left behind for Ender to find. Ender makes a
strong promise to the queen's cocoon: "'I'll carry you, I'll go from world to world until I find a
time and place where you can come awake in safety. An I'll tell your story to my people'" (366).
When Ender discovers the cocoon, he experiences the buggers emotions and sees things from
their side of the story. Ender vows to revive the bugger population and make humans aware of
their story and their innocence as a sentient race; he finally understands the value of loving and
respecting the enemy. Ender's journey throughout the novel serves as a microcosm for how
humankind can reach harmony by avoiding violence and possessing empathy.

Works Cited
Card, Orson Scott, and John Harris. Ender's Game. Rev. ed. New York: Tor, 1991. Print.