In her essay “Winning and Losing in Ender’s Game”, for Ender’s World, Hilari Bell expresses that Ender wasn’t successful because he was so great, but because of the friendships and alliances he made based purely on empathy: “True strength comes not from being the best- which Ender was- but from the alliances, teamwork, friendship… and the losers” (83).These friends are the squadron leaders who help him in defeating the buggers. They were the people he trusted, the out castes, but they came together, and in that time they began to know and understand each other. Ender was able to use his friends to battle and be victorious in each of the simulations. Mazar showed them a replay of the most recent battle, and Ender realized that they resembled …show more content…
The Hunger Games” for Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, explains that in both The Hunger Games and in Ender’s Game, the wrong lesson is being taught to these children. They are made to believe that violence is the only way to solve their problems: “Adolescents need to understand that interpersonal conflict is normal, but addressing that conflict with violence is not the answer. When adolescents conclude that violence seems to be the only answer to interpersonal conflict and a way out of an unjust situation, in the end results in the destruction of the mind and the physical body” (431). We see this especially with Ender, even at a young age. In each of his battles he believes that violence is the only way to handle things. In his incident with both Stilson and Bonzo, Ender destroys them to the greatest ability. Ender throughout the novel is convinced that Peter was right in that violence is the only answer. Ender’s actions when he beats and eventually kills both Stilson and Bonzo lead to his overwhelming feeling of despair. Causing his mental blocks, but also physical handicaps of not being able to eat or sleep properly. It’s not until he learns that this way of thinking is wrong that he is able to lose his feeling of