I'm have just finished Ender's Game and the end was really mind blowing. What happen was that Ender was sent to command school to learn how to be a commander. At command school there is this simulator so that you can practice commanding a fleet. You have to command many different squadron leaders too. Ender learns how to master this simulation and be a good commander from Mazer Rackman. He is the person who won the war for earth in the second invasion. What Ender finds out at the end is that all those simulations were real battles and the last one he had killed their queen and destroyed their home. Basically the adults manipulated him. Ender's Coming of age experience was not easy but he made it.
In Ender's coming of age experience he had to face a lot of realizations. What I mean by that is that at the beginning of the book, I thought that Ender was a little weak six year old who was helpless but I was wrong. He has a killer instinct, a killer side, and a Peter side. No matter how much he doesn't want to be like his evil brother because his brother is a killer. But in many ways he is just like his brother. For example how he enjoyed killing in that game he played. He killed millions of buggers too. Making a transition from child to adult so quickly can do things to you.
Also in this book there is a lot of manipulation that goes on. The source of that manipulation is the adults. The adults were manipulating Ender. For example when they didn't tell him that he was killing real buggers when Ender thought it was a simulation. Also how they didn't let him form any attachments to people besides a few but they made sure that the people he did make attachments to were with him at the end. Other then that they isolated him. Especially at command school.
There is this quote in Ender's Game, "Real, not a Game." This quote relates to the book and the real world. It relates to the book because Ender was under the impression that all those simulations were just a game but they were the real thing. It is actually very interesting because when I see parents with their kids, they always say to their kids, "This isn't a game, stop messing around." It is the same here except they want Ender to think it is a game. That is how this quote relates to the real world.
