Ender's torture will never end!
I love this book so very much I could not just pick one agenda item!
1) "'How I'm trying so very hard to do well at school, but you know it's driving me crazy becauase I can never talk to anybody intelligent, everybody always talks down to me because I'm young, I never get to converse with my peers'" (Ender's Game 129).
This line explains a major theme of this book. Ender and his siblings are lonely because they are so darn smart. Nobody can match their intellect which separates them from everyone else. At least Val and Peter have each other but poor Ender. Any time he gets close to anyone or anything, they move him and give him more challenges. Don't get me wrong, challenges are good but he's JUST A BOY! I've often thought about how much it must stink to be a super genius. Oh yes, it sounds so wonderful. You wouldn't have to study, you could correct your professors at the age of 11 and you'd get an amazing job with an amazing salary; but it is nice to feel like you belong. Ender doesn't, even amongst a bunch of other geniuses (or genui as I like to say). I believe it is his superior intellect that gives him these violent urges. Because of his intelligence, he can find the weaknesses of others and exploit them well. He does it several times and I don't doubt he'll do it several more times.
2) This second one is a question having to do with shifting perspectives:
"Dink Meeker had finally accepted command and succeeded Rose the Nose in Rat Army's command. All is going well, very well, I couldn't ask for better-
So Why do I hate my life?" (139).
So how do we get into Ender's head? Why does Card switch to first person? He is telling the story from a third person omniscient point of view and then he suddenly switches and then switches back...Is this a fluke? We know Ender is miserable because he's lonely, partially because of his superior intellect. What does everyone else think about this shift?
Ender's teachers made his obautoment more severe because he did not want to be responsible for the death of a whole race.
(obautoment=self hatred)
I agree with you, I love this book, and finding one agenda item is a hard task.
1) I love this point you make, like Ender could be anything he would want because he's so smart, but everytime he finally fits in somewhere he's moved around and has no chance at making a normal life...poor little guy.
2) I actually didn't even notice this while reading (I think I was just caught up in it all) but that's an interesting topic. Maybe it was used to REALLY see into Ender's head. Because sure we can tell that he's not happy, but not happy and HATING your life are two totally different things.