Anti-Authoritarian

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"Even as he cried from the pain, Ender could not help but take vengeful pleasure in the murmurs he heard rising through the barracks. You fool, Bonzo. You aren't enforcing discipline, you're destroying it. They know I turned defeat into a draw. And now they see how you repay me. You made yourself look stupid in front of everyone. What is your discipline worth now?"
(Ender's Game p.95)

Sometimes, authority is completely wrong. Sometimes those in authority think that what they do is right and they're actually completely wrong, and they deserve to be disobeyed. I think it's safe to say that we've all dealt with such an experience, or at least we all will. The Ender-Bonzo conflict was a great example of this. I'm glad that Ender finally disobeyed Bonzo and proved his strategy wrong (although it was completely expected for Ender to be the hero). I'm interested in seeing how this will effect Bonzo's leadership in future games. I'm also interested in seeing Ender battle against Bonzo, because he noted the inefficiencies of Bonzo's battle strategies. He'll probably annihilate the Salamanders next time around.

And Bonzo will be dejected (How do you like that use of one of our vocab words?).

3 Comments

Greta Carroll said:

It is interesting to see how authority is viewed in this book. Not only does Ender see Bonzo’s ineffectiveness, but he also questions the authority of the adults and teachers. He sees them as the enemy, who cause all his problems (which they do). And interestingly, the adults in many ways don’t think they are right, they realize what they are doing is unethical, but they do it anyway. They believe that the end justifies the means. Maybe Bonzo though that his wish to trade Ender away justified his actions too. Peter could be right about these buggers after all, maybe they never will come, and the adults are just messing up children. It presents some very interesting questions about authority—somebody needs to be in charge and no one can ever be 100% sure their actions are correct, so where does that leave us? Being a leader really is a risk.

Greta Carroll said:

Sorry, Jessie, I left this on the wrong entry, you can disregard my earlier comment.

Greta Carroll said:

Ok, ignore the comment I just left, my comment left on April 20 is meant to be there.

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