Because man will always be tools.
"'No. Of course not. So I'll put it bluntly. Human beings are free except when humanity needs them. Maybe humanity needs you. To do something. Maybe humanity needs me - to find out what you're good for. We might both do despicable things, Ender, but if humankind survives, then we were good tools.'
'Is that all? Just tools?'
'Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive.'
'That's a lie.'
'No. It's just a half truth. You can worry about the other half after we win this war.'"
(Ender's Game p. 35)
I keep forgetting that Ender is a six-year-old child. He might as well be 26. This is such a deep and serious conversation to have with a kid. It makes you think about how serious life must be in the setting of this book.
I like this conversation because it foreshadows a lot. "We might both do despicable things" sounds to me a lot like foreshadowing. It makes me wonder what sort of dilemma Ender and Graff might get into. It also enforces the motif that Ender is a tool to be used by these people - whoever they are - that talk at the beginning of each chapter. I think that's an effective tool in itself to establish this whole "tool" or "puppet" idea.
It's a very interesting read so far.
'Is that all? Just tools?'
'Individual human beings are all tools, that the others use to help us all survive.'
'That's a lie.'
'No. It's just a half truth. You can worry about the other half after we win this war.'"
(Ender's Game p. 35)
I keep forgetting that Ender is a six-year-old child. He might as well be 26. This is such a deep and serious conversation to have with a kid. It makes you think about how serious life must be in the setting of this book.
I like this conversation because it foreshadows a lot. "We might both do despicable things" sounds to me a lot like foreshadowing. It makes me wonder what sort of dilemma Ender and Graff might get into. It also enforces the motif that Ender is a tool to be used by these people - whoever they are - that talk at the beginning of each chapter. I think that's an effective tool in itself to establish this whole "tool" or "puppet" idea.
It's a very interesting read so far.
Graff may say he's a tool, but is he the one who's going to go out and fight these buggers? Hell no. From the looks of it, he's gonna sit on his cute little battleship and twiddle his fingers while he sends brainwashed children out on suicide missions just so he can live (and be able to sit and twiddle his fingers). This sounds like a good case for a child labor law agency. We need to get some lawyer out on this guy.
Ender is completely a tool. The entire reason for his conception was so that he could hopefully be a great leader that would help save civilization from the Buggers. And I still can't believe that he's a six year old child, but I think you see it during his first night at the academy when he (and basically everyone else) is crying for their parents.