Valentine said, "Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you." After what has happened in Ender's life, what would he think of this statement?
Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
In Chapter 15 when Valentine says, “Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you" (Card 313). After what has happened in Enders life, he would think of this statement as very true and relatable. This statement is relatable for him because when Valentine says, “...nobody controls his own life” and “choose to fill the roles given to you by good people...” because after Ender chose to go to Battle School with Graff he didn’t really control his life from that point and forward. His life was basically being controlled by all of the school the commanders, the games, and the battles which is shown all throughout the book. Also when Valentine states, “...choose to fill the roles given to you by good people...” this might have reminded Ender of the time when Graff told him that he was accepted into the Battle School and gave him the chance to come with him to Battle School and start a whole new life and journey there. He had to trust Graff and what he was telling him, or else he might not have gone with him, taken the journey, and never had been the sweet, little Andrew Wiggin ever again.
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Troop 1
11/14/2014 02:35:19 am
After Valentine said, "Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you,” (Card 313) we think Ender would be annoyed. The reason being that Ender probably doesn’t know how to tell whether or not anyone is good after all that has happened in his life. An example of this statement is Bonzo. He is supposed to be a leader for others, considering he was a commander in Battle School, but he is not and he hurts Ender and tries to kill him. This shows how even when people are supposed to be good they may be horrible people.
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Troop 3
11/14/2014 02:38:57 am
Ender agrees with this statement because ever since he came to Battle School, the teachers have manipulated and used him to do things he has never wanted to do. He murdered a species, he believes he killed Bonzo, and he earned a bad reputation from all of the students in Battle School. He has filled a role that the teachers have wanted to fill. Ender never controlled what happened at Battle School, the teachers manipulated him and gave a role to fill, giving him no choice in life. Ender in the text says, “I’ve spent my life as someone’s pawn.” (Card 312). This shows that even Ender knows he has never lead his own life, he’s always been under the control of another.
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Troop 6
11/14/2014 02:39:30 am
Chapter 15
Valentine said, “‘Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you,’” (Card 313). When Ender hears what Valentine is saying to him, he is very cautious and tentative. He still does not trust Valentine because he barely knows her. Graff also made Valentine a complete stranger to him. He doesn’t trust anyone anymore because he has been alone his whole life because he was born a third. Everything that has happened to him causes him to be cautious with who he trusts. When he sees Valentine again, it’s been two years since they’ve last seen each other. The last time that they met, they were complete strangers to each other. In the text it says, “‘I know what you’re thinking, Ender. You’re thinking that I’m trying to control you just as much as Peter or Graff or any of the others.’ ‘It crossed my mind,”’ (Card 313). Ender responds to Valentine in this tone because he sees Valentine as a completely new person and he doesn’t know who he can trust anymore. He knows that he can’t go back to Earth, but he doesn’t know what he is going to do the rest of his life. He thinks that the statement made by Valentine isn’t true and that no one, even his sister can be trusted.
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Troop 5
11/14/2014 02:39:49 am
After everything he’s been through, Ender would think that no one truly loves him anymore. In the beginning of the book Ender was forced to go to Battle School when Graff convinced him that no one would remember him at home. In the text it states, “Now i want a chance to know the brother I love before it’s too late. Before we’re not children anymore” (Card 313). This shows how Ender never had the time to truly know the people who loved him. Ender had to fill the role of being the best commander, but in return he never got to be with the people he love.
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MU
11/14/2014 04:16:15 am
In this chapter, Valentine says, “Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you” (Card 313). Ender might think that it was always a good thing to go to battle school, because that’s what was expected of him ever since he was born. This was basically a role given to him since the government let his family keep him, so he could be the perfect child for battle school. Although Ender does not think so, his family loves him and was counting on him to go to battle school since he was a third.
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Troop 2
11/14/2014 07:51:14 am
Valentine said, "Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you" (Card 313). Ender would probably not agree with this statement. For Ender’s whole life, he has been forced to fill the roles given to him by others. The whole reason he was born was because the government wanted him. After that, he was forced to go to Battle School, play the game, go to Command School, and kill the buggers, even though this is not what Ender wanted for himself. Ender never got to be his own person or choose the way he wanted to live his own life. Also, at this point, Ender has no idea which people care about him and which don’t. For example, Ender thought he could trust Graff, but Graff ends up tricking him just like everyone else. In the text Valentine says, “‘I know what you’re thinking, Ender. You’re thinking that I’m trying to control you just as much as Peter or Graff or any of the others.’ Ender said, ‘It crossed my mind’” (Card 313). This shows that Ender wants to be able to make his own decisions instead of being controlled by other people.
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Troop 9
11/14/2014 09:59:07 am
We think Ender would probably be every upset. He never got a choice in what he did. Valentine said, "Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you." Ender was probably angry too. The people who were at Battle and Command School did not love or care for him. The only person who had some regard for Enders feelings was Dap. And when he filed a report that said what they were doing was wrong. Graff and The Battle School ignored it. Valentine said, “...The best you can do if choose to fill the roles given to you…”(Card 313). What this means is Ender did his best to fill up what was expected from him. Even though he did not know what he did, killing all the Buggers, Ender still succeeded at his task. Overall we think that Ender would be upset that his whole life was wasted on a fight that he did not want to fight. But he did fill the roles that was given to him. Even though it may not have been given to him by people who loved and respected him, but he still filled his role. In conclusion we think Ender would react in a negative way to Valentines statement.
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KR
11/16/2014 10:02:30 am
I believe that Ender would feel that this quote is most certainly true. Ender wasn’t able to control what he did, and who he became. But he was able to become what everyone wanted him to be.This process was like molding, and he was the clay getting put in the mold. And the mold was everyone he knew and loved. They had an idea for what he should be. Everyone who knew and loved him, Valentine, Peter (to some extent), his parents, Graff, Mazer, and all of his friends, helped him become who he is. But in some ways, he wasn’t happy with how ended up becoming. In the beginning, he seemed fill the role that Valentine, Peter, and his parents were setting out for him. Their idea of what Ender should be is somebody who doesn’t always have to exceed, to be a “third”, and that he doesn’t have be more successful than anyone else. “‘Whatever you think, I mean it. they only authorized you because I was so promising. But I didn’t pan out. You did better. They think you’re better. But I don’t want a better little brother, Ender. I don’t want a Third’” (Card 42). This shows that Peter was trying to have Ender fit in the role of an insignificant, unpromising, unsuccessful, little brother. And that was the path that Ender started following. Until Colonel Graff and all of his friends when he went to Battle School came along. When Ender was in Battle School and Command School, his teachers and friends that he made wanted him to fit in a perfect, bugger killing machine. The text stated “‘He’s such a very litte boy.” “There’s greatness in him. A magnitude of spirit.” “A killer instinct, too, I hope’” (Card 296). This conversation between Graff and the anonymous teacher showed that they wanted him to be a commander. A good commander, with instincts of killing rather than feeling/thinking. They molded him into a commander and a killing commander of an innocent species. They were the ones who molded his figure. And Ender had barely or any control over him becoming what they wanted him to be. Overall, I feel that Ender felt that this quote best suited him and that everyone around him and everyone he knew and loved made him into what they pictured him being. He had no control over who he became, so he just went with the flow and became what his family wanted him to be, or what the IF wanted him to be.
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Troop 2
11/16/2014 10:46:47 pm
Valentine said, "Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you" (Card 313). Ender would probably not agree with this statement. For Ender’s whole life, he has been forced to fill the roles given to him by others. The whole reason he was born was because the government wanted him. After that, he was forced to go to Battle School, play the game, go to Command School, and kill the buggers, even though this is not what Ender wanted for himself. Ender never got to be his own person or choose the way he wanted to live his own life. Also, at this point, Ender has no idea which people care about him and which don’t. For example, Ender thought he could trust Graff, but Graff ends up tricking him just like everyone else. In the text Valentine says, “‘I know what you’re thinking, Ender. You’re thinking that I’m trying to control you just as much as Peter or Graff or any of the others.’ Ender said, ‘It crossed my mind’” (Card 313). This shows that Ender wants to be able to make his own decisions instead of being controlled by other people.
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Troop 8
11/16/2014 10:51:55 pm
We thought Ender would know Valentine is telling the truth when she says this, because since the beginning Ender was being monitored and taught a certain way to act. He was told what he needed to do to be accepted into battle school and fulfill what the government wanted. Once in Battle School, he was manipulated and isolated, “Graff had deliberately set him up to be separate from the other boys, made it impossible for him to get close to them,” (Card 167). He was left to figure out how to succeed on his own and why he needed to be training so hard. Many people, such as Bonzo, tried to put him down and make him feel less superior to them because of his size and skill sets. They made him feel bad that he wasn’t taught simple battle skills, he was told what to do in battle, to just sit back. Ender needed to learn to fill the roles of the people that actually mattered in his life, other than the leaders who put him down. He filled the role he was given from the time he was born as a third. Although he knows she’s telling the truth, he is disappointed, for his role is finished and he is confused on what to do.
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Troop 7
11/16/2014 10:53:48 pm
Ender might think this statement means that he isn’t going to get control over his life again. Nobody in the world has control over their life anymore. All you can do now is to find a space to fill in. You have to find a spot by people you love and are kind to you. Ender has been kind of controlled his whole life by Peter or the government, and both of those didn’t care for yet he still had to fill their roles. Now that Ender isn’t controlled by them since the battle of the buggers is over he isn’t controlled by anyone, and that now he isn’t controlled he can choose who to go with and do what he wants with someone he loves. The text states, “It’s already too late for that,” said Ender (Card313). This shows how Ender doesn’t care much since he’s been through so much, but in the end he will start to think this statement as an opening point. Ender doesn’t know what to do now that he can control his own life. The text states, “ ‘Ender, you wouldn’t be happy spending the rest of your life as Peter’s pawn.’ ‘Why not? I’ve spent my life as someone else’s pawn,’ ” (Card 312). This shows how Ender was already under rule of someone and that he will be questionable about what Valentine says. He had already been controlled for so long in his life, so what difference would it make now if he were to be controlled again, but by someone else.
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LC
11/17/2014 08:40:31 am
After Valentine said this, I believe that Ender would be irritated and maybe even somewhat angry. Ender is a good person and is often angry with Graff and the people who forced him to become what he is now. After all, he did choose to take care of the cocoon that held the queen, and kiss the snake in the game, and even fight Bonzo. All of these things changed his life, and no one forced Ender do do these things. In the text, Ender thinks to the Bugger queen in the cocoon, “If you could make them feel as you make me feel, then perhaps they could forgive you” (Card 320). This tells me that Ender is making the choice between destroying the egg and keeping it alive, and giving the Buggers another chance. Ender can choose what he does in his life.
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N.K.
11/29/2014 04:40:14 am
When Valentine told Ender, “Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you." One would conclude of Ender’s feelings of this statement to be understanding but angry at the same. He would be realizing that he has been controlled by those who don’t even love him for most of his life and just used for such a terrible cause. Most of the teachers did not care for Ender, they just cared for what he did. And even before Battle School, he was controlled by Peter, who never truly cared for him. He was just there to be used by them for their own uses. His very own existence is because the government authorized it. Hence, Ender being a “Third”. He attended Battle School, graduated, proceeded to Commander School, and killed the buggers. These were all of the roles given to him by the people who didn’t love him, and some he did unwillingly. But, when Valentine asks him to come with her to the buggers planet, Ender realizes now it is time to choose to fill the roles given to him by the one person who truly loves him - Valentine. “‘ … I came because I’ve spent my whole life in the company of the brother that I hated. Now I want a chance to know the brother that I love … ‘“ (Card 313) From this I believe he feels that it is the right thing and the thing that he has deserved, to spend time with those he loves. Now he can somewhat control his life by choosing to be with Valentine.