There is a real battle, internally and unspoken, between Peter and Valentine. Who is manipulating whom? Who really has the power? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. Include page numbers.
“He’s manipulating me, she thought, when he took his hands away...” (Card 132). These lines from the book shows how Peter is manipulating Valentine by pretending to be sweet and not like a horrible person. He does this even though he knows that Val thinks he is a monster. We can clearly tell that Peter is manipulating Valentine. He has dragged her into his little scheme. “You saved your weakness so you could use it to move me now” (Card 132). However, this line shows how Val is manipulating Peter by making him think that he has power over her. “She nodded. You are only pretending to share power with me, she thought, but in fact I have power over you, even though you don’t know it” (Card 133). This line shows that even though Peter believes that he has power over Valentine, she in fact has it over him.
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L.L.
11/6/2014 11:00:29 pm
I think Valentine is manipulating Peter, because the text states, “Valentine could persuade other people to her point of view- she could convince them that they wanted what she wanted them to want. Peter, on the other hand could only make them fear what he wanted them to fear,” (Card 127). Peter can only force her by physical strength, but Valentine could attack him mentally.I think she has more power over him; Valentine realizes that Peter is physically stronger, yet she still knows she has the upper hand in the real battle.
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Troop 8
11/6/2014 11:01:14 pm
Peter is manipulating Valentine. In the text it states, “Suddenly, Peter wept into his hands. Val assumed that he was pretending, but then she wondered” (Card 132). Peter is trying to manipulate Valentine by making her feel bad for him and forgive him. “I will. I’ll help you” (Card 133). Although Valentine thinks Peter is trying to trick her into helping him gain their father’s citizen’s access, she still agrees to help him. Their relationship, at this point is that they have some sliver of sympathy for each other, and despite their differences and threats toward each other, Valentine still cares for her brother. Though, in this case, Peter is the one who has the power, because Valentine is falling for his manipulation.
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Troop 6
11/6/2014 11:01:44 pm
Chapter 9
In this chapter, there is a real battle, internally and unspoken, between Peter and Valentine. In this battle, Peter has the power and manipulates Valentine. The text states, “‘I’m going to rule, Val, I’m going to have control of something. But I want it to be something worth ruling. I want to accomplish something worthwhile,” (Card 131). This quote shows that Peter is going to have a lot of power no matter what happens, and compared to Val, he will always have more power. Even in the moment, he has power and is in control. He has the power because he is older and is able to persuade people into listening and believing what he says. A quote from the text shows that Peter can persuade people, it says, “She knew Peter was calculating even now, but she believed that under the calculations he was telling the truth,” (Card 132). Another quote that can show Peter has power over Valentine is, “She couldn’t go off and use Demosthenes for her own purposes, she wouldn’t know how to use him. She knew it worked both ways though, Peter can’t write Locke without Valentine, or could he?” (Card 136). This shows that even though Val is writing the column, Peter manipulates her so that she can’t write it without him, but he can write it without her being there.
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Troop 5
11/6/2014 11:03:00 pm
We believe that Peter is really manipulating Valentine and that he has the real power. In the text it states, “ It's the most important thing to me, it's my greatest gift, I can see where the weak points are, I can see how to get in and use them, I just see those things without even trying. I could become a businessman and run some big corporation, I'd scramble and maneuver until I was at the top of everything and what would I have? Nothing. I'm going to rule, Val, I'm going to have control of something” (Card 131). This shows that even though Valentine is good at manipulating people, Peter can use other’s weak points to control her. Peter is giving Valentine the illusion that she is in control, while in reality he is in control. Also, the text states, “But even as she resisted, she wanted him to persuade her. She wanted him to persuade her from the beginning” (Card 131). This tells us that Valentine was already going to join Peter no matter what.
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Troop 2
11/6/2014 11:03:20 pm
In Peter and Valentine’s internal and unspoken battle, we think that Peter is manipulating Valentine because it seems really unlike him that he would want to save the world and be kind to others. Peter really has the power over Valentine because he can trick others into doing what he wants. He was pretending to be nice to convince Valentine to help him, but it was probably a trap. In the text it stated, “‘Val,’ Peter said, ‘I know what you think of me. I’m not a nice person, you think.’... Why was he pretending to be weak?... Did he actually think she could be fooled by his nice-and-humbled-kid act?” (Card 130). Peter probably has something else in mind besides saving the world.
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TM
11/6/2014 11:03:49 pm
I think that Valentine is manipulating Peter because in the story it states, “A few years ago, Valentine would have been terrified at Peter’s threats. Now, though, she was not so afraid. Not that she doubted he was capable of killing her” (Card 125). Valentine si no longer afraid of Peter and no longer scared of what he could do to her even though she knows that he is able to kill her. Peter says that he doesn’t want to kill Valentine because he believes that Valentine is going to help him. I think that Valentine really has the power between the two of them.
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Troop 3
11/6/2014 11:07:02 pm
Peter is manipulating Valentine when he is persuading her to conquer the world with him. Valentine knows she is more intelligent than Peter, but Peter still believes that he is both stronger and smarter. “You dream of power, Peter, but in my own way I am more powerful than you” (Card 128). This shows that Valentine really has more power than Peter thinks, and that in the end Valentine is overall the smartest.
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Troop 7
11/6/2014 11:10:16 pm
Peter and Valentine are in a battle between thoughts, Peter thinks he’s manipulating Valentine accept Valentine knows his persuasion methods. In the text it states, “Peter, on the other hand, could only make them fear what he wanted them to fear. When he first pointed this out to Val, she resented it,” (Card 127). This shows that Valentine knows Peters ways and cannot or won’t be manipulated by him when he wants her to work with him about the government. The text states,” I loved you both, I just had to be-- had to have control, do you understand that?” (Card 131). This shows that Peter is the one usually who likes to have power and be the one who can manipulating. The person who really has the power in this fight, is Valentine. The text states, “She nodded. You are only pretending to share power with me, she thought, but in fact I have power over you, even though you don’t know it, ‘I will. I’ll help you’ ” (Card 133). This text is explaining how Valentine really does have power, but not is a physical form, like Peter. He may have manipulated her but she still has the power.
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Troop 9
11/6/2014 11:10:48 pm
There is an internal and unspoken battle between the two siblings, Peter and Valentine. Both of the siblings hold a power over the other, but we think that Peter holds more power over Valentine. Peter is the person who is manipulating Valentine, and is taking initiative or having the real power. “She had never seen him show such weakness. You're so clever, Peter. You saved your weakness so you can use it to move me now. And yet it did move her” (Card 132). This shows that Peter is able to use his emotions and project his hidden love for his siblings. Valentine is persuaded to help Peter in his goal to influence the public about the Warsaw Pact. “She knew that Peter was calculating even now, but she believed under the calculations he was telling the truth. It had been hidden layers deep, but he had probed her until he found her trust” (Card 132). This is showing that Peter persuades Valentine, and that she wants to trust him. Peter is feeding off of this trust, even though he really does have feelings for Valentine Peter just wants what is best for himself. All he really wants is to have complete control over her. In conclusion we think that Peter has more power or is manipulating his sister Valentine.
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Troop 4
11/6/2014 11:14:38 pm
In this chapter Peter is manipulating Valentine. Peter is manipulating Valentine by telling her that he regrets treating Ender the way he use to. In the text it says, “He’s manipulating me she thought, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t sincere” (Card 102). This shows that Valentine knows that her brother is manipulating her, but she still accepts what Peter wants to do with her. I think Valentine has more power than Peter because Valentine has mental strength versus Peter’s physical strength, and in the long run, physical strength will wear out and mental will win, therefore I think Valentine has more power than Peter.
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JC
11/13/2014 08:55:23 am
In the internal and unspoken battle between Peter and Valentine it is clear that Peter is the one who is manipulating Ender. Peter has all the power and he is manipulating Valentine into changing who she really is just so he could feel powerful again. Even though it seems like Peter is starting to have a nice relationship with Valentine, it is really just one big plan to help himself, not Valentine. In the text it stated, “It was possible, wasn’t it, that he loved her, and that in this time of terrifying opportunity he was willing to weaken himself before her in order to win her love. He’s manipulating me, she thought, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t sincere” (Card 132). This shows that through Peter’s manipulating ways he felt something for Valentine, but it didn’t mean that he would stop trying to control her.
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N.K.
11/19/2014 11:22:52 pm
Peter is manipulating Valentine. “You’re so clever, Peter. You saved your weakness so you could use it to move me now. And yet it did move her.” (Card 132) This shows how Peter displayed his “weakness” to lure Valentine into his plan. I believe Peter is the one who really has power in this situation. “Her main identity on the nets was Demosthenes - Peter chose the name.” (Card 134) “She couldn’t explain what it was like to think of her little brother, who was so good, whom she had protected for so long, and then remember that now she was Peter’s ally, Peter’s helper, Peter’s slave in a scheme that was completely out of her control. Ender never surrendered to Peter, but I have turned, I’ve become a part of him, as Ender never was.” (Card 146 - 147) This proves that Peter clearly had more power over Valentine, and she refers to herself as his obsequious collaborator.