Quotations

“Ender grabbed Mazer’s uniform and hung onto it, pulling him down so they were face to face. “I didn’t want to kill them all. I didn’t want to kill anybody! I'm not a killer! You didn’t want me, you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it!” He was crying. He was out of control.”

“Of course we tricked you into it. That’s the whole point,” said Graff. “It had to be a trick or you couldn’t have done it. It’s the bind we were in. We had to have a commander with so much empathy that he would think like a perfect machine, as perfect as the buggers…(297-98)”

This quote is when Ender is in Commander School and he was tricked into thinking he was playing a game and he was actually playing the real think. I chose this quote because it was a major point in the story to show how good of a commander he is. It also shows how Ender doesn't want to kill because like he said earlier in the novel that when he researches about the buggers, he learns so much and then he starts to pretty much love them because of the knowledge he has for them.

“As he lifted the fork to his mouth, he could feel his family around him, as they always had been. He knew just which way to turn his head to look up and see mother trying to get Valentine not to slurp…It was a mistake to think of them. He felt a sob rise in his throat and swallowed it down; he could not see his plate…He could not cry (43).”

This quote is when he is in the cafeteria and he is eating when he thinks of how they used to sit at the table while eating dinner or other meals. The quote shows how Ender is very homesick and wishes that he could see his family and especially Valentine who he loves. It also shows how that he cannot show emotion otherwise the other boys could see his weakness. Ender truly does miss his family and he cries to prove it later in the book.

“I suppose that’s what I'm here for. To suck you back in.” Valentine Said.

“I didn’t want to see you.”

“They told me.”

“I was afraid that I’d still love you.”

“I hoped that you would.”

“My fear, your wish— both granted.”

This conversation is between Ender and Valentine and how they still love each other after not seeing each other for over four years. Ender didn’t want to see Valentine because then when he went off to commander school he would be homesick again and he would not be able to concentrate. I think it is important because it shows that after all this time they still love each other as brother and sister even though they have been separated for such a long period of time.