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60 pages 2 hours read

Xenocide

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1991

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Character Analysis

Ender Wiggin

Ender, or Andrew Wiggin, is the protagonist and the namesake of the Ender’s Game saga. His primary traits are altruism and responsibility, and his main character flaw is his lack of introspection. His altruism and sense of responsibility drive him to look outward at others and to help however he can, but by focusing outward, Ender is unable to understand himself or to see his own mistakes clearly. For example, he is not aware that his intellectually intimate relationship with Jane is the main cause of Novinha’s anxiety and resentment. He prioritizes Jane over his wife, speaking to her subvocally while in bed, while with his wife, or while conversing with others. He assumes that no one notices, but Novinha does, and it slowly degrades her trust in him. Ender’s weak sense of self is also demonstrated in his unwitting creation of Peter and young Val, who are essentially ghosts of his tumultuous past. Given the intensity with which he is haunted by the memory of his siblings as children, it is clear that he does not see himself as an independent entity. Rather, he views himself as an amalgamation of his older siblings’ best and worst traits.

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