In Orson Scott Card's novel Ender's Game, the reader is taken into a fascinating futuristic world in which the human race is in danger. Having twice survived alien attack, the human race, fearing a more powerful invasion, develop a program to breed and train a warrior who will lead them to a final victory. The young boy chosen to do just that is six year old Andrew Wiggin also known as Ender. According to the government, Ender exhibits the traits needed to assure that victory. At six years old he enters battle school and begins preparation for the bugger war. While in battle school Ender excels in simulation games of battles and is quickly promoted to higher levels in his training. However, being the best of the best at this school doesn't make it easy on Ender. He has to learn to overcome his fears and realize that the world depends on him to save the human race from extinction. Orson Scott Card takes the reader into a future where a young child, property of the government, endures a lonely, isolated existence as he plays endless hours of games designed to prove his ability to lead and win. Throughout the novel, the theme of courage and betrayal are eminent in Ender's life. These two themes combined make Ender the independent, courageous and untrusting person he becomes, until he finds a purpose in life.

Courage was constantly shown through the character of Ender Wiggin. Since the time he left his family, Ender demonstrated a great amount of courage in dealing with the fact that he was away from his parents and sister Valentine. At only six years old, Ender Wiggin was taken from his family to battle school in an attempt to train him to destroy the buggers. Thousands of miles away from home, Ender had to build up courage and demonstrate that he was stronger than he possibly thought he was. He did this by showing everyone that he was nothomesick. Despite his insecurities and loneliness, Ender becomes a commander in the battle that successfully leads his team to victory in destroying the alien species.

"I knocked him out standing up. It was like he was dead, standing there. And I kept hurting him"(222). These are the frantic words of Ender Wiggin as he talks to his friend Bean about his fight with Bonzo. Being the youngest one in battle school was not always easy. Ender had to put up with a lot of ridicule and harassment from the other children. Bonzo in particular, was constantly bothering Ender. After his continuous ridicule and mistreatment, Ender had the courage to stand up to Bonzo and defend himself. Tired of the constant audacity and harm, when confronted by Bonzo and a group of other children in the bathroom, Ender does not hold back. He stood up to the gang and defended himself before they could kill him. His determination and courage enabled him to get out of the dispute with hardly any cuts. This was not the only time Ender had to use courage to defend himself. He also demonstrates this when he defends himself from an older child, Stilson who continuously harassed him. When confronted by him, Ender does not hold back and repeatedly hits him until someone separates them. It is clear that when needed, Ender always found the courage to get himself out of confrontational situations and when worse came to worse, he used that courage effectively and defended himself.

At six years old the relationship one holds with adults can be quite intimidating. This was not the case for Ender. He did not have a great relationship with adults, but he was not intimidated by their presence. On the contrary, Ender brought it upon himself to question anything he felt was not right. This can be seen through his relationship with Colonel Graff and Mazer Rackham. When the other children at the battle school lacked the courage to question the colonel on his orders or to ask him about their purpose in battle school, Ender did have the courage to ask those questions. His relationship with Colonel Graff can sometimes be viewed as confrontational. Ender's eagerness and intelligence pushed him to constantly ask the Colonel questions and when something did not seem right, Ender made sure to confront him on the topic. Unlike the other children, he was not intimidated by the colonel.

Mazer Rackham, the famous individual who had led the human race to victory from an alien invasion the first time, would be Ender's teacher at Command School. When first confronted with Mazer, both individuals get into a dispute. "He was lying flat on his back, spinning on the floor, and during the moment that his teacher was off balance from his kick, Ender's feet smashed into the old man's other leg" (263). Despite the fact that he was an older and more experienced individual, Ender had the courage to stand up for himself and show Mazer that he knew how to defend himself from the enemy.

Ender's final examination in Command School required the most courage. "The enemy outnumbered him a thousand to one; the simulator glowed green with them. They were grouped in a dozen different formations, shifting positions, changing shapes..." (292). His final battle in Command School was the most dangerous and difficult encounter he had to face. Without knowing it, Ender was actually fighting the buggers. What seemed to be his last exam, was actually the last encounter between the two races. Using his intelligence and outstanding leadership skills as the commander of the battle, Ender destroyed the bugger's planet and race. Despite the pressure he felt, the intimidation, and the fear, Ender Wiggin put all of his emotions aside and put courage in its place. With that courage, he was able to favorably defeat the alien species leading the human race to victory.

Ender's childhood was not ordinary, after all how many children are responsible for saving the entire human species from an alien invasion? In order for Ender to successfully save the planet he had to have a lot of courage to surpass all of the trials and tribulations he faced throughout his years in battle and command school. Due to his age, many of the older students envied him and gave him a difficult time. His intelligence and strong focus, eventually led to his enemies defeat and to his success. Being away from home was not as easy for Ender as he had initially thought it would be. Particularly being away from his sister Valentine. Valentine was Ender's special friend and being away from her was very difficult for him. It was not until he adapted himself to being away from her, that he was able to deal with the pain of not seeing her. Ender's life was filled with many challenges and loneliness. Betrayal was another challenge in life that Ender Wiggin had to overcome.

It was never easy for Ender to trust other people. His precautions and fear of being lonely and betrayed, always impeded him from coming to close to anyone. After his separation from Valentine, Ender found it extremely difficult for him to trust people. We can see this with his relationship with Petra and Bean at the beginning of the novel. His bad experiences with people prevented him from coming too close to them. He had experienced betrayal from those he trusted and loved, thus it was even more difficult to open up to those individuals that cared about him and that surrounded him.

The theme of betrayal arises when we look at the relationship Ender had with his sister, Valentine. As discussed above, Ender and Valentine shared a special bond that no one could understand. Valentine was Ender's protector from their older brother, Peter. After Ender left to battle school, Valentine had a hard time adjusting to the fact that Ender was no longer around and that she would probably never seem him again. She began to spend time with Peter and before she knew it, both children were writing articles for society pretending they were adults. When Ender met with Valentine after four years, his relationship with her felt awkward. "She had shared so much with Peter these last few years that even when she thought she despised him, she understood him" (236). Ender could not help but feel betrayed by Valentine due to the relationship she now had with Peter. After spending so much time with him, her perception of him had changed. After all, the only reason they were meeting was because Colonel Graff wanted Valentine to convince Ender to attend Command School. Ender was well aware of the fact that Valentine was being used by the adults to convince him to defeat the buggers. After the meeting with Valentine, it was evident that Valentine had changed and that she now enjoyed spending time with Peter. Both individuals were planning to take over the world once the bugger war finished. Valentine no longer felt threatened by Peter and her relationship with Ender seemed a little distant.

Ender felt betrayed when he realized that he had been lied to by the Colonel and Mazer. While Ender believed he was playing another simulation of wars, he was actually destroying the entire alien population. At the end of the final simulation everyone approached Ender to congratulate him on his victory. When Ender finally realized that he had been lied to and thus he had defeated the entire alien population, he became extremely upset. "I didn't want to kill them all. I didn't want to kill anybody! You didn't want me you bastards, you wanted Peter, but you made me do it, you tricked me into it!" (298). Mazer and Colonel Graff had to trick Ender into making him believe he was participating in simulations because he would have never had the empathy to kill the bugger's race. The anger and sense of betrayal Ender felt when he realized that he had been used to win the war caused him to enter a deep depression. This incident made him lose his sense of trust in all the adults that surrounded him. The remorse he felt knowing he had destroyed an entire race, permanently damaged him.

Ender is a passionate child who lacks the love and nurture of his family and loved ones. He lacks the human interaction that is needed to become a well rounded individual. Ender has a difficult time dealing with different emotions once he becomes a hero. The lack of affection, his courage, and the betrayal he experiences forces him to find a purpose in his life. His transformations of character from hero to Governor of the colony lead him to become the Speaker of the Dead. All three of these jobs, could not have been done without the courage Ender Wiggin possessed.

When Ender became the Speaker of the Dead, he felt he had found a purpose in his life. He finds this purpose by recalling the events that led to the destruction of the alien race, simulations, and memoirs. He became the speaker for the alien population and he was entrusted the cocoon. In the cocoon, he held the future of the entire alien species. His courage enabled him to speak on behalf of the dead and to point out the flaws of the human race. He also covered the possibilities of how to change things in the future and avoid another catastrophe. "Ender carried with him a dry white cocoon, looking for the world where the hive-queen could awaken and thrive in peace" (324).

Orson Scott Card takes the reader through an intriguing journey of betrayal and courage. Through Ender Wiggin we are able to capture the different emotions and problems that lead a society to destruction. The character of Ender portrays the destruction of an individual when a person's life lacks love and nurture. Despite the fact that Ender Wiggin possessed an immense amount of courage and that he became a hero when he saved the human species from an alien invasion, his life was unhappy and incomplete until he found a purpose in his life. That purpose was to hold and protect the future of the alien species in his hands.