Zerg Rushing

Well, I'll put in my opinion on the child soldiers thing now. Anna's statement that she doesn't understand people willing to send their children to war, when there's a good chance they could die, is something I agree with in msot cases. However, the world that Ender lives in is very different than ours, in that the entire world has been attacked by buggers before and lives in fear now. Therefore, the parents may feel agreeable to sending their children out if there actually is a deadly threat, feeling that it is their duty.

Second, the discussion we had about the use of bugs so often interested me the most. The fact that some in our class were unable to justify the attack on the buggers puzzled me. Basic human instinct should be to protect yourself and those close to you and the unprovoked attack of the buggers is enough to justify anything. The fact that I know from the next book that the buggers were not planning to come back is unfortunate, but the humans still had the benefit of the doubt in that area. In general, the people who were blaming the humans were the same ones who were blaming Ender for the deaths he caused; in the book overall, Ender represents the human race, in that he will destroy any threats to him or his family, but he does not enjoy it and want to do it. Let me just extend this metaphor twice more and say that Valentine is the loving side of humanity, and that Peter is its need for power, and that Ender is its instinct for survival.