The Monster in Ender's Game

Introduction

In Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card, Ender’s older brother Peter is portrayed as a malicious, murderous, and manipulative individual. However, by the end of the book, Peter turns out to be a peacemaker and in the world’s eyes, a hero. Despite his human flaws and hunger for power and control, Peter seems capable of love and truly seeks to bring about the greater good. How are we, as readers, to interpret these conflicting interpretations of Peter? Is he a true hero, or is he just fooling the world? Is he the main antagonist? Is he a monster?

Peter Wiggins: First Impression

At a glance, Peter appears to be nothing but a violent, malicious and murderous young boy. The reader is first introduced to Peter when he threatens to kill Ender and Valentine (12-13). The narrator comments, “Peter [is] a murderer at heart, and nobody knew it but Valentine and Ender” (14). Throughout the book, Peter is continually associated with murder, brutality, and cruelty. Whenever Ender hurts or kills someone, he tells himself, “I am not Peter. I don’t have murder in my heart” (118). Valentine also comments on Peter’s cruel, murderous side when she sees a squirrel, “half-skinned, spiked by its little hands and feet with twigs” (123). Valentine remarks that “Peter has always been a husbandman of pain, planting it, nurturing it, devouring it greedily when it was ripe” (124). Valentine even compares Peter to Adolf Hitler and wonders “what [Hitler] was like at the age of twelve. Not this smart, …but craving honor” (130). Peter desires honour and power and these desires fuel his manipulative spirit. Peter tells his younger siblings, “I can make you guys believe anything. I can make you dance around like puppets” (14). Peter Wiggin does not give a good first impression to readers, as he appears to be a murderous monster; however, his cruel pretence only masks a genuine desire to do good.

Peter Wiggins: A Hero?

Peter subtly shows a desire to show love and do good throughout the novel, hinting he is not the cruel monster he seems to be. When Peter first comes into Ender’s room, Ender thinks: “[Peter] thinks I’m asleep. He’s going to kill me” (15). Baffling both Ender and the reader, Peter instead comes up to Ender’s bed and whispers, “Ender, I’m sorry…I know how it feels, I’m sorry, I’m your brother, I love you” (15). This declaration must be genuine because there are no witnesses to overhear him, and Peter’s previous treatment of Ender shows that he would never say this unless he thought Ender was asleep. Later on, Graff has a conversation with Ender and says, “Peter isn’t all bad, you know” (24). In a conversation with Valentine, Peter says: “I “[don’t] hate [Valentine and Ender]. I [love] you both, I just…ha[ve] to have control” (131). Peter craves control but he truly wants “[a] Pax Americana through the whole world” and he “want[s] to save mankind from self-destruction” (131-32). Peter’s ambitious aspirations are soon realized after the buggers are destroyed and his pseudonym, Locke, is able to “[forestall] a really vicious war that could have lasted for decades” (311). Valentine reflects: “Funny, isn’t it? That Peter would save millions of lives” (312). Ironically, Ender is the one who wipes out a whole species, while the “monster,” Peter, is a hero who seeks the greater good and brings peace to a world up in arms.

Concluding Thoughts

Peter is not a monster, but he is by no means an angel. He is still manipulative and he can still be cruel. He is “a master of flattery” and he “always, always act[s] out of intelligent self-interest” (125). Yet, despite his flaws, Peter shows that he can love others and he succeeds in bringing about the greater good and peace, rather than death and destruction.

What do you think?
Is Peter a hero or a monster or a mixture of both? Who is the true antagonist of Ender's Game? Is Ender his own enemy? Is his interpretation of his brother as a murderer and his enemy misinformed?

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Works Cited
Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game. Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 1977.