Ender's Game: A Reunion

Though many will disagree, one of the greatest books of all time is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. I recently reread it during a time without a book and, once again, it hasn't failed me. Here is a synopsis.

Background Information: 

Roughly 50-100 years in the future, humanity has mastered intergalactic travel and has begun to make discoveries and journeys throughout the universe. On these journeys, humans encounter an intelligent alien race, referred to throughout the novel as "the buggers". This discovery paves the way to galactic war between the human and bugger races. Initially, the struggle occurs on an asteroid named Eros, and ends with the humans obliterating a colonization attempt by the buggers and recovering alien technology, enabling humans to make breakthroughs in physics and other sciences. To prepare for a possible third invasion threat, humanity establishes the International Fleet, a multinational space military organization whose sole purpose is to prevent another colonization attempt. In order to have the best success against their hyper intelligent enemies, the I.F recruits the world's prodigies to breed an army of young military geniuses under a program called the Battle School.

Side Blurb: The world's government is controlled by three ruling parties known as the Hegemon, Polemarch, and Strategos.

Synopsis: 

The protagonist is Ender Wiggin, a six year old genius who is recruited to the Battle School, which he doesn't want to attend because he will have to separate from his sister, Valentine, whom he loves dearly. Valentine and Ender's brother Peter, a highly intelligent sociopath, are also geniuses, but weren't recruited due to their extreme natures: Valentine too empathetic and Peter too brutal. Ender reluctantly joins the Battle School and excels at the schools competitive war simulation, eventually being promoted to captain of his own team. Ender's success continues and he exhibits great leadership and loyalty, gaining many friends and enemies.

Meanwhile on Earth, Peter begins publishing political essays under the pseudonym "Locke" and gaining respect in the political community. Valentine, though reluctantly, publishes alongside Peter under the name "Demosthenes". Together, they gain the attention of governments and highly ranked officials.

Ender soon proves to be too good for the simulation and is promoted to Command School, a school for Battle School graduates who will actually go on to becoming military leaders. By doing this, Ender has skipped several years of training and eventually reaches the command school, which is located at Eros, in the center of the inter-species war. Ender soon meets Mazer Rackham, a retired, legendary military general who prevented the first bugger invasion.

Rackham begins introducing harder level simulations for Ender to engage in, which, unbeknownst to Ender, are actually real battles where Ender is controlling real fleets in battle. As the battles become more challenging, Ender is joined by other Battle School friends who aid him in the simulation. Despite the successes, Ender is more and more depressed by the isolation and his separation from his sister.

In the final battle, Ender destroys the bugger homeworld and the entire bugger race. He is then informed that he was fighting real battles the whole time, further plunging him into depression and remorse over committing genocide. Though hailed as a war hero, Ender, along with colonists from Earth like Valentine, travel to the bugger homeworld to escape the horrors on Earth. There, Ender discovers an egg of the bugger queen and takes it to another planet to safely hatch and restart the race. Meanwhile, Peter has completely gained complete control on Earth and declared leader of the world.

The story ends with Ender writing two books, one on the bugger race and the other on his ruthless brother.

Dan Brown's Inferno: The Characters

This past Thursday at around 10 pm, I was at the Hyderabad Airport, awaiting to board a plane back to the United States. Though I hadn't finished 1984 yet, I thought that by picking up something new I could keep myself occupied. In the airport's bookstore I found Inferno by Dan Brown, world renowned author of Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, and The Lost Symbol, among other
books.

Inferno is the latest installation in Brown's thriller series featuring Robert Langdon. Right now I am around a quarter of a way through and it is pretty interesting. Brown's books always keep me on the edge of my seat and this story didn't fail to meet the expectations. The characters in the book are Robert Langdon, Dr. Sienna Brooks, The Provost, The Silver-Haired Lady, and The Client.

Robert Langdon is an iconography and symbology professor at Harvard University who is an expert in his field and often consulted in high pressure situations. For example, in Angels and Demons, he solved the mystery of the Illuminati and its infiltration of the Vatican.  In this story, Langdon mysteriously finds himself awake in Florence, Italy, halfway around the world with no recollection of two full days. His doctor, Dr. Sienna Brooks, informs him that he has a bullet wound in his head, and soon, an assassin by the name of Vayentha begins pursuit of the two. Langdon experiences strange visions of a "Silver-Haired Lady" telling him to search for an unknown object. Meanwhile, the reader learns of a man named "The Provost", leader of the Consortium, an international racketeering organization which is for some reason on the hunt for Mr. Langdon. The Consortium is trying to capture Langdon on orders of a mysterious "Client".

From my point in the story, the characters are still developing along with their stories. Here is some character analysis:

Robert Langdon is very quick-witted, analytic and has an excellent memory. Along with this, he is shown to be empathetic. For example, he shows remorse over bringing Dr. Brooks into story's events and for causing her to leave her job and causing her best friend to be murdered. However, so far he is a static character, as his personality has not changed over the course of the story.

Dr. Brooks is also very intelligent, described as having an IQ over 200. Additionally, she is very resourceful, as shown when she repeatedly helps Langdon evade enemy forces. I would say Brooks is a dynamic character because at the beginning of the story she appears as a strong and calm woman but by my point she is more scared and miserable at having her life turned upside down. Along with Langdon, she is one of  the two protagonists

"Silver-Haired Lady" is revealed to be the Director of the World Health Organization. The reader only learns about her briefly, but we can find that she is persistent, philanthropic, and confident. However, she is a minor character in the story.

"The Provost" is described as cold, calculating and hard, always sticking to strict rules to get the job done. The man is very systematic and efficient, never wanting to waste time in endeavors. "The Provost" could be one of the antagonists in the story, but is still a minor character.

"The Client" is described to be maniacal and elitist. This is shown when he states that the World Health Organization shouldn't be preventing disease, but should welcome it. "The Client" can be considered as another antagonist.

These are some characters. I will continue reading and analyzing the characters further.

Fahrenheit 451: Theme Handout

Group members: Preetham Kastury, Christine Kim, Michele Wang, Kate Madigan, Nick McArthur

Bell 6

Theme 2: Individual self expression is important.

Timeline:

Part 1: The Hearth and the Salamander

• Montag lives in a society under the rule of a totalitarian government, which seems to impose several rules that limit self expression, such as burning literature.
• “‘Do you ever read any of the books you burn?” (Bradbury, 5).
• Montag meets Clarisse and begins thinking about the thoughtful questions she asks him.
• “Of course I’m happy. What does she think? I’n not? he asked the quiet rooms,” (Bradbury, 8).
• Montag begins to realize the shallowness of his wife, Mildred.
• “The most significant memory he had of Mildred, really, was of a little girl in a forest without trees (how odd!) or rather a little girl lost on a plateau where there used to be trees…” (Bradbury, 42).

Part 2: The Siege and the Sand

• Montag reads books and realizes that his life has been unsatisfactory.
• “Now, he knew that he was two people, that he was, above all, Montag who knew nothing, who did not even know himself a fool, but only suspected it,” (Bradbury, 100).

Part 3: Burning Bright

• Montag can no longer carry out his job and burn books, since he has learned self expression.
• “‘Give a man a few lines of verse and he thinks he’s Lord of all Creation,’ Beatty said,” (Bradbury, 111).
• Montag wants to change everything about his life, and kills Beatty.
• “He saw Beatty, a torch, not moving, fluttering out on the grass,” (Bradbury, 116).
• Montag no longer realizes who he is or what he stands for.
• “This was all he wanted now. Some sign that the immense world would accept him and give him the long time he needed to think all the things that must be thought,” (Bradbury, 136).
• Montag sees a difference in the fire, which symbolizes the change in himself.
• “That small motion, the white and red color, a strange fire because it meant a different thing to him. It was not burning, it was warming,” (Bradbury, 139).
• Montag meets Granger and the men who memorize books, and now starts to understand who he has come to be.
• “‘I don’t belong with you,’ said Montag, at last, slowly. ‘I’ve been an idiot all the way.’ ‘We’re used to that. We all made the right kind of mistakes, or we wouldn’t be here,’” (Bradbury, 143).

Quotes:

Part 1: The Hearth and the Salamander

“Are you happy?’ she said. ‘ Am I what?’ he cried,” (Bradbury, 7).

Part 2: The Sieve and the Sand

“...and I suddenly realized I didn’t like them at all, and I didn’t like myself at all any more. And I thought maybe it would be best if the firemen themselves were burnt,” (Bradbury, 67).

Part 3: Burning Bright

“He burnt the bedroom walls and the cosmetics chest because he wanted to change everything,” (Bradbury 114).


How Theme is Important/Relevant in Modern Society:

• Individual Self Expression is important to the understanding of the story because it helps the reader comprehend the struggle that Montag underwent throughout the novel and what Montag is fighting for.
• This theme is very relevant in society today and good to be aware of so that everyone is accepting of other people and their personal expressions.