The Hero Cycle In Ender's Game By Orson Scott Card

Through his observations, Joseph Campbell discovered a pattern called the Hero’s Cycle, in which no matter the culture all heroes follow. In the book, Ender’s Game written by Orson Scott Card, the main character Ender follows the typical Hero’s Cycle. In Ender’s world the humans are planning to destroy their alien enemy the Buggers. When Ender was six years old the government sent him off to Battle School, the first step in making him into a someone that could command the human army against the Buggers. Because of his talents, and the government's despair, he progressed at a quicker rate than the others. He graduates from Battle School at an early age and progresses to the highest school called Command School. At the age of 12 while doing what
In the country that Ender lives in the government has restricted the amount of children each family can have. The government's limit is two children per family, but he is the third child of the family. In school right after he got his monitor taken away Ender thinks to himself, “It was not his fault he was a Third. It was the government's idea, they were the ones who authorized it - how else could a Third like Ender have got into school” (7)? This quote proves that even Ender realizes that he is abnormal because he is a Third child. He understands that the only reason he is alive is because the government allowed his parents to have another child. Although he does not know this, the reason why the government approved of him being born is because his older brother and sister showed promising qualities, but did not have the right balance of cruelness and empathy. Ender showed the same promising qualities as his siblings, but unlike them he also showed having the right balance between showing cruelness and empathy. Because of Ender’s characteristics, it made him the perfect candidate for them to shape into a commander that would win the war. Not only does Ender fit the Hero’s Cycle due to his abnormal birth, but he also fits the Hero Cycle because of the challenges that he faces that build his moral strength and
After the war was over the humans’ started settling were the Buggers were living. When exploring this planet Ender found a message that the Buggers were trying to convey to him. In their message to him they said to him, “We did not mean to murder, and when we understood, we never came again” (224). The Buggers shared their memories, grieves, and hopes with Ender. They asked Ender to take the egg of the new queen and find a world in which they could thrive in. Not only did Ender do this but he promised to tell their story in hopes that the humans in time would forgive the Buggers. He conveyed their story and combined it with the wisdom he has gained through the book he wrote. He signed the book as The Speaker of the Dead. In the book Ender wrote everything from a perspective of a Bugger queen. He described The Bugger’s achievements, and goals for the future. He also pointed out their flaws as well as their greatness. Lastly he added that they were sorry, and forgave the humans for killing them. This book was read by nearly everyone on Earth, and was transformed into a religion. His book allowed humans to gain an understanding that they never had of the buggers. Many people tried to live by the words in the book, striving to become better people. After a death of a loved one they would ask someone to write a piece similar to Ender’s. Although Ender did not physically go back to Earth, he used his