Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is highly imaginative, as it assumes a world and characters in which developments in science have taken place beyond what we ordinarily imagine to be plausible for human beings. Card has said that “the whole point of reading science fiction is to be taken into a world that is different from what you know.” This is achieved by the responder journeying into the imaginative world of the principal protagonist, Ender, following the narrative of his journey from Earth to the ‘Battle School’ and ‘Command School’ somewhere in the cosmos. Thus the language of science fiction plays an important role in the text by representing the imaginative journey to responders. We read of Generals, Colonels, launchies, squads, armies as well as traditional science fiction terms such as lasers, spaceships, galaxy and light speed. However, Card ingeniously uses small children as the warriors of the future and making it seem like a game. The military also seem to be viewing the manipulation of Ender and the war in general as a serious game in itself.
The structure of the plot, as Ender‘s personal journey, is set within the larger context of the on going cosmic struggle with the powers of evil represented by the ‘Buggers’. As the hero, Ender is the chosen warrior against these evil forces that would destroy humanity. Ender’s ‘game’, therefore, is both his life as it evolves and the larger issue of the ways in which his skills are applied in the service of humanity. Essential to Card’s narrative structure is his clever use of third person and first person to give responders insights into and comments on Ender’s internal growth, development and responses, “He had no control over his life. They ran everything. They made all the choices. Only the game was left to him.” Ender’s life in this futuristic, imaginative world is controlled and inevitable.
Card also employs the technique of suspense in the narrative of Ender's internal journey, for instance when Ender is confronted in the shower by Bozo and his gang of followers, in what amounts to a climax in the novel, “He refused to feel weak because he was wet and cold and unclothed. He stood strongly, facing them, his arms at his sides.” For the reader, Card intensifies the use of suspense at the start of each chapter by delaying the identities of the speakers.
Apart from Ender’s obvious physical journeys into the Universe, he also imaginatively journeys through a computer-generated game that he must play to win. This journey comes to symbolise his internal journey and to reflect the stages of challenge and personal growth he is experiencing in the ‘Battle School’. Ender seems to be on a quest in the computer game and meets traditional fairy tale problems. He takes his Army on an imaginative journey as he develops new strategies. He also gains a deeper understanding of himself, some of it he doesn’t like. As he slays the Giant, and later the serpent in the castle tower, Ender progresses in his abilities as leader and gaining a deeper understanding of himself, “What am I doing? My first practice session and I’m already bullying on people the way Bonzo did. And Peter. Showing people around. Sickening.” This insight occurs after he has treated Bean badly and clearly illustrates Ender’s dislike of his journey through Battle School.
Furthermore, Ender’s imaginative responses to the games he plays helps him solve problems, develop strategies and learn about himself. He uses his imagination to stretch how he sees things and understand the problems posed, “Ender tried to imagine the little device hanging from the back of his neck”. The Wiggen siblings all show that imagination can be used to develop realities. All three of them have caused major changes in the world through imagining what might be. Ender because of his military capabilities, Peter and Valentine through Locke and Demosthenes, Peter, who imagined ruling the world, does so and successfully.
Card’s writing at the time Ender is reviewing his growth when he is recuperating on Earth, is symbolic and lyrical. The lovely natural landscape and the lake is seen as a place of mental peace. Ender finds this internal peace before his final and most successful battle. Even though his final “game’ is real, the novel suggests it is not the end of Ender’s journey. Ender’s imagination leaves him open to the implications of the Buggers and allows him to understand their position in the end. The novel’s symbolic ending with Ender carrying a dry white cocoon to find a world where the ‘Buggers’ could be reborn to thrive in peace, suggests that questing after certain things, such as man living in harmony, maybe infinite, as indicated by the words, “He looked a long time.” Ender’s sense of regret felt on the Buggers, planet further supports the idea that certain journeys are not relished by those undertaking them.