Ender’s Game: Part 4–Trapped by Circumstance

The first important thing we learn about Ender is that he is a Third – the third-born child of a family whose country says they may only have two. Though he came about by special allowance from the government, this role in his family and society is nonetheless stigmatizing. Ender suffers for being a Third, though his birth and society’s laws are completely out of his control.

From the moment he enters Battle School, what happens to Ender is mostly out of his control as well. True, he had the choice to go to Battle School or not to go. It wasn’t really much of a choice, though – stay at home where you are an oddity, at school where you are reviled, or go where you’ll at least be somewhat accepted and perhaps be of value. Yet, once at Battle School, his path is determined mostly by Colonel Graff, Major Anderson, and to some extent the older students and his superiors in the Battle School’s militaristic hierarchy.

And what can Ender do about it? He could intentionally wash out – and be an embarrassment and a burden to his family. He could keep his head and down and shoot for the middle – but Colonel Graff had no intentions of letting him get away with it. Or he could do what was asked of him and strive to be the best he could be.

What choice did he have?

In our recent podcast, Luke and I talked about Ender’s willingness to, in a sense, sacrifice himself, doing whatever he needed to do regardless of the cost. We talked about the fact that Ender’s sacrifice was a bit of a blind sacrifice, because he didn’t know what that cost would be. We didn’t really get to the “why” for Ender, though. Why would he be willing to blindly go forward, not really know what was expected of him?

I think it’s because he was trapped.

There are several points in the story where Ender recognizes that he is being manipulated. He ends up doing what “they” – the teachers, the government, Colonel Graff – want him to do because he knows that if he does not, they will just keep manipulating him until they get their way. He sees no way out.

So Ender continues on. He does what is asked of him. He fights the battles. He leads his armies. He innovates and breaks the rules and presses on, but all the while he knows he’s just playing the game that’s been opened in front of him because he has no other lot in life.

There have been plenty of days I’ve felt like Ender. Sometimes I feel like circumstances around me have left me with few choices, and none of them good. There are times I’ve shrugged and said, “I’ll just do what’s expected of me” and resented it to a sinful degree. I’ve been in that place where I feel completely trapped by circumstance.

If I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that – to a certain extent – I am trapped. But not by circumstance. By my sin. It is my own sinful heart, sinful attitudes, sinful actions, sinful habits that entrap me, and often it is those sins that lead me to the situation where it feels like there are few good choices I can make.

My selfishness leads me into a conflict with my wife, and now my only choice is to either swallow my pride, ask forgiveness, and deal with the fallout, or continue to experience the loneliness of animosity.

My short temper causes me to blow up at my kids and now I either have to go back to them and show them that even a dad can be a fool, but risk sabotaging my discipline, or stick to my guns and wonder if I’m just a hypocrite.

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My pig-headed determination that I’m right – even when I’m wrong – ends up making a fool of me.

Every road I see before me looks difficult and strewn with rocks and thorns. I wonder if I’ve burned too many bridges, and I’m not sure who to turn to for support. Worst of all, I feel unworthy to come before the Lord, sure he will be sickened to see me, because I’m sickened by myself.

Trapped.

I wonder if Saul felt trapped by his circumstances. First, he was trapped in the circumstance of the slavish religion of following the path of a Hebrew of Hebrews. Then when he sat blind and crying out to the Lord, confronted with the fact that all along he had been fighting against the very God he claimed to follow. Did he wonder if he would ever receive his sight back? Did he agonize over the thought of meeting the friends of those who had imprisoned and killed? Did he fear his prayers were unheard and unanswered?

Yet, Saul found freedom. The Lord sent a servant to him to heal him, to baptize him, to give him the freedom of Christ. Saul found freedom in Jesus, freedom he had never known before. And then Jesus set him on a new path. On that path Saul learned that what feels like being trapped – sufferings and difficulties – can also be the marks of a life lived from the freedom won by Christ. A life of freedom in Christ has only one end – eternal freedom.

It is in the same place I find freedom from the sin that enslaves me. In Christ, I am no longer trapped by my sin, and ultimately I am not trapped by circumstance. I might need to walk through some tough places in this life, but I know that I have eternal freedom to look forward to in the life to come. Then end of my road is total freedom.

On top of all that, my Savior tells me that he has a plan for me. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declared the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11). As I said before, ultimately that future is heaven. But even now, I can be sure that what I’m going through is part of his plan to get me there. So while it may, at times, look bad to me, it is all part of his plan. His plan to give me freedom. His plan to grow his church. His plan to show his glory. If it’s his plan… I can’t lose. And I am far from trapped.

Perhaps if Ender had known these things, his story might have also turned out differently. Or maybe not. Maybe all the same things would have happened, but how he understood them and internalized them would have been different. Then again, Ender’s Game is just a story. There is no big guy upstairs controlling the big picture, unless you’re talking the Hegemon, or Orson Scott Card (or are they the same guy?!). But your life is more than just a story, so remember who is in charge. He has a plan.

What is Ender’s Game all about anyway? 

In Ender’s Game, the earth has narrowly survived an alien invasion. To prevent our possible extinction, we enlist a new type of soldier to train for combat in the zero-gravity environment of space – children. Ender Wiggin is six when a military general selects him for special training at Battleschool. As the novel progresses, Ender grows to the age of thirteen, dealing with vicious bullies, cruel commanding officers, and challenging environments, while learning that the fate of the entire human race may be in his hands.

This is the fourth entry in a series on Ender’s Game, which will be out in theaters in November 2013.