Some of the kids in <em>Ender’s Game</em> comment on how they’re not allowed to live normal kid lives (see below for an example of that), and some of the adults notice the same thing (like here). This is a very particular view on what makes a normal childhood – fun and games and whatever else it is that kids do. But even if we can argue about whether that sort of childhood is “normal,” we also should recognize that something is going on here with these kids.

This image will come back to haunt Ender in real life, but the game seems to be saying something serious about children here: they’re like wolves. (Actually, notice how many of Ender’s bullies hunt in packs, like wolves.) There goes our cherished notion of childhood innocence.

Every once in a while, Ender will say something that sounds like he’s a budding serial killer, like this. (That is, once you imagine that other people aren’t even human, it’s kind of easier to kill them; and in this case, Ender might think he’s killing them out of self-defense since they’re the dangerous animals.) We could also look at this quote and note how isolated Ender is – after all, if he’s the only human in the place, not only does he not have friends, but he couldn’t really make friends who were his equals even if he tried.