How Does Colonel Graff Manipulate Children Like Ender

Essay Question: Was it unjust of Colonel Graff to manipulate kids like Ender because of the physical and mental consequences and frightful exposure to violence and homesickness that would lie ahead for the launches.
Throughout time children have always been symbolic of innocence; a reflection upon society's mindset which is why Colonel Graff's actions regarding the treatment of the children is such an abhorrent act. Although ability wise, children in the military school like Ender are mature, their emotional development is at the same stage as ordinary children outside the war based environment that they are faced with. This vulnerability ever present in children means that the audience feels that the manipulative acts by Graff towards Ender are unethical and acts of an apathetic person. This treatment by Graff also results in the
development of a sense of isolation between Ender and ordinary people including his family and classmates. Colonel Graff’s manipulation towards Ender had formed not just an unhealthy relationship between the two of them as well as enabling Ender to be so susceptible in his agreement to perform violent acts. It is clearly established throughout the entire movie how intelligent children like Ender are.
However these gifted children are being used for unjust things like war and battling. Children within this age group should remain innocent and lives without feeling constant fear of the consequences of war and battle. Ominous music and dark lighting is used in almost every scene of Enders game, symbolic of the grief that the children have to experience daily at battle school. Ender in particular, throughout the entirety of the film is in constant state of fear and often faced with having to make decisions about the most excruciating of circumstances. In the second scene in Enders game we see a low angle shot of his face before his monitor is removed in conjunction with strong facial expressions of fear and anguish. His emotion are used by the producers to foreshadow what comes next, we hear screams and he is clearly in agonizing pain, raising the issue of how unethical this treatment is. Colonel Graff has no empathy or care towards children like Ender; his only focus is on the results of what these brainwashed children do for
him.
Colonel Graff not only manipulates Ender throughout the whole film but he also brainwashes Ender to thinking that his isolation can never be broken. He wants Ender to become independent; to forget about others and to simply “fight” the enemy. Through this manipulation he convinces Ender to attend battle school. Graff simply doesn’t tell the entirety of what is to come. As the film progresses the audience realizes that Graff is determined to make Ender’s isolation permanent. One such indication is in the first scene of the launches in the rocket. Colonel Graff’s ewords of encouragement towards Ender in comparison with the discouraging words towards the other Launches are sued to manipulate a Launches to have a sense of hatred and envy towards Ender. As battle school starts, Ender finds himself sitting all alone. Colonel Graff intended to make Ender isolated in battle school so that he could exceed to command school. Command school however is more extreme in it’s violence to the extent that is is well abovewhat a child of his age should experience.

Through Colonel Graff’s power; children like Ender had to experience the most exhausting and emotionally tiring experience in battle school. In Ender’s letters to Valentine he explains that at battle school there is hours of training and far more homework than on earth. He also describes the hand-to-hand combat used to makes them more aggressive suggesting at the violence ever present in Ender's life. When Ender was in Combat there was a low angle shot of him from Bernard’s point of view showing Ender looking fierce and aggressive once again used to highlight his difference and isolation. Ender went too far because he exclaimed that he “felt Peter in him whenever he would fight.” If it weren’t for the war games and battle school that children like Ender had to attend, they would have been living normal lives and actually enjoying life. this shows how children are treated like pawns, emphasizing the unjust treatment towards Ender. When Ender enters the battle dome for the first time, there is a wide-angle shot of him to show the comparison in size from him to the dome accentuating his vulnerability. This shot is important because it symbolizes how small and insignificant Ender is in the grant scheme of things. It also foreshadows the traumatic events that occur later at the command school. When Ender plays the mind game, the audience finally learns the true message of what Ender is here for and what all the adults want from children like him. Follow the rules and you loose, choose violence and you win. A close up of Ender’s last facial expression reflects on his fury and satisfaction towards the giant deceasing. We can gradually start to comprehend the impact that battle school is putting upon him and Colonel Graff’s cunning plan.