What is the mood of the novel? Do you find that the novel saddens you in anyway?

The mood for Ender's Game IS VERY pessimistic. Bugger this, bugger that. Training this, shooting that, killing that, and etc. The world of Ender's Game was always drenched in fear, but that was not why the mood was pessimistic. It was Enders feelings.
Ender was always sad. No sad isn't the word for it. Ender was always DEPRESSED. You ask why? He was depressed because of his capabilities and his own intelligence. He knew he had the capability to destroy and kill. Even though many things were extremely hard and didn't seem right, he was intelligent to understand that it was a necessary action. The adults in this book always seem to put Ender in situations that force Ender to behave like Peter, which is being ruthless and without compassion. Ender however is still Ender, and will not lose the compassion which is one of his defining character traits. Ender is also sad of the pressure and seemingly impossible goals that the adults have put on his shoulders. Ender knows that he is being manipulated and although he wants to outsmart the adults by not playing THEIR game, he knows that if he doesn't play their game then the world might be gone. So he is sad knowing that he doesn't have any choice at all because the fate of humanity rests on his genius brain. Even after *SPOILER ALERT SPOILER* Ender achieved his ultimate goal (killing the buggers) he wasn't happy. Because the fact was that Ender really hadn't wanted to kill the buggers because he was starting to have second thoughts about them. Another thing was that Ender had kill the buggers without actually knowing it, and in doing so he felt like he was as evil as Peter. **END OF SPOILER** Throughout the whole book Ender was sad, until finally he found a path in which he could undo his ruthless actions. *SPOILER ALERT SPOILER* It was when he found the bugger queen egg and communicated with it. He realized that this was his chance to revive the bugger race and have a clean conscience. *END OF SPOILER*

When I thought of how Ender was feeling my heart was angry. I was angry at the teachers for doing bad things to Ender on purpose (isolation, not stopping fights, ridiculous challenges). No child should have to go through the things that Ender has gone through. I hope in the future that the government doesn't start training child soldiers.

what is the major theme of this novel? why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2008?

The theme for Ender's game is that ruthlessness is sometimes necessary. Now I am not talking about fighting and killing. I am talking about being tough and strict. The reason why I think this is the theme of the book is that many acts of ruthlessness occured in the book. And there was always a valid reason for it. For instance, when Ender was being ganged up upon in the beginning of the book, he had no other choice but to brutally beat up the leader. He tried to talk it out peacefully but that was a futile attempt. He knew that if he just threw a few punches that they would just come back to finish the job they started. So he had to instill fear into them and make sure they would never come back to bully him. The only way was to damage the leader badly, and Ender killed the leader without having the intention to. That was just one fight that Ender had to face, and many more of these similar situations occur again later in the book. Another example is how strict the teachers were on the kids in Battleschool. However, their strictness was necessary because that was the only way they would be able to train kids who would save the world. Imagine if the kids were just left to play around anytime they wanted, or come late to appointments. The school would just be full of hooligans who would prove to be useless in real battles against aliens. Teachers were especially strict on Ender, so that they would be able to bring out the best of him. They wanted to see how much he could handle, and whether he would be a perfect commander. Sometimes you need to be hard on people in order to help the future. Sometimes you need to destroy instead of just attacking.

This theme is important to a teenager living in the current time because it will teach them that attacking for no reason is stupid. Teenagers should learn that fighting out a argument should always be the last second resort. They should only fight when they know that they are going to brutally harmed. This theme will also help teenagers understand why teachers give homework and detentions. Why schools give suspensions and probations. Without these punishments how would the students act accordingly. Punishments and assignments are set with the intention to help out students in life and to teach them to take the iniative to do the right thing.