Ender’s Game: Chapter 5 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins with a conversation between X and Y (who, we can now guess, are Graff and Anderson, respectively). Anderson congratulates Graff for “masterfully” manipulating Ender into fighting his fellow students. Anderson also proposes that Ender can’t be allowed to feel anything but a strong sense of isolation: if he develops strong friendships, then he’ll “take the easy way out” and refuse to become a truly great commander.

Now Ender is in a soldier’s barracks, immediately after the events of the previous chapter. Because he spoke to Graff, he’s the last student to choose a bed, and has been given the worst bed in the barracks—the low bunk next to the front door. Ender looks at his bunk, and finds that he’s been issued a set of jumpsuits, a small desk, and a small pistol.

A man enters the barracks and orders the students to pay attention. He introduces himself as Dap, the new students’ “mom” and counselor, and explains a few things about Battle School. The school consists of a centrifugal machine that spins quickly, creating a strong outward “push.” In this way, the Battle School simulates the feeling of gravity. Dap also explains the concept of “icing”—if students flunk their classes or bully others excessively, they’ll be iced, or dismissed from school. As Dap says this, Ender notices the boy whose arm he broke, who seems to have made a quick recovery. The boy has already assembled a gang, much as Stilson did back at school.

At dinner, Ender eats alone. He thinks about his home, and about Valentine. He also notices the other students in the dining hall, who are much older than he is. The older students have been assigned into teams with names like Scorpion and Flame, and wear uniforms that correspond to their team name. There’s a large billboard in the dining hall, which shows the results of war games between the various teams.

As Ender eats alone, a boy—who looks about 13—sits down next to him and introduces himself as Mick. Mick explains to Ender that the teachers like to isolate students, just as they’ve isolated Ender. Mick is a mediocre student by Battle School standards, he explains to Ender—he’ll probably be sent to a second-rate military program after finishing Battle School. Mick says that Ender is too young and stupid to understand what Mick is saying. Privately, Ender vows never to end up like Mick—an older boy who’s too untalented to be a success.

That night, Ender finds it hard to sleep. He cries and thinks about his family. He tries—somewhat successfully—to stifle his tears by relaxing and counting high numbers in his head. As he listens to the loud sounds of his peers weeping, he realizes that living with Peter has trained him to suppress embarrassing emotions.

Ender and his peers proceed with Battle School. Every day, he goes to classes on mathematics, history, and other subjects relevant to the military. One day early on, Dap shows the new students how to play battle games. Most battle games are simple arcade games. Ender goes to the arcade area, where older boys play these strategy games, and observes them for a few hours. After some time, Ender realizes that he understands how to play. He challenges a much older boy to play the game. At first, the boy is dismissive, but eventually he agrees. Ender loses the first game, but convinces the boy to play 2 out of 3. Ender wins the next two games. The boy and his gang of friends walks away without congratulating Ender for his victory. Ender is secretly proud of himself.

In the coming weeks, Ender notices that the boy whose arm he broke—a French boy named Bernard—has assembled a gang of followers. The gang begins harassing Ender in small ways—pushing him, jostling his lunch tray, etc. Ender doesn’t get overtly angry at these small acts of bullying. Instead, he studies Bernard’s group carefully, probing for weaknesses. He notices a boy named Shen whom Bernard bullies for being small and wiggling his butt when he walks. One day, Ender uses his electronic desk to send an anonymous message to the students: “COVER YOUR BUTT. BERNARD IS WATCHING.” Ender sends other messages, this time labeling them, “Bernard.” Bernard is furious, and yells for Dap to help him. Dap looks at the messages and finds them amusing. He tells Bernard that he knows who hacked onto the message system, but refuses to say. After this incident, Bernard becomes a figure of ridicule, and his gang of followers is broken.

The next week, Shen and Ender sit together at lunch. Ender doesn’t admit that he was the one who sent the fake messages, but Shen laughs and says that he knows Ender was. Shen and Ender become friends, bonding over Bernard’s embarrassment.