The Theme of Success in Ender's Game and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

Success has no secrets. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. The main protagonists in the novels; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman, and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, explore how their status of being an outcast in their world motivates them to become successful and surpass their peers. Both authors apply this in their novel by having the main character put up with severe bullying, having them deal with injustice in their life, and have their society discriminate their social status.

First of all, both Arnold and Ender deal with severe bullying throughout the novel. Arnold experiences bullying from the occupants of the reservation. He has all sorts of physical problems that are the result of his brain damage, which is the motif for bullies to pick on him. Arnold asks: “Do you know what happens to retards on the rez? We get beat up. At least once a month” (Alexie 4). Arnold gets picked on because he is different from everyone else on the reservation. According to Mr. P, Arnold gets bullied by others because they have all given up hope; that Arnold is the last one who still has not given up. This hope motivates Arnold to follow his dreams and go to a place where there is still hope so that he can follow and accomplish his dreams, leading to Arnold transferring schools to Reardan. Similarly to Arnold, Ender experiences bullying from his classmates. Ender gets bullied because he is a Third, the third born child in a family. The term Third is an insult because they come from noncomplying families who broke the birth control laws in the dystopian world. At the beginning of the novel just before his fatal fight, Stilson says: 'We're people, not Thirds, turd face. You're about as strong as a fart!' (Card 37). Ender consistently getting bullied and being called a Third throughout his childhood has driven him to prove that he is better than everyone else. This motivation is what ends up getting him chosen for Battle School, and eventually, what makes Ender the leader of the fleet that would destroy the Buggers, saving the world. Both novels reveal how the protagonists troubled past of getting bullied and being an outcast has brought them success. The Absolutely True Diary shows physical bullying through how Arnold looks, whereas Ender’s Game explores verbal bullying through the social status of Ender. To summarize, the bullying that the characters deal with motivates them to work harder than anyone else.

Similar to how Arnold and Ender deal with bullying, the injustice they have to deal with in their life motivates them to work harder. The injustice in Arnold's life connects to his family’s poverty. Because of it, Arnold often misses meals as well as school and has no money for school events because his parents cannot provide enough money for his expenses. Arnold states: “But we reservation Indians don't get to realize our dreams. We don't get those chances. Or choices. We're just poor. That's all we are” (Alexie 13). Arnold feels hopeless like he cannot do anything while living in poverty. This feeling creates a motif for him to surpass his ancestors so he can end his family’s curse of poverty, causing Arnold to work even harder to make his dreams come true. This injustice also carries through into Ender’s Game. Ender, who is by far the youngest commander in Battle School history, has to put up with injustice from receiving unfair challenges as a squadron commander. After Ender’s fight with Bonzo, he received an unusual battle slip. The note read: “WILLIAM BEE, GRIFFIN ARMY, TALO MOMOE, TIGER ARMY, 1900” (Card 252). It is unusual because he was going against two armies at once, a 2:1 team ratio. It is also his second battle of the day. Armies are supposed to have one battle every two weeks, and Ender is given two battles every day. The unfair battles he and his army face motivate Ender's thirst for power, which he gains from his numerous successes in battles. In The Absolutely True Diary, injustice is explored through poverty and isolation, while Ender’s Game explores it through the capabilities of people. Overall, injustice plays a vital role in the character's success.

Lastly, the societies that Arnold and Ender live in discriminate against their social status. Arnold lives on a poor reservation in a white society. Because the reservation is isolated and the occupants have a vanished past, not many people in Reardan know what happens there. As a consequence, some believe in stereotypes of Indians because they do not know the truth. This judgment occurs when Dodge asks Arnold: “‘Where did you learn this fact? On the reservation? Yes, we all know there’s so much amazing science on the reservation’” (Alexie 85). The isolation of the reservation, as well as the lack of funding for education, causes the belief that Indians are rather uneducated, leading to unfair judgment. This discrimination against Arnold's social status is also what drives him to work hard and prove the discriminators wrong. Tracing back to the topic of Thirds, Ender is also discriminated against for his social status by the society he lives in because he is a Third. Third born children are heavily looked down upon in Ender’s Game. Ender explains: “It was not his fault he was a Third. It was the government's idea, they were the ones who authorized it - how else could a Third like Ender have got into school?” (Card 4). This discrimination reveals how unfairly Thirds are treated, by being given fewer rights, such as no schooling as well as receiving higher taxes. The government authorized his family to have a Third because their children showed high potential as soldiers, though his peers still discriminate Ender because of the low status of Thirds. Knowing that he is a test subject, Ender wants to succeed in proving the government that he is not just one of their experiments, but a real person. In The Absolutely True Diary, discrimination against the social status of Indians is developed from isolation, while in Ender’s Game, it develops through the laws of a dystopian world. Both novels reveal how discrimination of one's social status can lead to success.

In conclusion, Sherman Alexie and Orson Scott Card both perfectly incorporate how being an outcast motivates characters to become successful by having them put up with severe bullying, deal with injustice in their life, and have the society they live in discriminate their social status. Both novels conclusively show that success can be found in even the most troubled children. Being an outcast is not as bad as one might think.