Ender's Game Chapters 1-5

Chapter 1
1) The adults lie to Ender because they think he is capable of great things but they don't want to freak out or scare him away. But even though they lied Ender could tell, but he went with it anyways. 

2) Well in that society it seems that you are only allowed to have two children. But they government sometimes allows families to have three if the first two did not meet there expectations. So for his parents I think it was both positive and negative that they had a third child. Positive because who wouldn't be happy to have another child. Negative because they were/are religious and it went against what they believed. Their piers also thought differently of them. For Peter I believe it was a negative because Ender was just living proof that he didn't meet the expectations to attend Battle School. For Valentine I think Ender being born was a positive because they get along so well. She loves Ender and doesn't care that he is a "third". As for his classmates I don't see why they couldn't look past him being a "third' but obviously they couldn't because they resolved to making fun of him instead. 

Chapter 2
 1) I honestly thought Peter wasn't joking at first. He seemed so serious It was kind of scary. Especially when he said that Valentine wouldn't always be there for him, and that she couldn't forget this conversation because he wouldn't. " You'll think that I forgot. And years will pass and there will be a terrible accident"(pg13) He was referring to Ender "accidentally" dying and it being Valentines fault because she thought he wasn't serious and that he forgot.

2) They entire chapter Peter was a complete bully towards Ender. It really didn't even seem like they were brothers by the way he treated him. But when he said sorry he seemed like a completely different person. He took down his mean big brother facade and sincerely apologized. To say the least I was surprised. I think his attitude changed because he wasn't being watched. He thought that everyone was asleep and he didn't need to keep is act up.

3) Ender seems very smart to be six year old boy and I really like him. The author proves this by when Ender's getting bullied. He thinks that since he doesn't have anything nice to say he should just keep it to himself. " Anything I say will just make it worse. So say nothing.(pg6) 
Valentine seems intelligent and caring. She protects Ender like an older sister should even though her big brother is the one being mean." You're all talk. You don't mean any of it"(pg13)
Now Peter seems like a very sad and cruel person. How he treats his brother and sister is appalling. But for the books purpose I like him. I like him because I can't quite figure him out. He adds mystery and excitement to the story. 

Chapter 3
1) Graff meant that evolution is working against girls because the girls weren't born to be fighters. It seems that their purpose is to birth the children and take care of them. They are meant to be kind and giving people and to take care of others.

2) I think OSC includes this because Ender is just a six year old child. From the way he starts it it could seem as if Ender was a teenager. But this shows he's just a young boy. I also think it shows how Ender has a long way to go before he becomes an officer or any other position.

Chapter 4
1) When Graff says "Individual human beings are tools that others use to help us all survive" I think he means that every person is just a small piece that helps build the final outcome. That everyone needs to have there part and not worry about one thing because everything will fall apart.

2) They think Ender is a genius and creative. But in order to stay creative he has to think outside the box. So they think the best way is to isolate him so he has no friends and won't lose his creativity. But if he were to adapt to the systems then he would start to think like everybody else.

Chapter 5
1) I don't really think it's healthy to hold all of those feelings inside of you. Because they'll just keep pilling up and one day you might just explode because you never let anything out. The positive to showing feelings is it lets people know that he is just a child and what he's doing isn't easy. The negative is that some might think he's weak. People will think he's not strong enough for Battle School.
The positive to not showing his feelings is that people will respect him and assume he is a strong child. But not showing feelings as I said before could be bad because keeping things inside for to long isn't healthy.
2) Ender beat Bernard by taking away his respect that the others had for him. He wasn't the leader anymore he was the laughing stock. Ender made jokes and sent them to everybody's desk saying it was from Bernard. It made it so all of his followers didn't take him seriously. This is an unusual solution because usually Ender fixes his problems with violence but this time he used a smarter solution. He used his brain to outsmart Bernard.

3) Three coping mechanisms are
His brain: He uses his brain to get himself out of sticky situations. This is helpful because it helps him think about things and use his creativity to help him.
Violence: He fights to solve his issues. In the end this is harmful to him because it makes him second guess himself and he starts to think he's just like Peter. Also the people he fights will want to fight back
Observing: He uses his patience to watch and learn before doing difficult things. This is helpful. Some people jump into situations to fast and don't have a plan and don't think ahead. But Ender does he observes others like in the game room when he watches the older boys and when Bonzo doesn't let him practice with the others he watches instead.