African American and Martin Luther King Essay

“Heroes must fight world‘s enemies as well as with their own personal difficulties”

Within our society there are countless interpretations and stereotypical view what a hero is, a perfect being with a ‘super’ human qualities. Realistically though, a hero can be a regular individual who stands out for what is right even though they struggle with their own personal limitations while they do not qualify themselves as heroes. Both, Ender Wigging and Martin Luther King portray the characteristics of regular individual, standing for what is right as well as dealing with their own personal issues both physically and psychologically.

Ender’s Game is a fictional book written by Scott Carter, which the main plot is to destroy a race called the buggers, where the main character is Ender. From birth Ender was watched by elders, and was believed to be the future hero to save their race. Therefore, all the planned training that he goes through is to make him the “… best military commander in history” (pg. 36). Peter his older brother, is one of Ender’s first limitation, not only a physical barrier but also more so a psychological one. One day soon after the monitor was taken from Ender’s neck one of the schoolboys, who frequently bullied him, teased him regarding the absence of his monitor. Ender began to hit the boy until he loss consciousness. Sadly he realized that, “I am just like Peter”, “take my monitor away, and I am just like Peter." (pg. 8). Ender, “cried until the bus came” (pg. 8). This reference to Peter is one of the first forms of psychological limitation evident in the first few chapters and continues on, displaying Ender’s constantly struggles to overcome this particular limitation in his journey. This quote exemplifies that Ender does not want to be like his brother Peter; evil-minded, a killer, a monster. The emotional response, “he cried till the bus came” (pg. 8) displays through the technique of emotive language, the complex emotional battle that Ender has within, which restricts him from growing into the ideal Hero that the world believes he is.
Just like Ender, Martin Luther King Jr. endured a psychological battle throughout his whole life. From a young age he knew that being a black African American he belonged to a minor discriminated group. Martin Luther King was born on the 15th January 1929 in Georgia USA. He was a Baptist minister and a political activist, best known for his “I have a Dream” speech in 1963. King received the Nobel Peace Price in 1964 and was the main actor for the end of black segregation in the USA. At an earlier age King recognized that he was different and was discriminated for it. In fact, this limitation was reflected in his well-known speech with the use of imaginary and personified techniques. “The life of the negro still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination” (pg. 2). The word choice of ‘crippled’, ‘chains’ and ‘manacles’ imprint a vivid image of King Jr. struggle to surpass his physical barrier. Unlike Ender, where his psychological limitations affect only himself, King Jr. limitations affected not only his being but also rather a whole nation.

Both heroes already mentioned, struggle with a main physical limitation – appearance and enemies. When Ender arrives at the school his inexperience and youth is display through his physical features. Bonzo his first commander thinks that he is useless thus, he is not trained as the other boys and he trades him to another commander. Due to his physical limitation, throughout the novel Ender is countlessly taken advantage of through the form of manipulation.

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