Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Individual
Group Discount
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews October 2, 2023 September 25, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan - Group Discount
Qty: 00
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
“Sometimes I think you enjoy breaking these little geniuses.” “Thereis an art to it, and I’m very, very good at it. But enjoy? Well, maybe. When they put back the pieces afterward, and it makes them better.”
As Graff discusses his plan to isolate Ender from the other boys on the way to Battle School, someone suggests that Graff enjoys breaking the children’s spirits. Graff counters that he enjoys the end result, when the children become good soldiers. Although Graff does at times seem to take pleasure in torturing Ender and the others, his pleasure stems more from thinking of how they will one day destroy the buggers.
“He’s clean. Right to the heart, he’s good.” “I’ve read the reports.” “Anderson, think what we’re going to do to him.”
After Graff and the children arrive at Battle School, Graff tells Anderson how good Ender truly is now that they have met. Although Graff appears hard on Ender throughout the novel, he genuinely admires Ender, and his words to Anderson here seem to reveal that he feels sorry for taking Ender’s childhood away from him. Readers note, however, that any guilt Graff feels doesn’t force him to abandon his plan to destroy the buggers.
Well, that does make me feel a little better. I thought I was the only one.
After Ender sees Peter’s face in the computer game, Graff asks Major Imbu how such an event could have happened. Major Imbu suggests that the computer game could be making the game up as Ender plays along. Here, Graff comments that the computer’s strategy may be similar to his own, a fact that appears to bring him some sort of comfort. Although Graff appears to be in complete control most of the time, he acknowledges that he doesn’t necessarily know how the situation with Ender will turn out.
“I may have used Valentine,” said Graff, “and you may hate me for it, Ender, but keep this in mind—it only works because what’s between you, that’s real, that’s what matters. Billions of those connections between human beings. That’s what you’re fighting to keep alive.”
After Valentine visits Ender at the lake, Graff admits to Ender that he brought Valentine there in order to manipulate Ender into going to Command School. He wanted Ender to remember the love he shares with Valentine, and to remember the billions of similar relationships on the planet that would be destroyed if Ender doesn’t fight the buggers. Although Graff seems singularly focused on making good soldiers, he also feels compassionate to Ender and others and works to ensure the survival of the human race.
…Graff reached out and touched his hand across the aisle. Ender stiffened in surprise, and Graff soon withdrew, but for a moment Ender was struck with the startling thought that perhaps Graff felt some affection for him. But no, it was just another calculated gesture.
The narrator describes how Ender reacts when, while heading to Command School, Graff touches Ender’s hand to comfort him. Ender quickly dismisses the gesture as part of Graff’s manipulation, but he remains unaware of how deeply Graff truly admires and loves him. Graff feels grateful to Ender for giving up his youth to train as a soldier, and he feels a father-like love towards Ender in that he wants to protect him.
Please wait while we process your payment