Ender has just told Dragon Army that they can deal with anything – even with the administrators’ unfair schedules. This could be seen to be flattery, or maybe it’s just telling the truth. (After all, Dragon Army can handle anything as long as Ender’s in charge.) We’ve pulled this quote for how it seems to place Ender in a community (he’s totally trusted) but also puts him somewhat outside of it. After all, the way he wins over his army is almost like the way Dap wins over the Launchies (see 5.33) – and that’s clearly a case in which someone is standing outside (or above) the community. This issue will also come up between Ender and his friends: when you’re a commander, you’re not really just one of the guys.

This quote shows us a few forms of belonging. On one hand, there are the buggers, with their total commitment to the community. (In this case, we’re thinking of the fleet/hive as a community – although you could argue that the fleet/hive is really just one organism.) On the other hand, there’s the feeling that the videos of the bugger wars are trying to give the viewer – a sense of community for the entire human species. Does that work on Ender? Is there some way to make an entire species feel like one big, happy family?

Ender has basically this same moment with Dink, with Alai (10.175), and with Petra (11.104). In all these cases, Ender’s old friendship is damaged by the game and Battle School. This reminds us of how Ender’s friendships are complicated – by which we mean that Ender feels like he doesn’t have any friends. That's a bummer, no matter how smart Ender is. Now, all these kids do show up at Command School and Ender seems happy to see them. But since he lost these friends once, couldn't he could lose them again?