Character Analysis
They don’t even get names – that’s how unimportant Ender’s parents are in this story. (Well, his dad actually gets a name. Graff tells Ender that his dad was baptized John Paul Wieczorek (3.89). But no one actually calls him that throughout the book.) And here’s another clue that shows us that Ender’s parents are hardly around or aware: they don’t get that their dear Peter is crazy-cakes. Although, let’s put some of the blame where it’s due: Ender says that he tried to hide whatever crazy thing Peter did to him from his parents (5.88). You know what Peter says about their father? “You know he’s never in” (2.24). Ouch.
There’s really practically nothing else to say about Ender’s parents, except that they give Graff a useful opportunity to talk a bit about how religion fits in this future. Otherwise, they’re mostly here to show us… Well, what do they show us? Here’s an idea: although Graff and Mazer will be very important later, most of this book is about what happens between kids. Ender’s parents being non-entities just reinforces that fact. From the time that Ender is little, the most important relationships he has are with his brother and sister.