How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
"To grow until all the space you can see is part of you, under your control. It's the desire for greatness. There are two ways, though, to fulfill it. One way is to kill anything that is not yourself, to swallow it up or destroy it, until nothing is left to oppose you. But that way is evil." (17.300)
War is seen as the perverted form of a natural desire for expansion and survival. Ender argues that you could instead expand through alliances, or through joining with other people. Would it be possible just not to want to expand, to just want to hunker down and mind your own business? Shmoop thinks so—though maybe that's just because Shmoop is the retiring type.