SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

The Enemy's Gate is Down becomes a mantra for Ender as he tries to train the others to re-orient themselves to fighting in space.

But, when the odds are ridiculously stacked against him--the saying takes on a new meaning.

While there are "The Enemy's Gate is Down" shirts and coffee cups, etc., the meaning is not apparent to outsiders.

I often think of the saying as a great philosophy toward life. But, I would be interested to know how would you explain the meaning of The Enemy's Gate is Down to a non-reader? What does it mean to you?

You might find this humorous:

http://xkcd.com/241/

Ha! That was funny.

Nick--you always find the greatest stuff. That is hilarious. Scifi geek humor!

Nick that was great! Loved it!

I want one of these tee-shirts. Does anyone have a good website where you can order them?

Interesting Donna, that is not exactly how I would have defined it. But, as the originator of the post, I don't want to jump in with my definition yet.

Anyone else? How would you define "The Enemy's Gate is Down."

I agree, that is not necessarily how I interpret this mantra. In more of a literal sense, which I like to keep things, it is used in the book to break the bonds of common thought. The gate is not straight ahead, rather it is on another plane. That other plane , or even better, the other axis is there for everybody to see, witness, and utilize. The key to this mantra, is that it should be used as a tool.

It's a tool to help one think out of the box. What is the advantage of thinking out side the box? well, it's another point of view, to see the problem in other light, and with that new perspective you can over come the problem. Later on in the book when used by, I forgot who, it means the same thing. the Challenge is the same all we need to do is change our perceptive and you will see the same challenge.

My wife also pointed out to me, She is not a sci fi fan for the record and has never even heard of Ender, that it could be used as an invitation of conquering. The enemies gate is down/open and is ready to be conquered. Like at a rally, a go team go ; We can over come the odds and win the battle. In context of the book this I think is wrong, it was used as a tactical maneuver. Later when it was used as a mantra it is difficult to see that he was trying to rally everyone with a "cheer". Being a little biased towards my opinion, I think it was being used as a wake up call to the troops as 'check of the situation, and see it not the different than we ahve seen before'.

Ender's character makes this one unlikely, but he could even be making a sort of chest-thumping assertion of superiority over the enemy.

"The Enemy's Gate is Down" to me was a call to band together and focus on the primary goal. It is call "stop sweating the small stuff" remember why we are here. "Chest thumping" is out of character for Ender by having the group recall past victories is not outside of his character, particularly if it was meant to motivate.

In the battle room, the enemy gate being down also meant a strategy. The group would position themselves to take damage to their smallest point, their feet and dive toward their objective. "The Enemy Gate is Down" could be a seen as a call for sacrifice to reach the objective. I look forward to other interpretations.

Dov,

I tend to go for the symbolic over the literal. That being said, I agree with Jeremy that the saying started with Ender reorienting himself and his soldiers to optimize strategy. But, I think that by the final two battles (the final fight at Battle School and then the final bugger fight at Command School) it takes on a more symbolic meaning. I always interpreted it as a philosophy to go all-out, the consequences be damned, and hit where you will be most effective. In both of the final battles, Ender and his soldiers were ridiculously outnumbered, if they had fought strategically, they would have lost. By Ender throwing away the rules and not worrying about the consequences, he wins.