Presence of the Monitors

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meuwi032
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Presence of the Monitors

Postby meuwi032 » Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:03 am

One thing I would like to know more about is how strongly the presence of the monitors effected the children's upbringing. It is made clear that the Wiggins children did not inherit their intellect and problem-solving capabilities from their parents. Neither of them even remotely understood what was going on in their own home. This poses a question for me: How much of the Wiggins children's knowledge was genetic, and how much was affected by the monitor? Additionally, how many children were given monitors (this may have been addressed and I did not comprehend it)? I would love to know whether the monitor had something to do with the awareness that the Wiggins children seemed to have.

I personally think that it made them want to act on their best behavior. What the children did not realize was that the monitor expressed how they were feeling. It did not hide anything. I still am completely baffled as to how the children ended up as wise as they did at such young ages.

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Re: Presence of the Monitors

Postby Rei » Thu Aug 26, 2010 11:56 am

One thing I would like to know more about is how strongly the presence of the monitors effected the children's upbringing. It is made clear that the Wiggins children did not inherit their intellect and problem-solving capabilities from their parents. Neither of them even remotely understood what was going on in their own home.
This is actually discussed in the Shadow series, if I recall correctly. More or less, the parents deliberately played dumb. That way they could keep an eye on things without their kids catching on.
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Postby Janus%TheDoorman » Thu Aug 26, 2010 3:57 pm

First Meetings, I think details John Paul and Theresa's first meeting. It's arguably a bit of a retcon, but the truth is that John Paul was originally scouted to be what Ender would eventually become, but was determined inadequate for reasons I can't remember, but it's hinted that the IF engineers his meeting Theresa specifically to produce the sort of children that would be as close to ideal as possible.

John Paul and Theresa not to stop their children from catching on, but to stop the IF from realizing that they've caught on, for fear that the IF would then see their genetic engineering experiment as compromised and break up their family.
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Postby neo-dragon » Thu Aug 26, 2010 5:03 pm

Yeah. Your mileage may vary on how believable you find it, but later books establish that Mr. & Mrs. Wiggin are very intelligent and always knew what their children were up to. It's likely a retcon that OSC came up with long after writing Ender's Game, but it puts a funny twist on John Paul's quoting and agreeing with Demosthenes much to Valentine's dismay.
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Postby Psudo » Thu Aug 26, 2010 9:20 pm

John Paul was originally scouted to be what Ender would eventually become, but was determined inadequate for reasons I can't remember
I believe the reason was that John Paul refused to do it.


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