Starship Troopers Essay

Starship Troopers is a classic novel written in 1959 by retired Navy Lieutenant Robert Heinlein. At the time that it was published Starship Troopers was controversial yet won the Hugo Award in the 1960’s for being one of the best science fiction novels. One of the controversies surrounding the book is the main character’s history teacher’s view on violence and how violence “has settled more issues in history than has any other factor.” The book had such a cult following that there has been a film adaptation. It is a work of literature that has stood the test of time and is being read in our schools today. This may not seem shocking for such a classic book, but being science fiction it is a true accomplishment. The story within this novel is told through the eyes of one Juan Rico, who is from the Philippines. Being the son of a wealthy family Rico had many choices of life that he could choose from, finally deciding to volunteer for Federal Service, which in today’s world is like the military. During high school Rico was not a very intellectual student but preformed extraordinarily well physically, so the Federal Service decided the only thing Rico would be good at was the Mobile Infantry, which is the equivalent of a Marine today. While going through recruit training an incident happens where one of the recruits dies and Rico believes it is his fault. This causes Rico to want to quit, but while he is making the decision the “Bugs” or aliens hit his hometown killing his mother. When Rico learns of this he decides to stick with it in the coming war with the Bugs to take revenge on the beasts that killed his mother. During Rico’s time as a Mobile Infantry Man he excels far about his fellow troops, in combat and as a leader. Rico’s and members of his unit begin to attack on of the enemy strongholds when his ship comes under attack and is destroyed killing many of Rico’s unit. After showing courage and leadership during that battle Rico is assigned to a special unit