Starship Troopers

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1959

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapter 10-Afterword

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Themes

The Importance of Duty

The central theme of Starship Troopers is duty—duty to one’s fellow soldiers and, ultimately, duty to all of humanity.

Johnnie Rico listens doubtfully to his History and Moral Philosophy teacher, Mr. Dubois, who lectures endlessly about the importance of duty as a chief attribute of good leadership. Later, as a cadet officer in the Mobile Infantry, Johnnie attends another Moral Philosophy class that elaborates on the concept of duty as the highest calling. The classes teach that people become virtuous when they place others above themselves: “[…] a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with” (126). In that sense, the purpose of life is to be of service to one’s fellow humans. The highest duty, then, is to risk one’s life to protect others.

Duty extends as far as one’s own species and no further. Civilizations that try to limit their growth, for example to save resources or prevent overpopulation, will be overrun by any species that feels no such compunctions. In interstellar space, humans who colonize other planets face competition from alien species who want those same worlds for themselves. As both species expand into the galaxy, inevitably they will come into conflict. The Bugs are a hive society, their workers and warriors programmed automatically to serve the hive and die as ordered. Humans are differentf: For them, individuals are important, and they’ll go to great lengths to save even one stranded person, even at the risk of many others.

The best human citizens are those who demonstrate a willingness to sacrifice themselves, if needed, to save humanity. In Johnnie’s world, the proof of this comes from previous centuries, when universal suffrage led to voters choosing permissive laws on crime and punishment, which led to widespread disorders, world war, and social collapse. From the ashes arose a new system in which full citizenship is granted only to those who volunteer for a term in Federal Service, complete their duties honorably, and retire back to civilian life.

Service usually involves little more than desk work or supply jobs or construction and maintenance positions, but every volunteer faces the possibility of being chosen to fight on the front lines. Their willingness to risk themselves is key to their future value as voters and leaders, for it is this type of spirit that best manages society in the future. Thus, every voter is someone “who has demonstrated through voluntary and difficult service that he places the welfare of the group ahead of personal advantage” (192).

No one may hold civilian office or vote if they are still in the military; career officers like Johnnie must postpone their full rights until they have mustered out. In this way, the world’s government is imbued with the spirit of sacrifice of the military without being controlled by it. Most civilians disdain Federal Service; they consider it an obligation too great for the relatively small payoff of voting and holding office. They are content to live and work as members of a successful and prosperous society, and they’re happy to be safe under the protection of those dedicated enough to enter Federal Service.

Johnnie mulls over all these ideas while a soldier and realizes that, though he isn’t really inspired by the desire to save humanity, he is truly dedicated to his platoon, the men with whom he has shared hardship and fellowship. He’ll lay down his life for them in a moment. Though this attitude is sufficient to qualify him for full citizenship, Johnnie decides to postpone that privilege for the even higher duty of extended service, with its continuous call to risk and sacrifice.

The Benefit of Brotherhood

Basic Training in the Mobile Infantry is rigorous and dangerous; most recruits wash out, and some die in accidents. The work is never-ending and exhausting; trainers are ruthlessly tough. Johnnie thinks of quitting many times, but something keeps him going—that something is brotherhood. Though the trainers—especially Sergeant Zim—treat the men brusquely and harshly, their efforts guide the recruits toward a sense of competence and shared mission. Trainees learn to set aside their self-indulgent attitudes and adopt instead a sense of common purpose and camaraderie. They become adept at quickly coming to each other’s aid, and they develop a sense of personal responsibility for the effective conduct of their squads, “that self-respect and need for the respect of his mates and his pride in being one of them called morale, or esprit de corps” (219).

In time, troopers come to value each other as fellow soldiers. The difficult work requires them to build a sense of mutual trust: In battle, there’s no time to argue, and orders must be carried out with no question and great competence, or soldiers get killed. Even so, their best efforts during battle sometimes fail, and soldiers die. Platoon members feel each death keenly. Ironically, this brotherhood begins with dislike. In the manner of his fellow recruits, Johnnie at first despises Sergeant Zim for his tough, almost cruel, insistence on high standards. Yet Johnnie begins to understand and respect Zim’s toughness because it polishes away the ragged edges of personality that can get a soldier killed in battle. Johnnie learns to respect and admire Zim, and during the battle at Planet P, he and his squad risk themselves to rescue Zim.

Another type of dislike that evolves into respect takes place frequently between soldiers. Corporal Ace, a more experienced cap trooper than Johnnie, treats him coolly even when Johnnie outranks him. Johnnie tries to settle the issue by bringing Ace to a washroom for a quick martial arts showdown. Unfortunately, Ace wins the fisticuffs, but, out of a newfound respect for Johnnie, Ace concedes the fight and ceases being surly. They bond as fellow soldiers and become friends.

Johnnie finally realizes that his squad, platoon, and company are connected in a brotherhood, a family of sorts: “The root of our morale is: ‘Everybody works, everybody fights’” (219). It’s a family much closer even than a typical biological family, and each member will lay down his life for the others. It’s this realization, more than any sense of duty to humanity as a whole, that inspires Johnnie to apply for OCS. He yearns, not to be special, but to be of greater service to his family of soldiers—his brotherhood.

The Value of Competence

In business, the arts, and the sciences, competence is important, but in war, it’s a matter of life and death. Mistakes can be fatal. The Mobile Infantry and the Federation Navy face lethal threats from alien civilizations, not to mention the rigors of space travel and work on inhospitable planets. Their members must be competent. To this end, all training, from Basic to OCS, is conducted with the utmost attention to excellence. Every act of incompetence or inattention is sharply rebuked, and extraordinary acts of heroism or innovation are rewarded.

Mobile Infantry Basic Training involves early morning calisthenics, frequent daylong hikes, overnights spent on cold ground and with little to eat, rigorous training in martial arts, and hours of practice in the powered suits the men will use in combat. Physical stress helps toughen the recruits, and the endless rehearsals develop individual skills and hone the soldiers into smoothly functioning teams. OCS is even tougher, as officers are expected to work harder and risk more than their soldiers. To that end, instructors arrange for cadets to receive tutoring in weak areas. For Johnnie, this involves long hours studying math; the issue is so important to upper leadership that, onboard a troop ship, the skipper, a math whiz, requisitions Johnnie as a student to give him the benefit of her expertise.

For that matter, Naval captains must have extraordinary navigational instincts; in the future, women dominate the category: “drop & retrieval require the best pilots (i.e., female)” (215). Thus, most spaceships are commanded by women, and more than half a ship’s officers are female. Most important is a sense that any MI soldier or Navy person will execute orders promptly, diligently, and expertly. Anything less, and things become slipshod, mutual trust decays, and battles are lost due to incompetence. Death itself trains the military to excellence.

The issue is so important that only superb competence is regarded as worthy. Johnnie seems to be the best of the best, but he constantly berates himself for mistakes, and as an officer in training he is his own harshest critic. During the book’s final battle, Johnnie acquits himself but expects a reprimand for certain decisions he makes. Instead, his performance is regarded as standard; he receives no commendations but is simply returned to OCS to complete his training. Being the best of the best, then, is considered standard in MI.