Starship Troopers 12

Study Guide Questions for Chapter Twelve (Part 1)

If you are looking for the beginning of the study of Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers then you can go HERE for a brief introduction. At the bottom of the introduction you will find the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. If you would like to see the growing list of available book studies available for free on this site you can go HERE. Enjoy!

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Last line of Reading: “Carmen had kissed me good-by.”

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Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Pride, Grief, Ignorance, Trust

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. According to John Paul Jones, what are some traits that an officer in the military must have?

2. What did Johnnie receive right before he set off for Officer Candidate School?

3. Whom did Johnnie unexpectedly run into on Sanctuary when he was heading to Officer Candidate School and where was he going?

4. What had Zim “always tried” first at bootcamp? 

5. According to the text, how was Johnnie’s father, Emilio Rico, able to earn the rank of corporal so quickly?

6. What shared experience was Johnnie surprised to learn that he and his father had in common which made him have “a sudden warm flood of emotion?”

7. What had Johnnie’s father done with the family business when he went into the M.I.?

8. How was Officer Candidate School different from Basic training?

9. What was the case about “most of the instructors” at Johnnie’s O.C.S.?

10. What occurred while Johnnie was at O.C.S. which greatly increased Johnnie’s “prestige” among his fellow cadets?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Why would Lieutenant Jelal (Jelly) give Johnnie his Sergeant chevrons even though he was going to Officer Candidate School?

2. Johnnie said, “The Army needs a lot of really grown-up men in the middle grades; it’s a paternalistic organization.” What did he mean by this?

3. What did Emilio (Johnnie’s dad) mean when he said Johnnie’s mother never could understand his decision to enlist in the M.I. “any more than a bird can understand swimming?”

4. Emilio said that when he had been angry at Johnnie for going into the M.I. that it had been “sheer resentment.” Why did Emilio resent Johnnie’s decision even though he had been very successful in business?

5. Why did Madame Ruitman not understand the gravity of what had happened on Faraway?

6. What did the sergeant mean when he said, “we don’t check the statements of the ‘young gentlemen’ around here. We simply cashier them if it ever turns out that they have not told the truth?”

7. Why did officer candidates have to study such a wide variety of subjects?

8. Why did Johnnie mean by saying Carmen’s “secret weapon may be older than” the hypnosis techniques of the modern age?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. In this reading we learned about the death of three people very important to Johnnie, namely, Al Jenkins, Migliaccio (the Padre), and his highschool buddy Carl. Of crouse, the loss of his mother is also still fresh to Johnnie as he speaks with his father. Johnnie notes, however, that he and Carmen “had learned to live with such things.” What are some typical, but unhelpful, responses to loss?  How ought we to cope with losing people we care about? If you were giving counsel to someone who’s close friend or relative had just died, what counsel would you give them to help them work through the pain of that loss?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and John 11:25-26. How are Christians uniquely equipped to deal with suffering the loss of loved ones?