Starship Troopers 17

Study Guide Questions for Chapter Thirteen (Part 3)

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 the reading: “At the end of this time everything happened at once.”

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

Loyalty

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. For what did Johnnie say he was “thankful” concerning the terrain of his area on Planet P?

2. According to Johnnie, why did they “not dare use anything but short-range selective weapons?” 

3. What was Johnnie about to do which Captain Blackstone ordered him not to do?

4. Describe the “special talent.” What did he look like, how did he behave, and what did produce for Johnnie?

5. What does it sound like when the Bugs are burrowing?

6. Whom did Johnnie consider to be “almost as good an outfit as the infantry?”

7. What did Captain Blackstone do which upset Johnnie?

8. What did Johnnie notice about the Bug “traffic” underground?

9. What were Johnnie’s standing orders for whenever the Bugs whould emerge onto the surface?

10. What mistake did Johnnie realize he had made concerning the kind of soldiers he had with him at the listening post?

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

1. What did Johnnie mean by calling some of their weapons “selective?”

2. What can be inferred from Captain Blackstone’s choice of words when he said, “Youngster, stay out of that crater?”

3. What might be inferred about the “special talent” by the way the men around him behaved?

4. Why did Johnnie think what the special talent did was like “black magic?”

5. Why did Johnnie have such a deep respect for “Combat engineers?”

6. Why did Johnnie not want to go to sleep right then?

7. Why was Johnnie surprised to find out his platoon sergeant had been asleep?

8. Johnnie asked, “why should they [the Bugs] need to talk if they are all remotely controlled by the brain caste?” What reasons might there be for communication among the Bugs in light of this assumption?

9. Why did the M.I. want the Bugs to come to the surface and for the holes to remain open?

10. What “impossible situation” would Johnnie have faced if his platoon sergeant hadn’t suggested what he did?

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

1. In this reading Johnnie was put to sleep against his will by his commanding officer. Offer a definition for the concept of “submission.” How important is the concept of submission in a society? Why is submitting to an authority undesirable to many people? Give at least two examples where submission is necessary for society to function well? Generally speaking, what kind of person should be submitted to? What kind of person should not be submitted to?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Romans 13:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-33, and 1 Peter 2:13-25. What do we learn about the role of submission in society and to the kind of people we ought to submit to, from these passages?

2. Read Daniel 3, Acts 4:1-22, and Galatians 2. What do we learn about the role of submission in society, and the kind of people we ought not to submit to, from these passages?