Extra Credit Blog - Starship Troopers

Over the summer, Heinlein novels were thrust upon me by a good friend and I have found myself drawn into the world of early Science Fiction. I can not get over Heinlein and how he writes. I think the guy is a genius and there is just so much to draw from any one of his novels, I really don't think I could go wrong. I decided to go with Starship Troopers because Stranger in a Strange Land is just so full of stuff thematically and otherwise that I'd never be able to cram what I want to say into seven pages. Troopers makes some very strong statements about citizenship, voting rights, and military service and those are topics I don't really make too much noise about despite having strong feelings about them. I've never really written a paper that I feel like I have such a strong connection to and feeling about. I think that comes partly from being able to pick my own novel. I have a connection to this book and I finally feel like I'm going to be doing a 'real' research paper.

Basically, the book centers around Johnnie Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. This is one of the few Heinlein novels told in flashbacks, and the format is very effective when combined with the first person narration. The story winds back and forth between past and present, starting with Johnnie's involvement in his first military raid. The narrative then flashes back to his senior year of high school and his decision to enlist in the MI. Five or so chapters chronicling his enlistment and various antics are followed with a flash back to the present. Johnnie eventually gets his staunchly anti-service father to enlist and his father ends up serving under Johnnie as he is promoted to captain at the end of the novel.

I haven't really read anything during the course of the class that influenced me to go with a Heinlein one way or the other, but this class has definitely given me a lot of confidence in my analytical abilities so I feel like I can tackle this project and do it justice. I'm not sure if I would have chosen this text at the beginning of the class because I wasn't as confident as I am now. I probably would have chosen something more benign. At this point though, I feel like I have a good direction and I'm finding some really great research. There are also other Heinlein novels I can use as sources to back up my points which gives me more reading to do :)