Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

'Ten minutes later, dressed in trousers, undershirt, and shoes, I was lined up with the others in ragged ranks for setting-up exercises just as the Sun looked over the eastern horizon. Facing us was a big broad-shouldered, mean looking-man, dressed just as we were--except that while I looked and felt like a poor job of embalming, his chin was shaved blue, his trousers were sharply creased, you could have used his shoes for mirrors, and his manner was alert, wide-awake, relaxed, and rested. You got the impression that he never needed to sleep-- just ten-thousand-mile checkups and dust him off occasionally' (Heinlein 42).

I think this passage is perfect for showing the current setting of the story, because it shows to the reader where the main character is, and that he is struggling to keep up with the discipline and daily life of boot camp. This is made apparent by the fact that he is making fun of the neat appearance and the efficiency of his superior officer. The passage also shows that the main character seems to lack the discipline needed to be in the army.

What is main reason why he joined the army?


' "This very personal relationship, 'value,' has two factors for a human being: first, what he can do with a thing, its use to him... and second, what he must do to get it, its cost to him. There is an old song which asserts 'the best things in life are free.' Not true! Utterly false! This was the tragic fallacy which brought on the decadence and collapse of the democracies of the twentieth century; those noble experiments failed because the people had been led to believe that they could simply vote for whatever they wanted... and get it, without toil, without sweat, without tears. "Nothing of value is free. Even the breath of live is purchased at birth only through gasping effort and pain." He had been still looking at me and added, "If you boys and girls had to sweat for your toys the way a newly born baby has to struggle to live you would be happier... and much richer. As it is, with some of you, I pity the poverty of your wealth. You! I've just awarded you the prize for the hundred-meter dash. Does it make you happy?" "Uh, I suppose it would."
"No dodging, please. You have the prize-- here, I'll write it out: 'Grant prize winner for the championship, one hundred-meter sprint.' " He had actually come back to my seat and pinned it on my chest. "There! Are you happy? You value it-- or don't you?"
I ripped it off and chucked it at him. Mr. Dubois had looked surprised. "It doesn't make you happy?"
"You know darn well I placed fourth!"
"Exactly! The prize for first place is worthless to you... because you haven't earned it. But you enjoy a modest satisfaction in placing fourth; you earned it. I trust that some of the somnambulists here understood this little morality play. I fancy that the poet who wrote that song meant to imply that the best things in life must be purchased other than with money--which is true-- just as the literal meaning of his words is false. The best things in life are beyond money; their price is agony and sweat and devotion... and the price demanded for the most precious of all things in life is life itself--ultimate cost for perfect value'' '(Heinlein 93-94).

I chose this passage mainly because it answers my previous question of why he joined the army; and the answer is to earn his right to vote and to prove to himself and others that he has earned that right. His teacher's example of giving the main character the first place for the hundred-meter dash shows that the main character, and anyone else, is only proud of those things which he or she has actually done, something the main character has yet to fully grasp.
One question I have so far about the text is:What is a somnambulist?
Another question about the development of the story is: How will the main character's teacher influence his future actions?