Editing Starship Troopers (section)

===Coming of age===
''Starship Troopers'' has been referred to as a [[bildungsroman]] or "[[coming-of-age]]" story for Rico, as he matures through his tenure in the infantry. His training, both at boot camp and at officer candidate school, involves learning the value of [[militarism]], thus inviting the reader to learn it as well.{{sfn|Booker|Thomas|2009|p=217}} This is especially true of the parts of his training that involve indoctrination, such as the claim by one of his instructors that rule by military veterans is the ideal form of government, because only they understand how to put collective well-being above the individual.{{sfn|Booker|Thomas|2009|p=217}} The story traces Rico's transformation from a boy into a soldier, while exploring issues of identity and motivation,<ref name="JW"/> and traces his overall moral and social development, in a manner identified by commentators as similar to many stories about German soldiers in [[World War I]].{{sfn|Crim|2010|p=108}} Rico's transformation has been likened to the common narrative within stories with military themes by scholar [[H. Bruce Franklin]]. This typical narrative is that of a sloppy and unfit civilian being knocked into shape by tough officers, whose training is "calculated sadism" but is depicted as fundamentally being on the right side.{{sfn|Franklin|1980|p=111}} The letter Rico receives from Dubois, partly responsible for Rico "crossing the hump" with his training, is shown as a turning point in his development.<ref name="Magill"/> The classroom scenes embedded in the story serve to explain Rico's adventures, and highlight his reactions to events around. A notable example is the execution Rico is forced to witness after a deserter from his unit murders a young girl; Rico is uncertain of his own reaction until he remembers a lecture by Dubois in which the latter argues that "moral sense" derives entirely from the will to survive.<ref name="Magill"/>{{sfn|Slusser|1986|p=68}} The concept of the American frontier is also related to the coming-of-age theme. Young protagonists across Heinlein's novels attain manhood by confronting a hostile "wilderness" in space; coming-of-age in a military, alien context is a common theme in Heinlein's earlier works as well.{{sfn|King|1998|pp=1019–1021}} Rico's coming-of-age has also been described as being related to his relationship with his father; the journey "outward" through the novel also contains a search for Rico's childhood and a reunion with his estranged parent.{{sfn|Slusser|1986|p=21}}