“War becomes a part of you”? It is a feeling just as much as an experience” -Clint Van Winkle. In Fallen Angels, the readers get to experience this first hand as they follow Ritch Perry, a soldier in the Vietnam War, through the emotional roller coaster of new friendships, death, and the trauma. Walter Dean Myers in his novel Fallen Angels uses the experiences of the soldiers to teach readers that some trauma cannot be forgotten. Most of the soldiers had little to no experience fighting in the army. “I finished high school, but I hadn't gone to the graduation exercise” (Myers 13). Many of these soldiers were teenagers who just got out of school. “I was scared of him. My mouth was going dry, and I could see Peewee was scared, too.” (Myers 24). …show more content…
They stood around waiting for orders, scared of what was going to happen. “I had forgotten to load the damn thing” (Myers 80). Being young and inexperienced, it's easy to forget little things, but in war those little things could cost someone their life. With all the fighting, they had to find ways to cope. The “Prayer” can be very comforting. I wonder if any of you men would like to pray with me?” (Myers 223). The soldiers often turned to God when faced with hardships. “Then he asked me for a cigarette, and we were sitting there smoking when the captain came in”(Myers47). They used cigarettes as a distraction from the war and loss. “When I got to the back of the truck, Peewee was cracking up. I laughed with him. Jenkins started imitating the sergeant, and had his voice down perfectly” (Myers 26). Lighting the mood with some jokes and a little fooling around was helpful during the war. Death was a very big part of the war. They lost friends they had made and also feared death themselves. They were young and not ready to die. The “Shock” is a slam. Pain. I am a snob. Nobody wanted to look at anybody
life and feels that money is the source of all his problems (Myers 15). Perry believes he should join the army to escape his future, to get money and to make it up to his younger brother and mother, and he does just that, He gets enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1967, due to a failure to process his medical file correctly leading him to not receive a medical discharge, Perry gets an unexpected ticket to the Vietnam War. In Fallen Angels, the major subjects include the history in The Vietnam War
do not recognize how beneficial their lives are compared to others. Take for instance the war in Vietnam, where thousands of men, some younger than myself, fought in one of the most gruesome war the United States has seen. In the work Fallen Angels, Walter Dean Myers depicts a story of a young man, escaping his lifestyle in the United States by enlisting in the military. One of the major themes this book brings to mind is the theme of accepting reality, and overcoming such reality mentally. Ergo,
Walter Dean Myers wrote the book Fallen Angels. It is about America's experiences in the Vietnam War as told by the main character in the book, Richie Perry. Perry goes through a lot of changes and sees some of his good friends die in battle fighting for a cause that no one could agree upon. The book has 4 other main characters, Lobel, Johnson, Brunner, and Peewee. The book starts off talking about the experiences of Perry while he is serving in Vietnam. His best friend, Peewee becomes instant
Fallen Angels The real tragedy of war is the gratuitous loss of human lives. As each soul struggles to stay alive in the war, they have several obstacles that tear them down. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers describes the lives of several teenagers who were too young to vote, but still found themselves in the middle of a violent war. As the war goes on, the closer the group gets and becomes a family. They solve each and every problem they face as a team to get through the Vietnam war. Thus,
banned. From the in-depth imagery to the friendships made during war, the literary masterpiece Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, uses the horrors of Vietnam War as his back drop but was criticized for his use of profanities and racism. Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937, in West Virginia. In 1940 he was adopted by Herbert and Florence Dean who were good friends with Myers’ mom (Bishop Xi). Myers’ mom died before he was adopted at the age of three which didn’t help anything because that
Pre-AP Reader’s Journal Title: Journal entry for “Fallen Angels” 1. Significance of the title: The historical definition of a “Fallen Angel” is a wicked or rebellious angel that has been cast out of Heaven. This is applicable to the book because it centers on group of misfits that all are a bunch of rebellious people that have been sent out to fight. 2. Genre: Historical Fiction 3. Date: 1988 4. Author: Walter Dean Myers 5. Setting: Vietnam in the 1960s 6. Importance of this setting: 1960s
Fallen Angels is historical fiction book, written by Walter Dean Myers, set in New York and Vietnam. Many experiences in the book draw off events that the author has experienced in his own life. The main character is Richie Perry, who is a African-American boy, around 17-20 years old. He is intelligent enough to enter in the State College, but he lives in single-parent family,so he can’t afford to go to college. Instead, he decides the best alternative is to join the army, which would provide money
the General whom condoned and encouraged the abuse and hazing (Kubrick). This depiction shows the viewer the same moral corruption that is evident in “Things They Carried.” Another book that analyses the moral corruption of war is “Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers. The story line speaks of a seventeen year old young black man from Harlem named Richie Perry. As the story unfolds the Richie witnesses the ever-escalating levels of destruction and brutality war brings. He continually questions whether
Both, he and Sonny go off to war to escape poverty. “Fallen Angels” is written by Walter Dean Myers, a famous African American writer. Born and raised in the projects of Harlem, New York, Perry joined the army as an escape out of Harlem: "My plans, maybe just my dreams really, had been to go to college, and to write like James
There are many similarities from the novel Fallen Angels and the movie Platoon. Both Platoon and Fallen Angels took place during the Vietnam War. Fallen Angels and Platoon are similar in the protagonists, the settings, and the climax. The protagonists in Fallen Angels and Platoon are very similar. In Fallen Angel the protagonists name Richie Perry and in Platoon the main character is named Chris Taylor. They are both fighting in the Vietnam War. Perry and Taylor’s reaction to the aspects of war
The book Fallen Angels explains how you fight to survive and also the book is by Walter Dean Myers. On a jungle battle front where one misplaced step could be any soldier's last, every move can mean the difference between death and also survival. The way the book starts off is a 19 year old boy who lives in chicago, he recently joins the army and been assigned to do domestic work as he hoped for due to his bad leg and unreliable strength on it. He was eventually sent to Nam and put onto field. He
Myers explains the life of a young African American man named Perry that goes off to fight in the Vietnam war. Perry was born and raised in the projects of Harlem New York and joined the army as an escape out of Harlem. "My plans, maybe just my dreams really, had been to go to college, and to write like James Baldwin. All the other guys in the neighborhood thought I was going to college. I wasn’t, and the army was the place I was going to get away from all the questions."(Myers 15). The
to a home that didn't want them. Their feelings torn by atrocities, the loss of friends, and the condition of loneliness only made the experience worse. Did the issues on the home front affect the issues on the frontline? The novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is a perfect example of the conflict and diversity among other soldiers during the Vietnam War. It shows the reality many soldiers faced and how they dealt with conflicts back home while they were alone and afraid of death creeping up
No matter the age, we all have faced a time in our lives in which we have had to make a decision. Not only for the embetterment of us now, but in the future as well. This is arguably Perry’s, the main character in Walter Dean Myers’ Fallen Angels, biggest dilemma. He was forced to make a decision that felt would not only benefit him now and in the future, but also benefit his brother and mother's future as well. His ultimate decision was to join the United States army. Perry, the protagonist, and
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, begins with the introduction of an African American 19-year-old boy who lives in Chicago. Recently he's joined the army and been assigned domestic work as he hoped for due to his bad leg and unreliable strength on it. Then, by accident of paperwork, he was eventually sent to Nam and put directly onto the field. He agreed to wait for his injury profile to catch up with him and that then he could return home. His mother at home is quite worried for him and also