Fallen Angels - Book Review
Walter Dean Myers' Fallen Angels takes a dive into the harsh reality of modern war. The realistic depictions of various events in the war and the thoughts of the narrator (Perry) and other characters show an immense change in their approach to the war. Many Americans didn't know what was really going on and history books will only teach that the US was aiming to only stop the spread of communism; but when Richie Perry enlists in the army without much thought other than to receive a steady paycheck he is soon introduced to the harsh senselessness in much of the Vietnam War's violence and destruction. This exposure generates a radical change in the characters.The main character for the novel is Richie Perry; a young man from Harlem not giving much thought to his enlistment in the army. All along the battle fields the soldiers can feel a sense of death, from those dead around them and from wi
They are forever changed to the point that many of them are unsure they will even be recognized by loved ones. " Walter Dean Myers does a wonderful job projecting his realistic view of the war into this novel and goes into great depth over the tremendous change incurred in the main characters over the course of the war. Perry has not been conditioned to the brutality of the war yet and so this event does not leave him easily. A child rigged to bombs blows up in a soldiers arms, devastating the minds of those who saw it, although they tried to hide their discomfort. Perry for one is unsure how Kenny and his mother will react once they meet again upon his arrival to the "world. One example of the effects of death seen early in the novel is when coming back from patrol Perry witnesses the new guy to the squad, Jenkins, being blown away by a land mine just outside of base. Perry didn't just shoot him but unleashed an entire clip into the man, truly unleashing a hidden evil inside driven out by the lack of structure in the lives they were now wrapped up in. Events like this also shape the behavior of the soldiers on the battle field. Overtime soldiers lose their sensitivity to the death around them until they're concerned with only staying alive with no care for the lives of others. A few times in the book people were shocked to what was happening around them causing them to act out without thinking. tnessing one another being hit in the midst of battle. "These characters entered the war without the knowledge of what they would be getting into. " The world in Vietnam during the war is one without moral standards. This haunts Perry for a while but yet seems to be forgotten by the others.
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