In the book Fallen Angels by Walter Myers, Richie Perry struggles with the idea of moral ambiguity. Perry struggles for two reasons, the first is with the idea of if he is good or bad, does killing for your country make it right? The second reason Perry struggles with moral ambiguity is because he wonders what are all of them doing in Vietnam in the first place, were they really accomplishing anything? First, the idea of good or bad. Perry comes into the war with the belief that the Americans are the “good” guys. Throughout the book, he starts to think otherwise. He knows that they are only people living their lives. Perry notes, “ We were supposed to smile a lot and treat the people with dignity. They were supposed to think we were the good guys. That bothered me a little. I didn’t like having to convince anybody that I was the good guy…. We, the Americans, were the good guys” (Myers). Here, Perry is realizing that if you have to convince someone you're the good guys, are you actually the good guys? When you go fight for your country of course you are going to be bias and, think you are on the “good” side. But throughout the novel Perry changes, he puts himself in the Vietcong’s shoes, you can see this when Perry observes, “ He was young, no more than a teenager. He looked scared …show more content…
First I talked about the idea of good and bad. He being an american was the good one, he thought at first. It shakes him that on the pacification missions they have to try and convince them that they are the good ones. The moral ambiguity in this situation being that are you really good when you have to convince someone that you are? Second I talked about Perry thinking what are any of them doing in Nam. He realizes the ineffectiveness of the Vietnam War. The moral ambiguity in this being that he is risking his life when he shouldn’t be