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Realistic Depiction Of War In Fallen Angels By Walter Dean Myers

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When you think of war what do you think of? Do you think of crazy action scenes? Do you think of heroes? Well the book Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers is nothing like that. The novel is about a young boy named Richard Perry who is embarrassed about not going to college. His embarrassment causes him to enlist in the military and he ends up serving time in Vietnam. The novel touches on his experiences and bonds with his platoon while serving his time in Vietnam. Throughout the book, Myers shows a realistic depiction of war such as the graphic violence, the inner thoughts of a soldier, and how the platoon struggles to survive.
Throughout the novel, Myers utilizes many different ways to portray the realistic depiction of war. Graphic violence seen by the soldiers portrays that realism, and really makes you visualize what is happening in the novel. On many occasions …show more content…

In this patrol Perry uses very descriptive words to describe what he saw on that patrol as they were going back to the base, “Bodies once alive, then lifeless, seemed to live again as the bullets tore into dead flesh and made it dance in the afternoon sun” (Myers 260). This quote really makes you visualize how graphic and violent the war actually is. Another realistic depiction of the war is how Richie questions the war greatly. All through the novel he questions why they are there, or if they are the good guys. In the story they go to villages to help and aid the people. They also do it so the people like them, “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. That was where we were supposed to start from” (Myers 112). As one can see Richie is very bothered at the idea that they have to

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People back home were naive to the actions that were being taken in Vietnam because they were lacking in communication. In the novel “Fallen Angels” you can tell that the soldiers were very timid with what they said in their letters that were sent back home. Most letters sent back home were about the little things that brought them joy like playing games with kids. Not many actually said they went into battle or fought in a bullet parade. They would ask them what it's really like over there because they could see what was happening on TV, but media blocked a lot of reality from the war and the graphic effects.

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"I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think. " said by New York Times correspondent David Halberstam. In Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers talks about how Richie Perry a seventeen-year-old boy stationed in Vietnam. Richie lost his innocence by experiencing too many war tragedies.

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The novel Fallen Angels, written by Walter Dean Myers, is a story that follows a young African American man named Richie through his journey in the Vietnam war. As a child, Myers had a hard time communicating with others as a result of his speech impediment, and looked to writing as an escape. Similar to the main character, he joined the army as a teenager. This novel was inspired by his own experiences in the army, and served as an outlet for him to express all of the things that he learned about war. The main theme of Fallen Angels is the loss of innocence that war brings.

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In the beginning of the novel, Perry was an uncertain teen who didn’t know where his place in life was “The real question was what I was doing, what any of us were doing, in Nam” (69). By the middle of the book, Perry started to become doubtful of himself and started to say Jenkins and Carroll died because of him “In a way i felt real bad just for being alive to write it” (110). And by the last few chapters he really starts to lose his way and lose his judgement from right and wrong “Maybe when we all got back to the world and everybody thought we were heroes for winning it, then it would seem right from there” (229). During my reading of Fallen Angels, I began to notice the theme, and I think the theme is that War is devastating to people because it can totally mess you up psychologically and physically.

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Bertrand Russell once said, “War doesn’t determine who’s right, only who’s left.” The Vietnam War was one in particular where soldiers often struggled with who the enemy was. War is too often thought of as something to be won, but this novel reveals it is simply something to be survived, and the shell of a person that is left will not be the same one that walked into battle. That is a jarring reality very prominent in Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. It is a lesson soldier Richard Perry learns all too well on his journey from innocent young boy to Vietnam veteran.

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