Summary Of Walter Dean Myers 'Fallen Angels'

The military is often considered a place where people are able to escape persecution based on their gender or their race but the reality is that the environment forces both men and women to have to act differently. Walter Dean Myers, author of Fallen Angels, depicts the military environment during the Vietnam War and how it affected male gender roles. Ashley Nicolas, author of, “Women in military are hurt by the bigotry of low expectations”, explains how women are also affected by military expectations and that it is not only men. H Braswell author of, “Suicide, social integration, and masculinity in the U.S. military”, discusses that the military environments forced internalization of feelings influences suicide. All of these authors discuss

Myers clearly shows that the military forces men to act masculine when he writes, “My father used to call all soldiers angel warriors. He said, because usually they get boys to fight wars.” (Myers 214) It is clear that Myers is explaining that the military creates an environment in which men are forced to flaunt their masculinity and prove themselves to others. The military creates an environment that perpetuates an over exaggeration of masculinity. Due to this over exaggeration, men are not able to create their own identity, which leads to serious gender and behavioral issues. This forced environment leads to women having to act differently as well because many people feel that “women are not held to the same standards as men” (Nicolas) Nicolas shows that the military environment affects women as well as men and forces genders to act in different ways. Gender is not universal but the military forces gender roles to be blown out of proportion. Women are not held to the same standards as men, which in our day and age should be unheard of. Nicolas’ piece extends the point that Myers makes about the military environment and genders. The military completely alters the modern idea of men and women being able to create their own image of what they want to

Myers shows that gender roles and the way genders act are affected by the military environment when he writes, “There was this feeling that everything I was going to say was either too loud or too strange for a world in which people did normal things” (Myers 214) Myers explains that the military causes men and women to feel insecure about what they can and cannot do. Overall, this shows that after the military, men and women alike are not able to create their own identity. They are not able to act in the way they want to and are always forced to conform. This limitation causes extreme behavioral problems, which are not commonly experienced in everyday life. Myers is not the only one who had noticed this because contrary to popular knowledge, “masculine ideologies governing military life play a huge role in the internalization of individual frustrations and in suicidal behavior” (Braswell) Braswell shows that the forced conformity and masculinity leads to serious problems. Both genders are in a way told to act differently than they normally would and are not allowed to be individuals. They are not allowed to express their own feelings and their own emotions. Braswell corroborates Myers claim that the military limits and distorts gender identities. They both explain that this failure to be able to become an