Value Of Life In Fallen Angels

To be engaged in war is to be engaged in an armed conflict. Death is an all too ordinary product of war. It is an unsolicited reward for many soldiers that are fighting for their country’s own fictitious freedom. For some of these men, the battlefield is a glimpse into hell, and for others, it is a means to heaven. Many people worry about what happens during war and what will become of their loved ones while they’re fighting, but few realize what happens to those soldiers once they come home. The short stories "Soldier's Home” by Ernest Hemingway and "Speaking of Courage” by Tim O'Brien explore the thematic after effects of war and how it impacts a young person's life. Young people who

The aftermath of the Vietnam War was not what many soldiers expected and this greatly impacted the lives of all involved. Their service wasn’t acknowledged like other war veterans and instead, they were viewed with distrust and anger and used as scapegoats for the travesties of the war they were forced to fight in. Despite the returned soldiers efforts to return back to civilian life, they found no support from the government, or elsewhere. This caused soldiers to develop many mental illnesses that continued to affect and impact their lives. They also experienced symptoms of Agent Orange, causing fatalities and health defects.

These past three weeks I read a book called Teens at War by Allan Zullo. This book is about teens who sign up for the military, risking their lives for their country. We hear multiple stories of these teens. Some of these teens are underage and some of them are not. This makes some of the stories more interesting than the others.

Young people often do not know what to expect of the future. They do not know how to act when something unexpected comes along, and their actions are based on what they do know; usually limited, biased information. This idea is central to the short story, ʺWar,ʺ by Timothy Findley. The young boy, Neil Cable, narrates the day he found out his father had joined the army. He speaks of his actions, feelings, and confusion surrounding that day. At first glance, his actions are all too often misinterpreted as violence and hatred, but after careful consideration, one can see that they are merely his way of dealing with the troubling news. He has not experienced enough in his lifetime to have a true understanding of war, and acts upon what

In John Marsden’s book, Tomorrow When the War Began, the characters start their journey as average teenagers from a quiet rural town. As the novel progresses each person change from s being polite and obedient children to acting like the soldiers they would to fight to survive. They all start out stereotypically but gradually adapt to the situation before them. The teens quickly realise that they will no longer be innocent and childish but must grow up and become adult like soldiers who need to fight for their freedom. ‘We believed we were safe. That was the big fantasy. Now we know we’re not, and like you said, we’ll never feel safe again, and so it’s bye-bye innocence. It’s been nice knowing you but you’re gone now.’

The thought of going to war excites many young men that have not experienced or have been a part of one. Individuals want to find a way out of the routine, mundane lifestyle that plagues many suburban households. People that just want some excitement enlist in a military branch that will not benefit them or anyone for that matter. In Philip Caputo’s book titled A Rumor of War, the true side of how war demolishes the human spirit is shown. His nonfiction novel captures the nasty side to war. Philip informs us how the mentality of a young man can change with the constant thought of death and fear as a daily ritual. Men do not think about death occurring to them at a young age. This changes when death is surrounding them on a daily basis during wartime. Caputo intended to inform the young public about the horrible nature of war. Mistakes are doomed to repeat themselves if people are not well informed and Caputo is trying to avoid future mistakes. Death surrounded him and many of his comrades during the Vietnam War. When the life of anyone is on the line, one tends to do drastic and sometimes unthinkable things to cope with the fear of death.

The novel, Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers recounts the harsh realities of the Vietnam War through a captivating African-American soldier’s perspective. The story begins with seventeen-year-old Richard “Richie” Perry, the novel’s narrator, en route to Vietnam to begin his service. Richie speaks briefly with a young woman named Judy Duncan who recently graduated medical school and is deployed as an army nurse. Another man on the plane, Harold “PeeWee” Gates, jokes with Richie about the “Congs” and the two become fast friends when they get assigned to the same platoon. After little time for adjustment, Richie, PeeWee, and their new comrades Jenkins, Brunner, and Brew realize the magnitude of the war as they begin to slightly

Through the soldiers’ experiences, the narrator shows only the dark side of human nature. Discuss.

The Vietnam war was a horrifying experience for not only the soldiers that were shipped away, but for the families involved. Many people go to war because they want to fight for their country and imagine that they are capable of being able to survive the entire tour of duty. For some people survival is much harder than others, but by keeping a good mental state, being able to handle death, and creating friends are beneficial to anyone. In the book, Fallen Angels, Richie and the other men on his squad have to learn how to survive the war and be able to find a balance within their lives to do so.

In the first two sections, the author provides different reasons why the working-class youth ended up in the military. Many working-class people have ended up in the military because of their

The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in

The relative closeness to the present circumstances that this renders aids him as he constructs his “defense” (606). Early on, he lets on that he was not, and still is not, for war or this misuse of youth. His apparent contempt and disdain colors each passage in his piece. Although this stance may bias his opinions, he takes care to relay his message and provide relative insight into what life as a soldier is like. However, his assumption that “these kids signed up mostly to get some education” (606) is the principal evidence of his use of hasty generalizations by which he uses to reason their decision to enlist, undermining the credibility he draws from.

Tensions grew in Vietnam and the U.S. forces were sent overseas. The people of Vietnam had mixed reactions, some waited and hoped for things to get better, and some

The young men that enlisted in the war were not blamed for the war, but yet they have no say in the war so they are fighting by orders and not themselves. “A man with a small pointed

Vietnam was a country divided into two by communism in the North and capitalism in the South. The Vietnam War, fought between the years 1959 and 1975, was, in essence, a struggle by nationalists in the north to unify the nation under a communist government. This was a long standing conflict between the two sides that had been occurring for years. It wasn’t until 1959 when the USA, stepped in, on the side of southern Vietnamese, to stop the spread of communism. It was a war that did not capture the hearts and minds of the American people as it was viewed as a war that the US army couldn’t win and so the government lost the peoples support for the war. This ultimately led to the withdrawal of the US army from Vietnam. Some people, like