Walter Dean Myers Fallen Angels Essay

During war, many people change physically, mentally, and socially. War itself is disturbing to the mind. In Walter Dean Meyer’s Fallen Angels, the characters undergo many changes as they learn the true meaning of war. Perry, Peewee and Johnson all change in the sense of their personalities and their outlooks on life. In the beginning of the novel all the characters have very distinct characteristics. As the story progresses they start to see how war can have a huge impact on your life.

     “Fallen Angels”, written by Walter Dean Myers, is a novel that tells about the story of young boys going into battle during the Vietnam War. There are many themes in “Fallen Angels” but the main theme is the loss of innocence. The title makes reference to these themes. And the boys in the book have dreams of losing their virginity and drinking alcohol for the first time. They are thrown into a harsh reality when they are shown the trials of war. In the end, they understand that the movies that depict heroicness and honor are just images of a false idea; that war is full of chaos and horror.

Walter Dean Myers uses many military terms in this novel. When you hear words such as squad, MRE, or Kevlar you know that the war is real and is a serious matter. This creates a serious mood throughout the book because you feel like you are listening to a veteran of war share his story from

Wars have been fought for many different reasons through the years, and that holds true for the American Civil War (1861-1865). In Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels, the reasons for fighting the war are brought about through the officers and soldiers at a famous battle site of the Civil War, Gettysburg. Gettysburg was one of the most documented battles of the whole war. It took place over a span of three days and can be viewed as a turning point from Confederate prominence to Confederate demise. As in any conflict, there are two sides to the story. The Union and the Confederacy each had their own views as to why they were fighting the war. Victors write the history so too often only the Union side is

The Battle of Gettysburg brought the dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angels gives the full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped America’s future. Michael Shaara tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of the generals and men involved in the action of the battle. The historical account of the Battle of Gettysburg gives the reader a chance to experience the battle personally and not the history book manner taught in schools. A historical novel gives the facts straightforward and provides no commentary by the people involved in history. The

Moreover, aspects from the past are important in a historical fiction novel because the readers see key elements develop. Many authors suggest that “Any aspect from the past can be useful to the present-day novelist attempting to reanimate it to serve as the context for character and plot development” (Facts). Plots and characters begin developing from the author’s research of aspects from the Iraq War. Furthermore, the war in Iraq was full of question, which created many aspects for Walter Dean Myers to choose from. Captain Miller was “Mad because there were kids in and playing around the school when they attacked it” (p. 100, 24-25). Those types of features from the war in Iraq helped the author develop fictional characters. In addition, aspects from the war in Iraq can be used for the development of the plot. For example, at one point in the novel “The vehicle ahead of Robin’s crew made a sharp U-turn, ‘RPGs!’ Jonsey shouted; he braked to a skidding halt” (p. 101, 23). This commonly used tactic of the Iraqi military was a feature that Walter Dean Myers used to help develop the plot. After analyzing the novel, readers quickly realize the importance of using aspects to develop characters and the plot.

Walter Dean Myers historical novel, Fallen Angels takes place in Vietnam during the war. The main character Perry, recently enlisted in the army, to fight in the Vietnam war. Perry could not afford to go to college because of his rough childhood in Harlem, also growing up with no dad. He faces many problems throughout war even when he is homesick for his family in the beginning. One of the closest warriors and his bestfriend he finds in the army is Peewee a very experienced veteran who is a great leader. Perry and his fellow warriors have to fend off the Vietnamese and use determination to win the war. The theme expressed in this story is that personal experiences enable people to mature.

Killer Angels is a 1974 historical novel by Michael Shaara. The book tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg in the American Civil War. The novel is told through the voices of both Union army and Confederate Army of Northern Virginia leaders who were in battle there. The novel is laid out in days and each new chapter for the day gives a number and the name of the man who is the focus of the chapter. In Killer Angels, the Army of Northern Virginia’s demise is highlighted by a few different features. The failing health and age of Robert E. Lee served to distract him from military obligations, the advantage point the Union side had over Confederate Army at the Battle of Gettysburg, and the most significant reason for demise, was the

The pain, joy, bloodshed, death, and sorrow of the Civil War are all contained in the book called, "The Killer Angels." This book will show you the thoughts, feelings and actions of many of the leaders of both armies. By reading this book you will get an in depth view of the bloodiest days of the Civil War. Even if you know absolutely nothing about this war, you can still read and understand everything that is portrayed. This story not only gives you the view of many of the major leaders, but it also gives you the maps an strategies used in this war. It also shows you the conflicts in making these strategies. This book has inspired many, but the true question is will it inspire you? Reading this book will cause

1. Were soldiers religious? What did they think about God? What sorts of religious viewpoints do we see in this book?

The Harlem Hellfighters, is a book taking events that happened in real life to soldiers and transforming it into a graphic novel and in the form of a single individual. Lt. Adams was a character of several black officers at the time. While max was a child a young man worked for his parents and used to tell him stories about the hellfighters and that’s what peaked his interest. Years later he was introduced to comic books he thought they would be a great way to tell a visual story about the Hellfighters and not have to worry about budget. The events were based on facts and research that max did. All the violence in the book is based on research he did. James Europe, Henry Lincoln Johnson, Arthur Little, and Henri Gouraud. Are soldiers the characters were based on. He wrote about this because he felt like this story

In this essay, I will discuss how Tim O’Brien’s works “The Things They Carried” and “If I Die in a Combat Zone” reveal the individual human stories that are lost in war. In “The Things They Carried” O’Brien reveals the war stories of Alpha Company and shows how human each soldier is. In “If I Die in a Combat Zone” O’Brien tells his story with clarity, little of the dreamlike quality of “Things They Carried” is in this earlier work, which uses more blunt language that doesn’t hold back. In “If I Die” O’Brien reveals his own personal journey through war and what he experienced. O’Brien’s works prove a point that men, humans fight wars, not ideas. Phil Klay’s novel “Redeployment” is another novel that attempts to humanize soldiers in war. “Redeployment” is an anthology series, each chapter attempts to let us in the head of a new character – set in Afghanistan or in the United States – that is struggling with the current troubles of war. With the help of Phil Klay’s novel I will show how O’Brien’s works illustrate and highlight each story that make a war.

As a reader you get a broad picture of the many different personalities of the soldiers and what kind of human beings they are.

The horrors of war were depicted by the constant threats to the characters lives, the brutal conditions of the bad weather, hunger and combat. Soldiers had to battle the enemy along with nature. Soldiers would become stressed, paranoid and start losing their personalities. As Captain Miller says, “I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.” This quote shows the mental toll on these soldiers.

In my opinion, the book was a bit funny and bitter in many ways. I believe the book would have not been targeted to the women’s in the time period the book was written and published. The book targeted to the men and military background more than your regular, ordinary day people. The book was written to be more realistic since it was written on Heller’s experience when he was serving in the military. The book had many events that were descriptive- an example would be when the writer wrote about the bombing missions and hearing men screaming, dying, and plane crashing. Heller was very descriptive to where the reader had no problem envisioning the scene unfolding before their eyes. Another reason why readers would read the book, is to envision how war really is. During the mid-1900s, people anticipated war to be glamorous. They romanticized vision of war, the military, and the honor of serving that came along with both. People did not understand what the soldiers go through when active in a war. They do not understand what soldiers journey through PTSD when they come back from serving. War is such a gruesome and dehumanizing to the veterans, that when they come home; they lose their sense of identity and reason of why they took the oath to serve their country. The book’s depiction was a blatant contrast to what everyone reflected of what war to be. This is why