Alan Ruff - Fallen Angels

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“Fallen Angels” by Walter Dean Myers is the semi-autobiographical tale of young Black man, Richie Perry, from Harlem who enlist in the Vietnam War in the late 1960’s.  Richie signs up for the Army because he can’t afford to go to college and doesn’t want to stay home and listen to his friends ask why he didn’t go.  He has been assured, and believes, that once his medical profile has been processed he won’t see any actual combat.  Delays in the processing cause Richie to be sent to the front.  He makes friends within his squad and builds a sense of comradery, all while beginning to question the realities of war.  The ugliness and brutality that he witnesses is not what he had expected when he arrived.  Upon his departure he realizes that the war will always be a part of him.  “My mind began to wander, as I knew it would, back to the boonies. (pg 309)”
                Myers does a good job of drawing out many different themes within this book.  The theme of “the loss of innocence” is one of the largest themes of the book and part of what makes this a good selection for older adolescent males.  This theme comes out as Richie deals with another prevailing theme “the reality of war.”  Part of Richie’s struggle is the romantic way in which war has been portrayed to him versus the harshness and randomness of actual battle that he is forced to confront.

                My early criticism of this book was the lack of description in much of the writing.  The lack of extra adjectives or descriptive phrases causes the sentences to be short and choppy.  An example would be the description of waiting for a helicopter on pg 163, “The rain dripped from the branches above us. I was cold, my knee ached, I was scared.  A half hour passed and no chopper.  We heard mortar rounds going off.  They seemed close. We all held our breath.”  After reading the whole book, I now believe that style works for this novel.  Another large theme within the novel is the romanticizing of war.  More poetic language might have caused the story to be too romantic.  This would be a good text to engage young males who aren’t avid readers.  The topics of the text and the elementary writing approach make it a good book to include on the classroom shelf for personal reading.

Comments

  1. Ms LopezNovember 11, 2016 at 3:12 PM

    "After reading the whole book, I now believe that style works for this novel. Another large theme within the novel is the romanticizing of war. More poetic language might have caused the story to be too romantic. "

    That is a great observation! I think you're right. When you mentioned the style, I started thinking about Ernest Hemingway and how a lot of his works have sparse language like that. He also wrote about war as well as relationships and the issues in them.
    I think that you're right about this being a good read for young men who don't particularly take much interest in reading. I feel like The World Made Straight is similar in that regard. But I think The World Made Straight probably had more poetic language. What do you think?

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  2. UnknownNovember 14, 2016 at 8:57 PM

    I'm with you on this. I feel like the writing isn't descriptive because it shouldn't be. It reflects his state of mind during the war, and that's what makes it feel so authentic and raw. Good job, Alan.

    ReplyDelete

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