Authors who write the best books normally don’t have the perfect childhood. What they go through shapes how they see the world and some readers do not agree or understand consequently, the book is banned. From the in-depth imagery to the friendships made during war, the literary masterpiece Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers, uses the horrors of Vietnam War as his back drop but was criticized for his use of profanities and racism.
Walter Dean Myers was born on August 12, 1937, in West Virginia. In 1940 he was adopted by Herbert and Florence Dean who were good friends with Myers’ mom (Bishop Xi). Myers’ mom died before he was adopted at the age of three which didn’t help anything because that enabled his father to take care of them. The fact
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that Herbert and Florence were close with Myers’ family gave the family closure that it was the right decision. (Bishop “Walter Dean Myers” 387). Unfortunately Myers’ grew up with a speech impediment which made it hard in school for him. The kids always teased of him which led him to violence and he found himself in the principal’s office many times. Florence read to him a lot to help him with his disability. When he wasn’t in school he was on the streets with gangs but he loved to play street basketball (Ball 828). Myers did grow up with two half-sisters and Herbert and Florence took them in just as they took in Myers. He did have a brother, unfortunately he didn’t get adopted with Myers, but they had a very close relationship. In fact, Fallen Angels is dedicated to his brother. His brother actually lost his life fighting in the Vietnam War (Bishop “Walter Dean Myers” 393). The Dean’s were very poor, they did not have enough money to send Myers to college. At the age of seventeen he dropped out of school to join the army. After the war, he worked several low paying jobs to try and get back on his feet. (Ball 828). In 1960, Myers married Joyce Smith. They had two kids, Karen and Michael. Right after Karen was born, he joined a writing class with Lajos Egri. Unfortunately Myers and Smith got divorced in 1970, but Myers did re-marry and had another son, Christopher (Bishop “Presenting” xi). Between the years of 1966-1969, Myers was employed as a vocational placement supervisor in New York City as an employment services. In 1968 Myers won first place for his manuscript, Where Does the Day Go?, in the picture book series and then in 1969 it was published. Myers was a full time writer buy the time 1977 came around. Mojo and the Russian, Brainstorm, and Victory for Jamie were all written before 1980. In 1988 Fallen Angels, Scorpions, and Moon Dance Kid were written (Bishop “Presenting” xi). For the main part of the book, Fallen Angels is set in Southeastern Asia or Vietnam but starts in Anchorage, Alaska (Ball 830).
Richie is having trouble excepting how terrifying the war actually is. The rising action starts when Richie’s medical file is misplaced. Richie really loved playing basketball, but due to a knee injury, he could not go anywhere with it after high school. He joined the army so that way he could escape a depressing future. He had the mindset when he went into war that he would not have to do anything because of his medical disabilities, but the opposite happened. He meets Peewee, Jenkins and Johnson on their quest to campout at Chu Lai (“Fallen Angels” 17). Richie writes to his brother telling him how bad being at war has been. Richie has been sick with many illnesses, not to mention he did kill someone. The traumatizing experience had Richie falling apart in the arms of Johnson (“Fallen Angels” 18). The falling action happens when Lieutenant Carroll sends Peewee and Richie on a mission. The mission was very poorly constructed and Richie and Peewee get separated from the rest of the platoon. For someone whose name is Peewee he sure does think fast on his feet because the lives of Monaco and the rest of the platoon where in him and Richie’s hands. Thankfully they did save all of their lives but did get wounded during it (“Fallen
Angels”19). Ironically enough, Myers made Richie to go through some of the same stuff he went through. Peewee Gates is very sarcastic but he becomes one of Richie’s best companions (“Plot Summary” par 7). Jenkins is another one of his really good friends while at war, but unfortunately, he was killed when he stepped wrong leading to a bomb going off (par 6). Fallen Angles has won many awards. From winning the South Carolina Young Adult Book Award to winning the American Library Association Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, this book is loved by many, many people (“Walter Dean Myers” par 52). Book banning is a pretty easy word to find out what it means, the banning of books. Anyone can ban a book too. The history of banning books goes way back into the time of Socrates and even the Bible (Dell 34). Fallen Angels is actually in the top ten banned books for its harsh language and the issue of racism. People who ban books are doing it because they don’t like it but some other people may (Dell 10). Parents obviously want to keep their kids from reading inappropriate books for their age level, which is understandable (11). When they censor these book, it could cause a rebellion and writers are very good at causing this rebellion because when you try and restrain people from reading what they want, the out lash. The authors write to certain audiences and it’s not fair when that audience is not allowed to read what they want. People don’t like reading the truth. Politicians are really bad about banning (Dell 14).
“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 Milton Myers was born August 12, 1937 in Martinsburg, West Virginia but he was raised in Harlem. His father's name was Geoorge Ambrose and his birth mother's name was Mary Myers. Walter Myers was an only child. He didn't really know his family.Walters mother died when he was very young, about 3 years old. His father was very poor. So Walter was raised as a foster child by the Dean family, which is where he gained his 2nd last name. He was adoped by Herbert Julius, who was a shopping clerk, and Florence Dean who was a factory worker.
While reading the novel and watching the movie, you could connect in many ways while seeing the differences and similarities. In Fallen Angels, Richie Perry, uncertain of his future, joins the US Army. A black high school graduate from Harlem. He travels to Vietnam to fight. After basic training, he harbored the illusion about the war. He hopes his medical profile is received so he doesn’t have to go engage in combat. When arriving in Vietnam, Richie meets a friend named Harold “Peewee” Gates and Jenkins. Time continues and Richie witnesses the mass destruction and brutality of war. He sees that there is a line between good and bad. Lt. Correll is killed in a combat mission and Richie begins to see the true meaning of life. Richie struggles to find the motivation of
Books that have shaped America are slowly starting to disappear. Many of the previous social norms have fallen out of fashion, and because of this reason numerous books are beginning to become banned. Blasphemy, racism, sex, and violence are all ethical reasons for books to be censored.
However, due to its stark and chaos-ensued exploration of human nature, it’s been quite controversial with it’s central theme of putting yourself before the common good. Other themes include conflict between civilization, the human impulse to control others, and living by the rules peacefully and in harmony. The book has thus made it’s home at number eight on the American Library Association’s list of frequently banned classic...
...ting in the war is not a tragedy, a victory, a win, nor a loss but that it is no better then the real world. It is discriminatory, dishonest, and inefficient. He then notices that war is in some way unethical and irrational and that dying and living is just pure luck. Ultimately, Richie understands that there is no distinction between bad or good in the heat of battle, which caused him to realize that war taught him to him to reevaluate the understanding between life and war on his way back home from Vietnam.
The things Hopkins have been through throughout her life have made her see all risks of the bad things her daughter went through, and she wants to try and help people through these novels. The first time she heard about getting censored she wrote a poem called Manifesto and sent it out to her publisher. Although many parents and schools disagree with her writing style and theme, she still continues to write inspiring books and doesn’t let the news about her censorship ruin her confidence in writing.
Books are banned for many reasons but more times than not it is because of the sensitive information found within the novel that agitates the reader. As long as people have been able to develop their own opinions, others have sought to prevent them from sharing. At some point in time, every idea has ultimately become objectionable to someone. The most frequently challenged and most visible targets of such objection are the very books found in classrooms and public libraries. These controversial novels teach lessons that sometimes can be very sensitive to some but there is much more to challenged books than a controversial topic. What lies within these pages is a wealth of knowledge, such as new perspectives for readers, twisting plots, and expressions that are found nowhere else. For example, To Kill A Mockingbird, contains references to rape, racial content, and profanity that have caused many to challenge the novel in the first place. The book was banned from countless
Stripped to its barest essentials, Jack Kerouac's novel Desolation Angels reads as a drug-induced stupor of casual sex (or fantasies thereof), mixed into a melting of jazz and poetry. The often-adolescent urges of Kerouac's character Jack Duluoz, however, are mere episodes in the fast-paced, write-it-as-you-think-it, pre-literary notoriety phase in the life of a man who essentially founded the Beat generation. Though the overflowing stream of consciousness that comprises this book seems undoubtedly spontaneous, Desolation Angels actually examines, in a most straightforward and clearly organized manner, the state of human solitude. Zipping from a Forest Service mountaintop outpost to San Francisco, from Tangiers to London, and slipping from loneliness to jazz clubs full of "cats," from a morphine addict's room to the home of his knitting French Canadian mother, the angels of desolation take on varying shapes, ceaselessly trailing Duluoz/Kerouac.
Throughout history, many books have been banned that should not have been. “An attack upon our ability to tell stories is not just censorship – it is a crime against our nature as human beings.” (Censorship) Salman Rushdie explains that taking away peoples right to read is a punishment to the human. He believes that we should not be punished to stop reading books that we can learn from. An example of a book that teaches well, is the book Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Flowers for Algernon is a novel about a man who had an I.Q. of 70 and goes through surgery that had been conducted first on a mouse, to improve his intelligence. The book is a bunch of progress reports in Charlie’s perspective explaining how he feels going through surgery, and how it changed his life. Flowers for Algernon was banned due to sexual content, which was a wrong decision. It was wrong to ban Flowers for Algernon because, despite some
Throughout her essay, Blume incorporates the use of anecdotes to describe her many banned books, through personal accounts and through the accounts of various readers. In her personal anecdote, she recounts readers’ personal stories of how her books were judged because of critics describing them as inappropriate for younger readers. Blume faced social stigma from
To me heaven is a place that someone goes to when they die and it is a place that would make them happy. Whenever someone dies, we start by saying at least they won’t be in pain anymore. Then we continue on to say that they are going to be happy because they will be back with their loved ones that passed before them. I feel that heaven is different for everyone, that it is not one set place and it is there to make us happy or help us cope with death.
Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents, Elias and Flora Disney, gave him the name Walter Elias Disney. Walt was one of 5 children, four boys and one girl. In 1906, his family packed up and moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri. By this time, Walt discovered that he was very interested in art and drawing. “More things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened since – or are likely to in the future.” (Disney, 7) Later on, the Disney family had to move to Kansas City because Walt's father, Elias, could no longer take care of his farm when he became very ill. Elias owned a newspaper company to make money for his family and had Walt and Roy, one of his other sons deliver the papers. In 1910, Walt's family once again packed up and moved to Chicago. Walter did not want to move with his family because he wanted to finish school, so he stayed behind and worked for his brother Herb through the summer. In fall, he moved back with his family and enrolled at McKinley High School. Walt did have an interest in his classes, but found a love for drawing cartoons which were featured in his school's newspaper.
For any Christian, one of the most important questions a person can ever answer is, “How does a Believer know that they are for sure a Christian?” All Believers needs to have the assurance of their salvation. Finding the answer to this question brings confidence and contentment to the Believer’s life. Sadly, many people live their lives never really having an answer to this question. However, the Word of God is the starting point to find this assurance.
What does it mean to be saved? To be saved is the conscious acceptance of Christ as the propitiation for your sins. Because Jesus, who was holy and without sin took the punishment of death for our sins, we can ask him to take away and forgive our sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins” (KJV, 1 John 1:9). Jesus died for everyone’s sins; however, not everyone chooses to accept His gift of “eternal life” (KJV, John 3:16). I have accepted this amazing and gracious gift.