Fallen Angels Character Analysis

War: The Defiler of Purity

John Milton, an English poet, once said, “Innocence, once lost, can never be regained; Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be lost.” This is true of many situations, but especially so in war. The sight of premature death, grotesque injuries, and unnecessary sacrifice is impossible to forget. This is illustrated clearly in Walter Dean Myer’s graphic novel, Fallen Angels, through the protagonist Richard Perry’s development from a clueless, unprepared soldier to a scarred, weather-beaten veteran, through Richie’s experiences of his comrade’s death, the struggle of right verses wrong, and the terrifying futility of war.

Initially, Perry arrives in Vietnam feeling prepared for what is to come. This approach is first challenged through Richie’s reaction to his comrade’s death throughout the novel. Within his first week in Vietnam, Jenkins, one of the members of Perry’s platoon, suffers a tragic death. Richie

contrasts Jenkin’s death to that of his elderly grandmother’s saying, “Jenkins was different. Jenkins had been walking and talking with me only hours before. Seeing him lying there like that, his mouth and eyes open, had grabbed something inside my chest and twisted it hard” (43). This emotional diction shows that Jenkin’s death has challenged Perry into having to cope with loss before he had anticipated. Even later in the war, Perry continues to struggle with the death of his fellow soldiers.
Later in the war, Richard is greatly traumatized by the death of Lieutenant Carrol. This is shown through his sentimental statement that the incident ‘stayed in his mind’ (132), and that Carrol had been a ‘gentle man’ (132); showing that throughout his time in Vietnam, he is still being changed by his comrade’s death. The last death Perry experiences before returning to America is that of Brew, who dies as Perry is injured for the first time. This is important because Perry is not only sorry for the loss of his friend, but aware that he could have died as well, which is a terrifying fact of war.
As Perry continues to experience the terrors of Vietnam, he struggles with the morality of war. After entering the war with an expectation of a definite cause, he is convicted by a sense of wrong. Moreover, many of the soldiers originally believed that the purpose of the war was to aid Vietnam and promote peace in America; but ultimately they began to see the paradox in killing for peace.
This oxymoron in illustrated in Fallen Angel’s pacification missions. These are when Perry and his platoon travel to a local Vietnamese village in an attempt to win them over to America’s cause. This confuses the soldier’s morality, (as they must convince others of something they are unsure of themselves), but these ‘pacification’ missions end not in peace, but in flames, as the platoon attacks the village after learning that the enemy has influence there.
The attack shows the reality of an irrefutable wrong within the war.

This is the immoral act of killing other innocent soldiers, even if it is to protect yourself and those you love. Therefore, sending soldiers to kill the ‘enemy’ in the hopes of achieving a short lived peace is a faulty idea that Perry and his fellow soldiers, as well as anyone involved with the war, struggles to believe.

Furthermore, this leads to the frightening futility of war; which is the last understanding that causes Richie to leave his childhood behind. After realizing he doesn’t know why he’s in the war, Perry’s mindset has grown from a faint idea of justice to a horrific certainty of death, leaving him a changed man. A transformed Perry explains his mindset saying:

“I thought about what Peewee had said. That I had better think about killing the Cong’s before they killed me. That had better be my reason, he had said…Maybe he was right. But it meant being some other person than I was when I got to ‘Nam. Maybe that was what I had to be. Someone else”

(216).
Someone else that must leave Vietnam with a deep knowledge of unnecessary sacrifice and a loss on both sides of the war. This realization, that he will either leave the war a weather-beaten veteran, or in a body bag, is the final stage if Perry’s development throughout the war.
In conclusion, Richard Perry began his war journey as an innocent, unprepared boy; and after experiencing the death of his fellow soldiers, his internal struggle of right versus wrong, and the undeniable futility of war; ends the novel as a scarred and resilient man. From the first death of Jenkins to the last of Brew, Perry is forced to alter himself and his coping mechanisms. This is made worse by the fact that there is no definite right or wrong in Vietnam, because it causes Richie to feel as though the men died in vain. Lastly, Perry sees that not only did his comrade’s death was futile, but he feels as though the entire war is somewhat meaningless. This proves John Milton’s point that once a soldier, or anyone, gazes upon darkness, it can never be lost. Therefore, in these times of threats and terrorism, we must strive for peace, not war.