Fallen Angels Themes

Fallen Angels is historical fiction book, written by Walter Dean Myers, set in New York and Vietnam. Many experiences in the book draw off events that the author has experienced in his own life. The main character is Richie Perry, who is a African-American boy, around 17-20 years old. He is intelligent enough to enter in the State College, but he lives in single-parent family,so he can’t afford to go to college. Instead, he decides the best alternative is to join the army, which would provide money for the family, especially for his brother Kenny’s future education. He also believes due to his bad knee, that he would be shielded from direct combat. When he arrives in Vietnam, he meets Peewee and Jenkins. Peewee, who grows to be Richie’s best

The author doesn’t specifically mention the theme directly, it can be inferred. One main theme is the horrific ordeals that people involved have to face, and another is the blurring of the morality line during war. The majority of the themes that can be seen by the atrocities, the men have to face, they aren’t being pushed onto the reader. Most of the themes directly involve activities during the war, including racial aspects to the war, as well as the problems with the ideals behind the Vietnam War. US involvement in the Vietnam War started in 1961, this book is set later around 1966-1967 before the Tet Offensive by the North Vietnamese. This time period was where the backlash around the war really started, overall before 1967-1968, the war was popular. It was looked upon as a way to stop communism from spreading in the Asian countries. 1965-1970 also included the beginning of the peace movements, also known as the birthtime of the hippies. This time period was tumultuous and dangerous, and it wouldn’t have been pleasant to live in. This book wasn’t published during the war, however about 20 years later, in 1988. The emotions expressed in the book will cause the book to age well, however as technology advances, old war time books tend to fade away. Most likely, it won’t be read after the people of that generation are gone and forgotten, as there won’t be anybody to recall those events. Fallen Angel’s

However, since Walter Dean Myers wasn’t in the army during this time period, he didn’t use his exact experiences. His other books mention topics, found in Fallen Angels like race and basketball. Overall, this book was enjoyable to read, it wasn’t incredible, but it was good. The characters made it easy to root for them. This book is not for the faint of heart, due to some gory descriptions, however I liked it and would recommend reading