Fallen Angels Harry Patch, the last survivor of World War I once said, “War is organized murder and nothing else.” The book Fallen Angels written by Walter Dean Myers forces on a 17-year-old kid named Richard (Richie) Perry. Perry enlists in the army, after finishing high school because he could not afford college. After being in the war less than a week he realizes it was a mistake. Throughout the story he saw his friends and strangers killed and blown to bits. The book does an excellent depiction of the horrors war; the book shows the side effects like nightmares, loss of humanity and survivor’s guilt.
From the beginning of the story to the end, Fallen Angels demonstrates a realistic depiction of war. The soldiers acquire side effects from being …show more content…
In the middle of the night one of the soldiers thought he saw something in the distance and started shooting at an imaginary enemy. In the aftermath, one of the other soldiers named Walowick confides in Perry that he had a nightmare a previous night and went ballistic. “I thought I saw the guy that had broken through. I screamed and dove for the ground it was pretty embarrassing.” This is one of the many examples of nightmares that soldiers experience while in or after the war. A study from the National Center for PTSD shows 52 percent of Vietnam Veterans have nightmares. For most soldiers to survive in war they have to lose part or all of their humanity. In the story, Perry’s best friend, Peewee claims that the platoon had not killed anyone yet because the North Vietnamese are not people. He goes on to say that if the soldiers don’t know the enemy's name they are not people to them. “Hey Lobel, if they was people to your ugly, overweight a**, you couldn't kill them because you wouldn't have the heart.” To be able to kill the soldiers have to convince themselves that the enemy is nothing more than a practice target. The soldiers are trained to eliminate targets, but it not until they
From the beginning of the story to the end, Fallen Angels demonstrates a realistic depiction of war. The soldiers acquire side effects from being …show more content…
In the middle of the night one of the soldiers thought he saw something in the distance and started shooting at an imaginary enemy. In the aftermath, one of the other soldiers named Walowick confides in Perry that he had a nightmare a previous night and went ballistic. “I thought I saw the guy that had broken through. I screamed and dove for the ground it was pretty embarrassing.” This is one of the many examples of nightmares that soldiers experience while in or after the war. A study from the National Center for PTSD shows 52 percent of Vietnam Veterans have nightmares. For most soldiers to survive in war they have to lose part or all of their humanity. In the story, Perry’s best friend, Peewee claims that the platoon had not killed anyone yet because the North Vietnamese are not people. He goes on to say that if the soldiers don’t know the enemy's name they are not people to them. “Hey Lobel, if they was people to your ugly, overweight a**, you couldn't kill them because you wouldn't have the heart.” To be able to kill the soldiers have to convince themselves that the enemy is nothing more than a practice target. The soldiers are trained to eliminate targets, but it not until they