Character Analysis Essay For Fallen Angels

Character Development in Fallen Angels Richie Perry, the main character in Fallen Angels went to war, so he could escape his troubled life at home. Fallen Angels is a book written by Walter Dean Myers about the hardships of the Vietnam War. Myers in known for his accurate, detailed and sometimes graphic depiction of the War. The setting of Vietnam gave Richie experiences that changed him mentally and emotionally. Such as, seeing some of his friends killed, to having to push through being controlled by a racist commander, and believing his bad knee will keep him from actually fighting. Walter Dean Myers uses the setting of the Vietnam War to highlight the change in Richie from a selfish troubled young man, to one who is aware and cares about others in the novel, Fallen Angels. Richie believes in the beginning of the story that his medical papers …show more content…
This new viewpoint on life is provided to him through pivotal moment throughout the novel. Such as, his hope for his medical papers to come and keep him out of this fight, which they never do. This leads him to realize he can’t focus on the protection of his own life, but has to help others so they will help him. As a result of Richie’s medical papers not coming, he witnesses one of his friends on his squad killed by a landmine, and later on in the novel he is shot. These two instances help Richie solve one of his own self conflicts of not being able to put the brutality and gruesomeness of the war into words. He wants to do this so his little brother at home knows what it was like overseas. It wasn’t til after he was shot that he was able to write about it. This shows Richie’s mental maturity by the end of the novel, as a result of his experiences in Vietnam. He come home and has a new view on life, even though nothing changed while he was