In the book Fallen Angels by Walter Myers, Richie Perry struggles with the idea of moral ambiguity. Perry struggles for two reasons, the first is with the idea of if he is good or bad, does killing for your country make it right? The second reason Perry struggles with moral ambiguity is because he wonders what are all of them doing in Vietnam in the first place, were they really accomplishing anything? First, the idea of good or bad. Perry comes into the war with the belief that the Americans are the “good” guys. Throughout the book, he starts to think otherwise. He knows that they are only people living their lives. Perry notes, “ We were supposed to smile a lot and treat the people with dignity. They were supposed to think we were the good guys. That bothered me a little. I didn’t like having to convince anybody that I was the good guy…. We, the Americans, were the good guys” (Myers). Here, Perry is realizing that if you have to convince someone you're the good guys, are you actually the good guys? When you go fight for your country of course you are going to be bias and, think you are on the “good” side. But throughout the novel Perry changes, he puts himself in the Vietcong’s shoes, you can see this when Perry observes, “ He was young, no more than a teenager. He looked scared …show more content…
First I talked about the idea of good and bad. He being an american was the good one, he thought at first. It shakes him that on the pacification missions they have to try and convince them that they are the good ones. The moral ambiguity in this situation being that are you really good when you have to convince someone that you are? Second I talked about Perry thinking what are any of them doing in Nam. He realizes the ineffectiveness of the Vietnam War. The moral ambiguity in this being that he is risking his life when he shouldn’t be
In the beginning of the novel, Perry was an uncertain teen who didn’t know where his place in life was “The real question was what I was doing, what any of us were doing, in Nam” (69). By the middle of the book, Perry started to become doubtful of himself and started to say Jenkins and Carroll died because of him “In a way i felt real bad just for being alive to write it” (110). And by the last few chapters he really starts to lose his way and lose his judgement from right and wrong “Maybe when we all got back to the world and everybody thought we were heroes for winning it, then it would seem right from there” (229). During my reading of Fallen Angels, I began to notice the theme, and I think the theme is that War is devastating to people because it can totally mess you up psychologically and physically.
In the novel Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, the main character is Richard Perry. In the beginning of this book, Richard was a generous and eager to start as a soldier in the Vietnam War. He soon becomes responsible and understanding of what it is like to be a black soldier in the war and how hard it can be to the other soldiers. Near the end, Richard becomes powerful and alerted near the end of the book. This character clearly relates to the theme of the book, which is age and race can impact somebody’s life a lot.
He has a kind heart and good intentions, but he cannot convey his message properly. Speaks to me: I think the issue of not being able to express thoughts in a proper way is a problem much larger than presented in this book. Many people, including myself, feel a certain way about a subject or individual, but we cannot express how we feel in a manner that properly reflects our feelings. Specifically, many people
Even though the novel speaks mainly of the issues with the food on our plate, these issues are more deeply connected and reflected in former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Military
“I thought the Vietnam war was an utter, unmitigated disaster, so it was very hard for me to say anything good about it” - George McGovern. There are numerous controversial topics dispersed among the subject of American history due to the amount of unethical decisions that have been made in order to improve the lives of the people or keep America out of the clutches of war. Throughout American history, historians have debated the ethical impact that the Vietnam war had on the United States. Although some people may believe that the Vietnam War achieved the goal of avoiding communism and protecting the people, the overarching idea is that it was an unjust war because of the countless lives that were lost from the participating countries, the
Men went through so many tasks during the Vietnam War physically and mentally. The beginning chapters focus on training for war and being prepared for the worst. For example, when there is a sergeant in a room with the marines. The sergeant walks to the chalk board and writes “AMBUSHES ARE MURDER AND MURDER IS FUN” (36-37). The
He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.
How he hated being drafted and how badly he wanted to run away. He tells how he took time to himself to decide whether or not he was going to run away and risk being caught and imprisoned or go join the army and risk dying over in Vietnam. He states at the end, “ I passed through twins with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward.
Another example is when the author shows Steve’s confusion when debating whether he is a good person. Steve reflects, “In a way, he was right, at least about me. I want to look like a good person because I believe I am. But being here with these guys make it hard” (Myers 62). This shows that being in jail and being around the people in prison makes it hard for Steve to accept that he is a good person.
He felt as if he was obligated to serve in the military to defend his home and his country. His father was outraged and was against it but his uncle understands his decision to wants him to defend the country. His father has no choice but to respect his decision even though he doesn’t like it. On the plane going to the U.S. military base in Doha, he meets a few of his fellow soldiers. They all have conversations about
This is evident when Mr. O’Brien says, “I would go to the war – I would kill and maybe die – because I was embarrassed not to,” (pg. 57.) In the end the author realized what he must do and went back home, so he could fight in the Vietnam
The older man 's behavior contrasts with that of the persona who is young and has barely experienced life. Whereas the speaker is eager to discover life and have new experiences to escape her reality, the older man avoids his truth by focusing on mundane details of his experience in the Vietnam War. Furthermore, the older man was once a young man himself, surely eager to have new experiences, as he enrolled in the army. Instead of having these desires fulfilled, his memories of the war have caused his view of the world to greatly deviate from that of the persona and
Even after all these years, O’Brien is still unable to get the images of Vietnam out of him head, specifically of the man he killed. In the novel, he repeats the description of the man numerous times, almost to the point of excess, saying,“he was a slim, dead, almost dainty young man of about twenty. He lay with one leg bent beneath him, his jaw in his throat, his face neither expressive nor inexpressive. One eye was shut. The other was a star-shaped hole” (124).
Answering the call to serve causes enough moral conflict and killing for the war only adds to it. Tim O’Brien struggles to make sense of his thoughts after killing a Vietnamese man while outside of My Khe. O’Brien writes “The Man I Killed” detailing how the man’s disfigured appearance looks repetitively, and dreaming about what the man’s life must of been like before his death. Afterwards O’Brien reflects saying, “It was entirely automatic. I did not hate the young man; I did not see him as the enemy…”
The soldiers in the Vietnams war were there for different reasons, some soldiers were forced against their will and some were there by choice. Because of that, each soldier has their own thoughts about the war, O’Brien has interpreted that “The twenty –six men were very quiet: some of them excited by the adventure, some of them afraid”. This clearly shows how the men