Walter Dean Myers's novel FALLEN ANGELS is the tale of a young soldier who
enlists in the army. Far from the mean streets of Harlem, the jungles of Vietnam
offer Richie Perry a little more than what he had bargained for.
Fresh out of high school, and a mere 17 years of age, Richie enlists with the hope of
getting three square meals a day, and to send some money home to his mother and
to his younger brother Kenny. Although he dreamed of college and a career as a
writer, Richie realizes that he is just too poor to make his dream come true. His only
consolation is a knee injury that certainly will keep him from seeing active duty.
But no one prepares Richie for the red tape and the delays, or for the horrific sights
of war, or for watching his friends die one by one, or for finding out what it is like to
kill. Suddenly Richie must cope with the heat, the humidity, the bugs, the napalm,
the body bags and a war he hadn't expected to participate in.
The author, Walter Dean Myers, dedicated this book to the older brother he lost
during the Vietnam War. FALLEN ANGELS is a captivating tribute to the people who
fought and died in the jungles of Vietnam.
ASSIGNMENT - PHOTO ESSAY
As a team of war correspondents you have been commissioned by Life Magazine to
create a photo essay that tracks the journey of a young American boy fighting in the
Vietnam war. As a photojournalist you pride yourself on your ability to creatively
combine images, sounds and words into compelling stories about the changes that
such an experience can bring about.
Choose one of the following main characters from the novel Fallen Angels, to
study: Richie Perry, Lobel Johnson, Peewee, Lt. Carroll or Brewster. As you read the
novel, record details about the character, including important things that they say or
do. Be sure to note observations that your character makes about others in the novel
as well as observations that other's make of them. Pay particular attention to your
character's response during key events in the novel and what changes he may be
going through.
Gather Details from the Novel
Decide with the other members of your group how you will divide up the novel to
examine it more carefully for details related to the character that you are focusing
on. If you are working in a group of 3 you may wish to divide the novel into thirds so
that one person can examine the first third, somebody else the second third and the
final group member looking carefully at the last section of the novel. Each person in
the group will be required to collect evidence in the form of quotations about the
character. What is the character like at the beginning and end of the novel? What
major changes have occurred? Find evidence from the novel to support your claims.
You may find it helpful to mark the pages of the novel with small post it notes for
quick reference.
Record each of the quotations that you find in a word document noting the
paragraph number and page number in brackets beside each of them. Review the
quotations that you have gathered from the novel and write 4 or 5 generalizations
about the character that can be supported by the details you have collected.
Save this word document as Your Surname and submit it to the teacher's drop box
in the folder called Novel Research Notes.
Group Meeting
Meet with the other members of your group to share the details from the novel that
you have gathered and to develop a profile of the character. Decide what your
character was like before his experience in Vietnam and what changes occurred to
him throughout the novel. Use the details from the novel that you have gathered to
support your conclusions. Organize this information into an outline or concept map
and submit it to the teacher. Search for a unifying theme or insight.
Find ten to fifteen images (artwork, portraits of individuals, war scenes, symbols,
etc.) that you could use to help communicate important ideas about your character
and the changes that he goes through. Save these images in a folder on the student
network that everyone in the group will have access to.
Plan Your Photo Essay
Organize the ideas from your group into a photo essay to present to the class. Use
Power Point, web pages or some other multimedia format to present your photo
essay. Work with your group to develop a storyboard that outlines the information
that will be included on each slide or web page of your presentation. Decide how you
will combine visual images with details from the novel to communicate important
ideas about your character. Use images such as artwork, portraits of individuals, war
scenes, symbols, etc. to enhance your presentation and support your depiction of the
character. Keep in mind that any text appearing in the presentation should be easy
to read and there should be no more than one succinct sentence on a slide. Your
story board should provide an outline of what text, images, and sounds will appear
on each slide (or web page) of your presentation.
Submit a copy of your storyboard to the teacher.
Create Your Photo Essay Presentation and Write the
Accompanying Narrative
Assemble the images and quotations together into a photo essay presentation to
illustrate the changes that your character has undergone throughout the course of
the novel.
Write a narrative to accompany your photo essay that includes an interesting and
compelling introduction to your character. Use the body of your narrative to weave
your slides (web pages) together into a story about the changes that your character
has undergone and to reveal the complexities of this individual. Finally write a
conclusion for your narrative that summarizes or reemphasizes the most significant
aspect of the individual that you have presented.
Save a copy of the narrative as Your Surname and submit it to the teacher's drop
box.
Rehearse Your Presentation
Meet with your group to determine who will be responsible for each part of the
presentation. Everyone should have an equal role and you should rehearse your part
until everyone in the group feels confident and your delivery is smooth.
1 Unacceptable
Content
Character
Analysis
2
Developing
Understanding of Little
character is not
understanding of
demonstrated.
the character is
demonstrated.
Changes are
Evidence is
ignored or
absent.
absent.
3
Satisfactory
4
Proficient
5
Excellent
Some
understanding of
the character is
demonstrated but
not of the changes
that he undergoes
Demonstrates an
understanding of
the character and
the changes that
he undergoes
Demonstrates a
thoughtful
understanding of
the character and
the changes that he
undergoes.
Uses some
Uses general ideas general and some
Evidence is
from the novel to specific evidence
vague, irrelevant support the
from the novel to
or confusing.
interpretation of
support the
the character.
interpretation of
the character.
Narrative
The narrative is
aimless and
disorganized.
The narrative is
rough but
somewhat
workable.
No clear ideas
The author gets
off topic.
Design
Design elements
impede
Sound, Format, communication
Images,
Harmony
The narrative has a The narrative has
beginning, middle an interesting
and an end.
introduction, an
informative
Ideas are generally middle and an
appropriate
connected.
conclusion
Uses carefully
chosen and
specific evidence
from the novel to
support the
interpretation of
the character.
The narrative has a
compelling and
engaging
introduction, a
persuasive middle
and a conclusion
that is inspiring.
Many ideas seem
disconnected.
Connections are
maintained.
Ideas are
effectively
connected.
Design elements Design elements
interfere with
are appropriate for
communication intended meaning
and appear to be
randomly
selected
Effective use of Creative use of
design elements design elements
Chosen
to Thoughtfully
support
chosen to enhance
communication communication
Presentation
Unaware of
audience
rehearsal,
voice (pacing, No evidence of
volume,
rehearsal
clarity,
expression), Not prepared
eye contact
Personal
Management
Skills
Requires
excessive teacher
intervention and
supervision
Rarely takes
audience into
consideration
Generally aware
of intended
audience
Little evidence
of rehearsal
Some evidence of Rehearsal is
rehearsal
evident
Inadequately
prepared
Appropriate
volume and some
eye contact
Good pacing,
volume,
expression and
eye contact
Requires
frequent teacher
intervention and
supervision
Does not take the
initiative to use
teacher and peer
assistance when to
extend knowledge,
skills and ideas.
Takes the
initiative to use
teacher and peer
assistance to
extend
knowledge, skills
and ideas
Unable to manage Frequently
time or behavior unable to
manage time or
behavior
Teamwork
Skills
Uncooperative
and interferes
with the learning
of others
Clearly aware of
intended
audience
Uninvolved and
sometimes
interferes with
the learning of
others.
Behavior requires
some supervision
Somewhat
involved and will
extend assistance
to others when
asked by the
teacher
Behavior rarely
requires
supervision
Involved with the
team and extends
assistance to
others when
needed.
Engages audience
Rehearsal is
evident and
delivery is smooth
Effective pacing,
volume,
expression and eye
contact
Takes the initiative
to use a range of
resources to
explore creative
possibilities
Always behaves
responsibly and
does not require
supervision
Completely
involved with the
team.
Readily extends
assistance and
encourages others
PERSPECTIVES
Vietnam Vet
We were highly trained regular volunteers, who
had long been indoctrinated to kill a "Commy for
Mommy." (Picture from Byrd Achives)
Martin Luther King Jr.
"...we have been repeatedly faced with the cruel
irony of watching Negro and white boys on TV
screens as they kill and die together for a nation
that has been unable to seat them together in the
same schools."
Lyndon Johnson
When he took office, President Johnson made two
promises with respect to Vietnam: he would not
"lose" the war and he would not send "American
boys" to die there.
Protester
"I stood up to screaming patriots, and burned my
draft card. I protested and marched, screamed and
cried, told my generation to stop, don't go, this
was wrong. I ended up a C.O. (conscientious
objector) doing two years of bedpans, not smoking
dope in Canada. I think that I, and those like me,
are the true patriots, the true dissenters, who tried
to stop 50,000 of our generation from coming
home in bags."
Vietcong
"Whoever you may be, men, women, children, old
or young, whatever your religion or whatever your
nationality, if you are Vietnamese, rise up to fight
the colonialists, to save our country. He who has a
gun, let him fight with a gun; he who has a sword,
let him fight with the sword; he who has neither
gun nor sword let him fight with spades, with
pickaxes, with sticks. Let no one stay behind or
outside the patriotic struggle against the
colonialists."
Military Strategist
In the first nine months of 1967 alone, varieties of
highly toxic crop defoliants (most of it Agent
Orange) were sprayed on 965,006 acres of land.
Draft Dodger
"I was the last of the eighteen year olds faced with
the question of the draft. You remember that they
put all our birthdays into one huge hopper, spun it
around and began selecting who would go to Nam."
Refugee
By 1966 free fire zones were enlarged to areas of
several square miles within which saturation
bombing by B-52s or shelling by massed artillery
cleared the land and made it uninhabitable by
either NLF troops or the local peasantry. It was this
decimation of the land, more than anything else
that filled the refugee camps in the safe areas near
Saigon and other cities.
Amerasians
My brother and I were the children of my mother's
clients. She never told us their names. She just
said that they were both killed in the war. One
father died in a helicopter accident, the other was
ambushed while crossing a bridge. She told the
same story to all of our neighbors, but even as a
child, I sensed that she was lying.
Military Officer
Virtually no senior commanders spend time with
the grunts to learn the true nature of the war. Most
of us are isolated from the fighting men—not unlike
the French, British and German senior brass of
World War I.
Mourning Family Member
Only other mothers who have lost a son or
daughter in combat can ever fathom the pain and
suffering produced. The death of my brother in
1969 sent my mother into a tailspin of despair that
she has never recovered from.
Meet The Main Characters
Richard Perry
Richie Perry is the narrator of Fallen Angels. Although he had dreams of becoming a writer, his poverty
has limited his options. Right after graduating from high school, Perry enlists in the army.
Perry hopes that his knee injury will keep him safe. Unfortunately, a delay in processing his medical profile
causes a few complications for this young soldier. While other members in his troop go elsewhere, Perry is
ordered to Vietnam.
During his first weeks there, we see that he is worried about his brother Kenny. One of the reasons why
Perry enlisted in the army was to help support his younger brother. He does not want his family to worry
about him unnecessarily. He does not want to shock his family or worry them.
He finds it difficult to communicate directly to his mother. Perry is introspective—he is a thinker. Perry is
compassionate and very concerned about how people perceive the actions of the US military in Vietnam.
Although Perry had hoped that the war would conform to some rational plan, the sudden death of Jenkins
opens Perry's eyes to the senselessness of war.
Harold Peewee Gates
Peewee is Perry's closest friend in Vietnam. Peewee does not understand why Perry would enlist in the
army. After all, Perry is a graduate, and Peewee is a high school drop-out. Peewee thinks that he does not
have the same opportunities to succeed that Perry has.
Peewee is a cocky young black man from a poor community in Chicago. He was interested in the army
because he thought it was an orderly place, where no rowdy people were allowed. Peewee sees that the
army has something to offer him—a sort of equality. For the first time, Peewee has what everyone else
has—the same boots, the same food, the same weapons.
In spite of his tough talk, we can see the gentle side of Peewee. Peewee comes from a good home, and he
has high expectations for himself. He is concerned about the people that he has left behind, and he is
especially concerned about his girlfriend Earlene, who writes him a letter informing him that she is
considering marrying someone else.
Peewee deals with things internally. He is introspective, tough, but vulnerable. He is a man of action. He is
loyal and protective of Perry. We watch as the horror and the killing start to slowly wear him down.
Lobel
Lobel is another soldier on the squad. Lobel is a big fan of the movies and he sees everything through the
eyes of a Hollywood movie director. He sees everything in black and white, good guys vs bad guys. In fact,
Lobel imagines that he is not really participating in the war, but rather playing a part in a movie about
Vietnam.
Lobel struggles to understand the purpose of the war, and he is able to distance himself from the reality of
war by taking this approach.
Lobel wants to prove to his family that he is a real man. As time goes by, Lobel is unable to sustain his
view of war as a Hollywood production because the horror intrudes upon his fantasy.
Brew
Brew is a compassionate, caring, religious man. We watch as he struggles with the issues of religion and
war.
By the end of the novel, Brew begins to let go of his old beliefs. He becomes more cynical and he questions
our notions of bravery. He starts to reconsider the actions of the draft dodgers.
Brew represents faith. The other soldiers hope that Brew's connections to God will help to keep the group
safe.
Lieutenant Carroll
Lieutenant Carroll is Perry's platoon leader. Lt. Carroll is the one who says the line that inspires the title of
the book—he calls the soldiers "angel warriors," referring to the young age of the soldiers.
When Lt. Carroll is killed, Perry writes a letter home to Carroll's wife. The replacement for Carroll is
Lieutenant Gearhart - a man who has been in the army for a mere two months. Gearhart's first time out
with the squad ends in the death of Turner.