Fallen Angels The characters, themes, and literary elements used in Fallen Angels, a novel by Walter Dean Myers, make it a gripping and critically acclaimed novel which is the case. Say no to plagiarism. Get a Custom Essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The three main characters of Fallen Angels, Richie Perry, Harold "Peewee" Gates, and Lobel, all have distinct personalities and backgrounds. Perry, from the streets of Harlem, is an innocent and perplexed child when he first enters the Vietnam War. Perry has extreme potential and even dreams of becoming a philosopher. "My plans, maybe just my dreams, were to go to college and write. . . . All the other guys in the neighborhood thought I was going to college. That wasn't the case , and the army was where I was going to go to college I was going to get away from all the questions Although he chose to ignore it and join the war, - because it is. an easy escape from himself and his stubborn future - his deep curiosity forces him to answer more questions about himself and his morals Perry is a very interesting character to play in a war novel, because he offers. an immediate insight into war, where individuals' physical, emotional and mental capacities are tested. When he encounters these disturbing images, he attempts to exclude them, which proves more and more ineffective as he goes on. he is exposed to it. Peewee and Perry share similar backgrounds. Perry comes from Harlem and Peewee comes from Chicago. Peewee enters the war as a boy and matures and develops after testing himself and his morality. Peewee does not share the same ambition as Perry, stating that he only has three goals in life (drinking wine from a corked bottle, making love to a stranger, and smoking a cigar). Although Peewee faces the war with his comedy and pranking, he will sometimes show real emotions. This happens when he sees a child explode before his eyes. "The GI's arms and legs were blown apart by the impact of the explosion. The damn kid had been undermined and exploded in his arms." Although Peewee appears light and laid back, he reveals a deeper, caring side throughout the book. Because Lobel is a Jewish and allegedly gay soldier on Perry's team, he is the target of much of the abuse from the team's more anti-Semitic and homophobic members, and even his disapproving father. He seeks comfort from the abuse by developing friendships with Perry and Peewee, two of the kindest soldiers in the squad. Lobel experiences the war in his own glorious fantasy. While Peewee jokes about war, he sincerely believes he is playing a heroic role in a war movie. This is very evident in this quote: “Remember those cowboy movies where the bad guys come to town? You know, killers? "/" Yeah. »/“It’s us,” Lobel said. » Although some of the complex characters in Fallen Angels share similar backgrounds, they are all distinctly different. The major themes of this novel, all centered around war, include the loss of innocence, the depiction of war in relation to its reality, and the ethics of war. The loss of innocence is strongly developed in this novel, as the majority of the soldiers are still very young and maintain their innocence, a youthful quality. This trait is perfectly described when, in chapter 4, Lieutenant Carroll calls them “warrior angels”. "My dad used to call all the soldiers warrior angels," he said. "Because they usually send boys..