Bravery In Fallen Angels By Walter Dean Myers

In life, it takes bravery to push through hard times. However, in war, it takes an extreme amount of daringness just to survive and help friends survive. In Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, this gallantry is shown through many of the character’s actions throughout the book. This novel follows the main character, Richie Perry (Perry) and his squad through struggles and successes in the Vietnam War. Perry is a young and inexperienced soldier who finds war to be much more brutal and terrifying than he ever expected. Throughout the novel, Perry forms a very close bond with his squad-mates as they do with him. Even with these strong friendships to help empower him, Perry finds that he needs a lot of valor to risk his life for his squad. One major

This is seen through the way the characters feel when one of their squad members die or when one of them get hurt. When someone dies they feel depressed and disappointed in themselves as if they did not do enough to protect one of their own. This is important because it shows the strength of their relationship towards each other. Perry’s squad is successful because they are a close-knit group that will protect each other at all cost. This is seen through Perry’s actions when Sergeant Carroll became injured, “I was trembling, and couldn’t stop. Peewee put his hand on mine and tried to calm it. I took deep breaths” (Myers 128). Lieutenant Carroll is hit during battle and all of the soldiers are waiting nervously to hear the results of Carroll’s condition. If their whole squad is waiting nervously this means that they really care about their leader and everyone else in their squad. In addition Sergeant Carroll’s death once again brings up the reality of war to these young soldiers. This close relationship causes these soldiers to be courageous and

This can be seen when Peewee and Perry get separated from their squad are left to protect each other. They displayed their extreme bravery when they got separated. It was just the two of the them against an entire platoon of Viet Cong warriors. Through this, their valor is shown because they had to constantly push through fear or else they would die. Some may argue that the soldiers do not have courage because they are constantly saying “I’m scared.” However, this argument is incorrect because if they are looking fear in the face and pushing on, showing their bravery. Another time Perry and Peewee show their bravery is when they are in a spider hole and attack a Viet Cong in self-defense. “Peewee was trying to strangle him… Peewee had one hand around the Congs neck. We pulled until he stopped struggling” (292). This shows they have intrepidity because they are not thinking about their fears of death, instead they take action and defend themselves. This hints at Perry and Peewee having courage because they a putting their fears to the side and