Character Changes in Fallen Angels Essay

Character Changes

Perry and Peewee exited out of the hospital and breathed a sigh of relief. Their breath still smelled of the anguish and war that they had just left days before their discharge. After months of being in combat with the ruthless Vietcong the two soldiers could not be any happier to finally touch ground that was not war ground. As they made their way to their terminal so they could go home, countless thoughts illuminated their minds. No one on the outside world could possibly have any idea as to what these two soldiers have gone through over the past months. The effect of being in the war has physically and mentally rocked these two soldiers and all the other soldiers lives the war touched.

To start it off, the Vietnam War was one of the most grueling wars in this nations history. It changed and affected the lives of many different soldiers and their respective families regardless of what side they fought for. In the novel Fallen Angels, Perry was among one of these many soldiers that did indeed change over the course of his term in Vietnam. I just told him that the war was about us killing people and about people killing us, and I couldn't see much more to it (Myers 269). Before Perry had enlisted in the war, he shuddered at the thought of just a dead body. Now, he was in the army killing people and watching people get killed on a regular day basis and not even thinking twice about it. In fact, at the beginning of the text Perry was a little inexperienced and did not start off too well in the area of combat. He just really could not seem to get it right. He made rookie mistakes such as constantly forgetting to put his gun on safety when not in use and placing claymores in the wrong direction. One time even he forgets to load a clip into his gun. That rookie mistake could have been enough to get someone killed if it had not had been for his great company he was patrolling with. Also, one key factor about Perry that needed to change the most and it did by the end of the novel was the fact that Perry was terrified of going out in combat. Just the thought of going out at night and being ambushed by possibly a battalion of blood-thirsty VC terrified him and for good reason. Often times he would find himself zoning out while in the middle of battle or he would see the enemy and have his hand on the trigger of his gun, but he could just not find it inside of him to pull it and shoot. However, as he progresses through the months in his term he kind of gets accustomed to it and finds his self actually starting to kill people without even hesitating. Furthermore, Perry was not the most religious person in his company, but all of that changed when he started going out in combat more. Before the war, he really did not have a strong faith in his religion but all of that changed when he had to go out nearly every day and risk his life. Then he found his self attempting to pray more and develop a stronger connection with God. Reciting Hail Marys and asking God for mercy became a routine for the now religious Perry. After one puts together all of the changes that Perry had undergone in Vietnam, his mother would be considered lucky if she still even recognized him.

To elaborate, the character of Lobel was one of the more interesting characters in Fallen Angels. This was simply because he had a very unique and interesting way that he looked at the war. He seemed to think that the war, and even life itself, was this one huge movie and it was not real by any means. He compared the U.S. soldiers to the bad guys that one would see in the old wild western movies to help ease the tension among the guys. It seems as if those people always got what they wanted. "You remember those cowboy movies when the bad guys ride into town? You know, the killers?Yeah.That's us,' Lobel said (Myers 111). This quote could not apply more to the soldiers because this is exactly who they were and what they were doing. Furthermore, Lobel had the mindset in him where he was a big time Hollywood movie star and the war was his stage. This was a dangerous way to think, however, because if he did not take the war seriously, then that meant he could not have possibly token any thing else seriously. That included his life, her life, or anybody elses life. He was certainly an interesting choice in people as far as entrusting ones life in him. However, as he progressed through the war, his fantasy world started fading away and the reality of the war started to kick in with him. Enough near-death experiences could do that to a person. Consequently, his whole mentality and view of his squad mates changed. He began to take into consideration their life as well as his and he stopped being an actor in the movies and began being an actual, real-life soldier fighting alongside his troops and fighting for his country in Vietnam. Also, when new sergeants would come in and start downing the minorities of the group Lobel would be there to defend them and cling by their side, something he probably would not have done in the beginning.