Fallen Angels The characters, themes and literary devices used in Fallen Angels, a novel by Walter Dean Myers, make it the compelling and critically acclaimed that it is. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't 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, originally from the streets of Harlem, is a perplexed and innocent 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 really, were to go to college and write... All the other kids in the neighborhood thought I was going to go to college. I wasn't, and the Army was the place where I would have walked away from all the questions." Although he chooses to ignore it and join the war, as it is an easy escape from himself and his troublesome 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, as he offers an immediate view of war, where individuals' physical, emotional and mental capabilities are tested. When he encounters these disturbing images, he tries to shut them out, which proves increasingly ineffective the more he is exposed to them. Peewee and Perry share similar backgrounds. Perry is from Harlem and Peewee is from Chicago. Peewee enters the war as a boy and matures and develops after testing himself and his morals. Peewee does not share Perry's ambition, claiming to have only three goals in life (drinking wine from a corked bottle, making love to a foreign woman, and smoking a cigar). Although Peewee deals with war with his comedy and farce, he will occasionally show real emotion. This happens when he sees a child explode before his eyes. "The soldier's arms and legs split from the impact of the explosion. The damned boy had been hit by a mine and it had exploded in his arms." Although Peewee appears light-hearted and easy-going, he reveals a thoughtful and deep side throughout the book. Because Lobel is a Jewish soldier and suspected homosexual who is part of Perry's squad, he is the recipient of much of the abuse from the more anti-Semitic and homophobic members of the squad, and even his disapproving father. He seeks comfort from the abuse by developing friendships with Perry and Peewee, two of the kindest soldiers on the team. Lobel experiences the war in his private and 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 when the bad guys come to town? You know, the killers?'/'Yeah.'/'That's us,' Lobel said." While some of the complex characters in Fallen Angels share similar backgrounds, they are all distinctly different. The main themes of this novel, all centered on war, include the loss of innocence, the depiction of war versus its reality, and the ethics of war. The loss of innocence is strongly developed in this novel, as most of the soldiers are still very young and maintain their innocence, a youthful quality. This characteristic is perfectly described when, in chapter 4, Lieutenant Carroll calls them "warrior angels". "'My father called all the soldiers warrior angels,' he said. 'Because they usually send boys to fight in wars. Most of you aren't old enough to vote yet.'" Another event marking the loss of innocence,.