Mrs. Speach's English 1 Honors & Advanced Communications Web Portal
Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels chronicles the experiences of Richie Perry as a soldier in the Vietnam War.
It begins on September 15, 1967, when Perry is flying to Vietnam, and ends when he is sent home several months later. It is a coming-of-age story; Perry arrives in Vietnam as a lonely adolescent, and his experiences change him into an adult who shares strong bonds with the members of his squad.
The novel is also about the Vietnam War. Its structure imitates the pattern of the war. The action is episodic and does not rise to one climax, thus reflecting the way U.S. soldiers experienced the war. Brief periods of battle are interspered with long periods of inaction - "hours of boredom, seconds of terror."
It begins on September 15, 1967, when Perry is flying to Vietnam, and ends when he is sent home several months later. It is a coming-of-age story; Perry arrives in Vietnam as a lonely adolescent, and his experiences change him into an adult who shares strong bonds with the members of his squad.
The novel is also about the Vietnam War. Its structure imitates the pattern of the war. The action is episodic and does not rise to one climax, thus reflecting the way U.S. soldiers experienced the war. Brief periods of battle are interspered with long periods of inaction - "hours of boredom, seconds of terror."
Setting & Style
Fallen Angels is dominated by its setting - the Vietnam War before, during and immediately after the Tet Offensive. The horrors of war that Perry witnesses are a major part of the novel. The reader is not spared any of teh gruesom details of teh war.
Myers uses the first-person point of view: The reader experiences the war through Perry, the narrator. To make his vision of the war as realistic as possible, Myers also uses strong language and military jargon.
Myers uses the first-person point of view: The reader experiences the war through Perry, the narrator. To make his vision of the war as realistic as possible, Myers also uses strong language and military jargon.
Major Characters
Richie Perry: the narrator, who joined the army because he cuold not afford college and "just didn't want to be in Harlem anymore"
The Squad
Peewee: Perry's best friend
Johnson: a powerful soldier the squad grows to respect
Brunner: a domineering, bullying soldier Perry dislikes
Monaco: who is friendly with Perry and Peewee
Walowick: Perry describes as "a rock"
Brew: a religious solider
Lobel: a soldier who thinks of the war as a movie
Jamal: a medic forced to fight
The Squad
Peewee: Perry's best friend
Johnson: a powerful soldier the squad grows to respect
Brunner: a domineering, bullying soldier Perry dislikes
Monaco: who is friendly with Perry and Peewee
Walowick: Perry describes as "a rock"
Brew: a religious solider
Lobel: a soldier who thinks of the war as a movie
Jamal: a medic forced to fight
Fallen Angels Unit
Below is the the unit plan for our reading and study of the Walter Dean Myers.
The unit plan is not set to a calendar to allow for more or less days to cover various assignments and readings.
The unit plan is not set to a calendar to allow for more or less days to cover various assignments and readings.
| fallenangelsunit.rtf |
Fallen Angels
"Building Your Portfolio" Writing Assignments and Activities
The following assignments correspond to the lesson plans in our Fallen Angels unit. These writings activities will be assigned as we move through our reading of the novel.
“Dear Mama…”
Perry writes to his mother about Jenkins’s death. However, he rips up the letter up instead of sending it because he does not want to upset her.
Taking into account what you know about Perry, re-create the letter, including the details of Jenkins’s death that you think he would share with his mother and his feelings about being in Vietnam
Map It Out
In your assigned group, create a colorful map of the area Perry patrols with Charlie Company. Include foliage and placement of the troops.
Indicate the scene that culminates in the fourth platoon’s firing on the first platoon.
Write a commentary that explains how this mistake might have happened, and summarize it for the class.
Bring Out the Poet in You
Select a scene from the section of the novel, and re-create it as a poem. Re-read the scene, paying careful attention to the details. Consider how things look, sound, smell, taste and feel, and appeal to these senses as well as the emotions in your poem. If you choose to use the first-person point-of-view, use a character other than Perry as your narrator.
“Dear Diary”
Write three excerpts from the diary of any character in the squad. Whichever character you choose, focus on his response to several major events in this section: Lieutenant Carroll’s death, the discussion about draft dodgers, Perry’s lucky mistake with the claymores. Turner’s death, the events in the ransacked village.
Write down the thoughts and feelings you think you character would express on paper after those events.
The (Not So) Funny Papers
Draw a five-panel comic strip based on an episode from this section. Unlike most comics, the strip does not have to be funny; make it fit the mood or tone of the section. Include captions with dialogue, and be sure the episode you choose touches upon the highlights of the plot.
Do a Little Advertising
Create a book jacket for a paperback copy of Fallen Angels. Draw an appropriate illustration for the front, and write a brief description for the back. Then, explain why the book is worth reading, including quotations from a few classmates who recommend the book. Lay out the text for the back cover.
“Dear Mama…”
Perry writes to his mother about Jenkins’s death. However, he rips up the letter up instead of sending it because he does not want to upset her.
Taking into account what you know about Perry, re-create the letter, including the details of Jenkins’s death that you think he would share with his mother and his feelings about being in Vietnam
Map It Out
In your assigned group, create a colorful map of the area Perry patrols with Charlie Company. Include foliage and placement of the troops.
Indicate the scene that culminates in the fourth platoon’s firing on the first platoon.
Write a commentary that explains how this mistake might have happened, and summarize it for the class.
Bring Out the Poet in You
Select a scene from the section of the novel, and re-create it as a poem. Re-read the scene, paying careful attention to the details. Consider how things look, sound, smell, taste and feel, and appeal to these senses as well as the emotions in your poem. If you choose to use the first-person point-of-view, use a character other than Perry as your narrator.
“Dear Diary”
Write three excerpts from the diary of any character in the squad. Whichever character you choose, focus on his response to several major events in this section: Lieutenant Carroll’s death, the discussion about draft dodgers, Perry’s lucky mistake with the claymores. Turner’s death, the events in the ransacked village.
Write down the thoughts and feelings you think you character would express on paper after those events.
The (Not So) Funny Papers
Draw a five-panel comic strip based on an episode from this section. Unlike most comics, the strip does not have to be funny; make it fit the mood or tone of the section. Include captions with dialogue, and be sure the episode you choose touches upon the highlights of the plot.
Do a Little Advertising
Create a book jacket for a paperback copy of Fallen Angels. Draw an appropriate illustration for the front, and write a brief description for the back. Then, explain why the book is worth reading, including quotations from a few classmates who recommend the book. Lay out the text for the back cover.
Vietnam War Web Search
Download the document below to complete our background activity on the Vietnam War and the events surrounding the controversial war.
| vietnam_war_web_search.doc |
Fallen Angels ~ Vocabulary List & Map Assignment
Chapters 1-5
1. DDT
2. hooch
3. malaria
4. phosphorous
5. shrapnel
6. fatigues
7. hemophilia
8. platoon
Chapters 6-11
1. hamlet
2. reconnaissance
3. tracer
4. cordite
5. artillery
6. medevacs
7. pacification
8. frag
9. demilitarized
Chapters 12-16
1. bivouac
2. guerrilla
3. interdiction
4. mortar
5. claymore
6. vigilance
7. bivouacked
Chapters 17-23
1. napalm
2. nondenominational
3. projectile
4. requisition
5. impassively
6. welcher
7. cosmolene
I would like to take a small number of vocabulary words from the book Fallen Angels and try a new learning strategy called Vocabulary Mapping. Rather than just cramming definitions into your head, let's try this instead and see if it makes things easier to learn. These are very common words used in common language or you might hear them in reference to military settings. Here are the directions:
1. DDT
2. hooch
3. malaria
4. phosphorous
5. shrapnel
6. fatigues
7. hemophilia
8. platoon
Chapters 6-11
1. hamlet
2. reconnaissance
3. tracer
4. cordite
5. artillery
6. medevacs
7. pacification
8. frag
9. demilitarized
Chapters 12-16
1. bivouac
2. guerrilla
3. interdiction
4. mortar
5. claymore
6. vigilance
7. bivouacked
Chapters 17-23
1. napalm
2. nondenominational
3. projectile
4. requisition
5. impassively
6. welcher
7. cosmolene
I would like to take a small number of vocabulary words from the book Fallen Angels and try a new learning strategy called Vocabulary Mapping. Rather than just cramming definitions into your head, let's try this instead and see if it makes things easier to learn. These are very common words used in common language or you might hear them in reference to military settings. Here are the directions:
- Take the words from your vocabulary list that is from the book Fallen Angels.
- In your assigned pairs, create Vocabulary Word Maps for each word. Each person should do 8 words.
- Use the classroom dictionaries to look up each word.
- You have 2 options for actually creating your map:
- If you're more of a techie, use Microsoft Paint or Macromedia Firewords or Photoshop to create your picture of the word. Save that picture as a jpg and insert it as an image. It's easy to have to programs open (Paint and Dreamweaver) and work back and forth. Remember, Dreamweaver doesn't understand "cut and paste" for images. You have to save them and then insert them into Dreamweaver.
- OR you don't feel like using a laptop, you could just print out blank vocabulary maps and write on the paper itself. Either way, you're learning new words.
- You can use a blank vocabulary map in the shared folder for our class if you want so you don't have to recreate that. Just click "File" - "Save as" and stash how every many copies you need into your drive or you can acquire paper copies of the map from me.
- By completing all 16 words between you and your partner. Each word has 4 parts and is therefore worth 4 points (62 po ints total).
- Points are deducted for inaccurate, copied, or ungenuine responses.
Below you will find the Word Document to download of the Vocabulary Maps
| fa_vocabulary_map.docx |
"Making Meanings" ~ Active Reading Question Handouts
As we move through Fallen Angels, you will be assigned a number of handouts that contain critical thinking questions to help ensure your comprehension of the novel. If you have lost your handout our were absent, download the appropriate document to the section of the novel below.
| making_meanings_1.docx |
| making_meanings_2.docx |
| making_meanings_3.docx |
| making_meanings_4.docx |
| making_meanings_5.docx |
Fallen Angels
Final Projects
The following assignments are part of our Fallen Angels unit and will constitute your final grades on the novel in exception of an exam.
Seeing Double
Many of the themes in Fallen Angels are also developed in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a collection of interrelated short stories about the Vietnam War.
Read the chosen O’Brien short story in the Connections “The Man I Killed” and write a compare and contrast essay explaining how it relates to one of the themes in Fallen Angels.
· The Randomness of War
· Meaning of War
· Loss of Innocence
How do the novel and the story develop the same theme in a different way? Refer to specific scenes in each.
A Vision of War
Create a mural based on Fallen Angels. Use one or more large pieces of poster board to make a mural large enough to express major themes of the novel.
Combine drawing and painting (if you are artistic enough) with collage material, including photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and other items that evoke the experiences of Perry and the other characters. Use the Internet and books to help you find the images you are looking for.
When you present your mural to the class, explain how it reflects the themes and characters of the book. Write or type this reflection and attach it to the back of your mural
On the Scene
Write and videotape an on-the-scene news report that might have been created by a production crew that followed Perry into one of the most exciting moments of the novel.
Choose an anchorperson to introduce the report. Several members of your group should act out the scene (wearing military clothing), and a reporter should explain what is happening, interview characters, and return the audience to the anchor.
Before you tape, make a list of appropriate questions and discuss how the various characters would respond to them and why.
When you present your news report to the class, explain your reasons for selecting the scene and how you suppose television made the Vietnam War different from World War II and the present war in Iraq.
Seeing Double
Many of the themes in Fallen Angels are also developed in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, a collection of interrelated short stories about the Vietnam War.
Read the chosen O’Brien short story in the Connections “The Man I Killed” and write a compare and contrast essay explaining how it relates to one of the themes in Fallen Angels.
· The Randomness of War
· Meaning of War
· Loss of Innocence
How do the novel and the story develop the same theme in a different way? Refer to specific scenes in each.
A Vision of War
Create a mural based on Fallen Angels. Use one or more large pieces of poster board to make a mural large enough to express major themes of the novel.
Combine drawing and painting (if you are artistic enough) with collage material, including photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and other items that evoke the experiences of Perry and the other characters. Use the Internet and books to help you find the images you are looking for.
When you present your mural to the class, explain how it reflects the themes and characters of the book. Write or type this reflection and attach it to the back of your mural
On the Scene
Write and videotape an on-the-scene news report that might have been created by a production crew that followed Perry into one of the most exciting moments of the novel.
Choose an anchorperson to introduce the report. Several members of your group should act out the scene (wearing military clothing), and a reporter should explain what is happening, interview characters, and return the audience to the anchor.
Before you tape, make a list of appropriate questions and discuss how the various characters would respond to them and why.
When you present your news report to the class, explain your reasons for selecting the scene and how you suppose television made the Vietnam War different from World War II and the present war in Iraq.
