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Chapter 8
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Fallen Angels, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War, Trauma, and Dehumanization
Perseverance and Heroism
Race, Identity, and Belonging
Reality and Fiction
Faith and Hope
Summary
Analysis
Brunner tries to gather the squad for a pacification mission. Monaco refuses to move, and when Brunner threatens him, Monaco grabs a grenade from under his bed, pulls the pin, and tosses it in Brunner’s face. Everyone dives for cover. After a minute, Walowick gets up. Monaco grins at Brunner and says next time, he’ll use one with powder. Everyone cusses Monaco out. Then they all laugh, except Brunner and Brew, who’s still loudly praying. Perry doesn’t like that; he doesn’t want Brew to get closer to God than him.
In theory, Monaco pulls a funny prank, but it’s also another reminder of how desensitized the soldiers are becoming to violence. And, following the friendly fire incident, it seems significantly un-funny. The sense of danger that incident created infiltrates Perry’s faith in God, turning prayer into a competition for divine favor more than an act of faith or a comforting practice.
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Sergeant Simpson explains that the squad has been assigned the pacification mission because the marines who oversaw it have been sent north. He warns the men not to mess with village women or shoot each other accidentally. Perry still has intrusive thoughts of his patrol with Charlie Company. And every time he leaves the camp or even just hears choppers, his stomach tenses. Still, they make it to the village without incident. As they approach, Lobel tells Perry that they’re like the bad guys in a cowboy movie riding into town. Perry, suddenly finding his M-16 bigger and more threatening than usual, doesn’t like that image.
The soldiers eagerly anticipate peace talks, but with the benefit of historical hindsight, readers can see the ways that these troop movements foreshadow the Tet Offensive, a coordinated escalation of violence orchestrated by Vietcong forces in the early months of 1968—soon after Perry arrives in Vietnam. Despite his premonitions of violence, Perry keeps forcing himself into the helicopter when it’s time for patrol, showing his heroism. But he still questions what he's doing in Vietnam; Lobel’s cinematic metaphor makes him uncomfortable because it questions whether the Americans are truly the good guys in this war.
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Perry leaves Lobel and catches up to Simpson. He wonders aloud what the Vietnamese people think of the war, and Simpson answers that they’re used to it; the fighting has been going on since before most of them—the American soldiers included—were born. Perry tries to object, but Simpson won’t listen. As he brings gifts to each hut, Perry feels painfully aware of how he looks: huge and “armed to the teeth.” Although he wants the villagers to like him, he can see why they might look on him as a killer, like Lobel suggested.
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The day in the village passes uneventfully. They find some medicinal salve. Brunner steals a small statue and when Perry calls him out on it, Johnson appears from nowhere—he has a sixth sense for when one of the Black guys is in trouble—to back him up. Peewee and Perry ask the villagers what the salves are for. With some pantomime, they determine that one is for hair growth, one is for feet, and one has something to do with pregnancy. They don’t know about the rest. Peewee buys some hair and foot salve. At noon, a chopper brings the soldiers hot food and a box of chicks to distribute. Brunner suspects one person of being Vietcong, but Carroll tells him not to worry about it—for now.
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When they get back to the camp, they find out that the mess hall is serving roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots again. The soldiers nearly mutiny. Captain Stewart gets Alpha Company out of further pacification work since it doesn’t add to his body count. That night, Peewee gets a letter from Earlene saying she still loves him, but she had to get married because she’s pregnant. If she has a boy, she promises to name it Harry after him.
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Lobel gets a letter from his father, condemning him for participating in an unjust war. Later, Lobel tells Perry that he volunteered to make his father stop thinking he was “a faggot;” now his dad thinks he’s “a creep” instead. Perry jokes about calling in an artillery barrage on Lobel’s home, while Lobel muses about how easily he could “blow away” his dad thanks to his army training. Perry’s letter from Kenny talks about a new basketball league for younger kids. He writes back right away, encouraging Kenny to join and sending money to pay the fee. He worries about Kenny, who isn’t tough enough to make it in their harsh neighborhood. He thinks about how Lobel is ready to kill people to prove he isn’t queer, and he himself is ready to kill people to escape his old neighborhood.
Two women—the first American ones anyone has seen in ages—visit camp from the American Red Cross to chat and distribute care packages. One embarrasses Perry when she asks what he plans to do after the war, and he can’t answer. It reminds him of the high school guidance counselor laughing at him when he told her he wanted to be a philosopher. He didn’t confess his dreams to people again after that.
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The camp gets bad news: another patrol just lost two men on their pacification mission to the same village. Now the squad must go back and lay an ambush for any Vietcong guerillas in the vicinity. Sergeant Simpson explains that they need to show the villagers that the Americans can be peaceful, as long as they’re treated well. If not, they’ll pacify them to death.
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