Fallen Angels - Section 3(pgs.108-188, Ch. 9-13)Name:______

Answer the following questions after reading Chapters 9-13 (use detail in your responses)

Comprehension Check:

  1. Why does the squad set up an ambush outside the village they had visited earlier (p.119-120)?
  2. What depressing task does Sergeant Simpson ask Perry to undertake (p.129)?
  3. How does Lobel respond to Lieutenant Carroll’s death (p. 132)?
  4. What are Perry’s immediate reactions to killing the VC soldier in the village?

Analysis:

  1. What does Perry mean when he says, “We came to pacify the people who lived there?” (p.110).
  1. Why does it bother Perry that the squad is supposed to “smile a lot and treat the [Vietnamese] with dignity” (p.112)?
  1. During their downtime the squad argues about the antiwar protesters burning their draft cards. What does each character reveal about how he regards protesters draft evasion, and the morality of war (p.146-147)?
  1. Why do you think Perry’s mother wrote to Peewee instead of her son?
  1. How does Perry’s talk with Johnson about why they are fighting contribute to the way Perry thinks about the war (p. 148-150)?
  1. What is ironic about the mistake Perry makes during the ambush with the Claymore?
  1. Nate Turner was a black man from the south. Analyze the effect Gearhart’s commentary about Turner’s race has on Perry (p. 172).
  1. Because Perry is the narrator, we see the scene in which he kills a man from his point of view. What does this personal view give the reader that a more objective view might not give?

Author’s use of Craft in Ch. 10:

  1. Explain the use of paradox in this phrase: “Pacify them to death” (p.120).
  1. Explain the lit devices (personification, metaphor, metonymy) in this phrase (there are multiple): “The sixty – the pig – was hungry, angry that they had hit our man, our leader” (p.126).
  1. What is the phrase a “burnt offering” an allusion to (p.127).____
  1. What is the effect of the repetition of phrases such as “God have mercy” throughout ch.10? (Significance? How does it develop Perry’s Characterization? P.121-128)

Personal Response:

  1. Which part of the description of what the village looks like after the Viet Cong have attacked do you find most disturbing?
  1. “Sometimes standing alone seemed to be the hardest thing in the world to do, even when being the crowd meant you could be killed” (p.147). Recall a time when you felt pressured to do something because everyone else was doing it. Would you make the same choice today? Why or why not?