SUMMARY
It was September 15, 1967. The story starts off with the main character, Richie Perry, a native of New York, talking with a man named Gates and a woman named Judy Duncan. We find out that Richie does not really want to fight in the war in Vietnam. Initially him and his unit were scheduled to go to Vietnam, but a doctor at Fort Devens advised for him to not go because of his injured knee. He was then assigned to a supply company while he waited further orders. However, his old company ended up not going to Vietnam, and Richie ended up going instead. The only hope that he has now is the fact that once the army processes his medical profile, he will be sent back to the states. In addition to that, he heard that war was almost over anyways. As the story progresses, he arrives at Tan Son Nhat airport, gets assigned into the Twenty-second Replacement Company, and becomes more acquainted with Gates, a native of Chicago who wants Richie to call him Peewee.
As Richie reflects on his life back home, he says that although his counselor said he could attend City College, he felt as though that life would not get him anywhere. His family wasn’t exactly rich and he wasn’t saving any money. In his mind, there was no way he could support his mother and his brother Kenny if he was living the same life. Also, his basketball team, the Monarchs, had lost a tournament a week before, which added to his disappointment. There was a lot of pressure in his life to go to college, but he didn’t want to, and to escape from the questions, he joined the army. A newcomer from Fort Dix named Jenkins soon joined Richie’s circle of friends. Then Peewee, Jenkins, Richie, and another person were assigned to the 196th and had orders to go to Chu Lai.
After leaving the main base at Chu Lai, he arrived at Headquarters Company. The three of them were told that they were to be hopping abroad a chopper in Alpha Company, joined by an officer named Johnson. But before that, a lieutenant named Carroll went into Richie’s barracks and declared himself to be the platoon leader. Soon after, they met Sergeant Simpson. Before you knew it, the company was going on patrol.
Everything went well, and they did not encounter any Vietcong. However, on the return trip, when the group was less than 100 yards from the camp, Jenkins was caught in a booby trap that cut open his chest. The Vietcong had planted a mine on their path.
Later in the story, Richie and his company had to go to a village to do some public relations work. The people in the village can be described as being either very young or very old, since all of the middle aged men have gone off to fight in the war, being on either the ARVN (the south Vietnamese army) or the Vietcong side. The soldier’s goal at the village was to hand out C-rations and malaria pills so that they can befriend the Vietnamese villagers. Although most of the soldiers do not enjoy being in Vietnam, Peewee thinks otherwise. For him, Vietnam is the best place because it is Vietnam that all of the soldiers are equal. He also loves the loyalty of the bugs that inhabit Vietnam.
QUOTE (this is a long quote, but very important!)
“I was fifteen, and painfully aware that I was just an observer in life…Being an observer hadn’t been so bad in Stuyvesant…But sometimes even that didn’t work. Sometimes when I was tired and the competition was really rough, things would change for me…It was then that I would feel a pressure to give in…I had told Mrs.Liebow, my English teacher, and she said that it was what separated heroes from humans, the not giving in”(Myers 35-36).
REACTION
First of all, the reason that I picked this quote to be representative of this section because it gives the reader insight into his motives for joining the army. I know that he mentioned in the story that he didn’t want to go to Vietnam and he only went because he was forced to. However, there is probably more to this than meets the eye because he could probably appeal to some sort of office in the army. If he were really against being drafted, he would have more passionate things to say. But instead, his attitude is sort of like, “ Yea, I don’t want to go…Oh, I’m drafted, oh well, I guess I have to go now.” Therefore, I think that he actually does want to go to Vietnam because it is a way for him to fight and be hero, and not just a passive observer in life.
Now I want to talk about another quote that seemed very important. It was on page 44 and it said, “ Lord, let us feel pity for Private Jenkins, and sorrow for ourselves, and all the angel warriors that fall…My father used to call all soldiers angel warriors, he said, Because usually they get boys to fight wars. Most of you aren’t old enough to vote yet.” As soon as a read this, a light bulb went off in my head and I immediately understood the title of this book. At first I thought that this would make a good quote for the section, but I thought otherwise, since it probably would suit the entire book even better.
On page 24, there was a scene that showed Peewee and Richie doing a spit shake with each other, symbolizing their friendship and brotherhood. I thought that this was important because before, they didn’t allow another soldier to be blood brothers with them. In doing this, I think it means that they are willing to be brothers, but they haven’t known each other well enough to be blood brothers. Also on page 31 it said, “ Johnson slept naked on one side, snoring Peewee lay on his back, arms and legs spread, eyes not completely closed. Jenkins had his head under the blanket.” What I thought of this was that the book is trying to say that Johnson and Peewee is not afraid of the enemy at all while Jenkins is absolutely terrified.”
After reading 62 pages of the book, I would have to confirm that Walter Dean Myers still writes very honestly and explicitly. I say confirmed because I finished reading The Young Landlords with the very same impression (it was a book also written by Walter Dean Myers). He writes about people pulling out knives on each other and people taking bathroom breaks as though it were things that you say in a normal conversation. For me, that makes the book more interesting and fun to read.
In addition to the honesty of the book, it is also very funny as well. For example, there was a part in the book where Richie was attending the orientation lecture in order to learn about the geography of Vietnam. Then the lieutenant said, “ You are not in Disneyland”.
I also was able to make a few connections in this book. The earliest one I made was when Richie said that Jenkins looked like an Archie Comics character (and I really like Archie Comics). Also on page 35, I found out that Richie attended Stuyvesant high school, which was the high school that was featured in the film Frontrunners.
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