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Symbols
In Fallen Angels, letters represent the link—and the unbridgeable distance—between the soldiers and their loved ones back home. Letters keep the soldiers connected with those they left behind, such as girlfriends and wives, mothers and brothers and fathers. But with every attempt to explain his experiences to his family, Perry realizes how he’ll never be able to fully express how the war is changing him. And some of the letters bluntly illustrate the distance between a soldier and those he left behind, like when Earlene breaks up with Peewee via letter, or when Lobel’s father writes an angry letter criticizing his son’s involvement in the war. Other letters remind the soldiers how far removed their experience is from their old lives. In Vietnam, little concerns like a coffee urn blowing up or the paper boy not leaving the papers on time don’t matter as much, if at all, to the soldiers, while these are extremely meaningful problems to the wives left behind. The two letters Perry writes explaining the circumstances of solders’ deaths—Carroll’s and Nate Turner’s—attempt to bridge this distance. So do his letters to little brother, Kenny, in which he tries to describe the war without indulging in heroic narratives. But the book leaves it an open question whether or not he succeeds.
Letters Quotes in Fallen Angels
The Fallen Angels quotes below all refer to the symbol of Letters. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 9
Quotes
Then I asked him about the letter.
“You know why that letter sucks?” he asked.
“How come?”
“Because I joined the friggin’ army in the first place so he would stop thinking I was a faggot,” Lobel said. “Now he thinks I’m a creep because I’m in the army.”
“What the hell does he know?”
“You know what I hope?” Lobel asked. “I hope I get killed over here so he has to fit that shit between his vodka martinis.”
“The next time we call for artillery, we’ll aim it right at your pad at home,” I said.
“You know what that jackass doesn’t know?” Lobel said, looking away from me, “He don’t know that now I can go back home and blow him away. That’s what I’m fucking trained for man. That’s what I’m fucking trained for.”
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Chapter 14
Quotes
“You know, I never thought much about black people before I got into the army. I don’t think I was prejudiced or anything—I just didn’t think much about black people.”
“Well, we’re here,” I said.
“I think I should let his parents know what happened […] I don’t want to be let off the hook.”
“The letter I wrote […] is going to sit better with his family. You might feel bad, like you need to get something off your chest, but don’t drop it on his folks. It’s going to be hard enough just having him dead.”
He looked at me, then pushed the letter across the table. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
I wanted to be pissed at him. I wanted to think that he was crap because of what he said about black people. But the only thing I could think about was that I was glad it was Turner, and not me.
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Chapter 20
Quotes
I just told him that war was about us killing people and about people killing us […] I had thought this war was right, but it was only right from a distance. Maybe when we all got back to the World and everybody thought we were heroes for winning it, then it would seem right from there. Or maybe if I made it back and I got old I would think back on it and would seem right from there. But when the killing started, there was no right or wrong except in the way you did your job, except in the way that you were part of the killing.
What you thought about, what filled you up more than anything, was the being scared and hearing your heart thump in your temples and all the noises, the terrible noises, the screeches and the booms and the guys crying for their mothers or their wives.
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Get the entire Fallen Angels LitChart as a printable PDF.
Letters Symbol Timeline in Fallen Angels
The timeline below shows where the symbol Letters appears in Fallen Angels. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...ever attacks. The ranger doesn’t know how to respond. Perry writes about Peewee in his letter home.
(full context)
Chapter 3
...bunks. Peewee mocks Johnson’s home state of Georgia, Perry realizes. Perry tries to write a letter home but can’t figure out what to say.
(full context)
Chapter 4
...Black solder called Brewster—whom the guys usually call “Brew”—tells Carroll that he got a hopeful letter from Virginia Union theology school. Carroll confesses that he almost followed his brother into theology...
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Perry writes a letter to Mama about Jenkins’ death. He tears it up. He doesn’t want to upset her...
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Chapter 5
Time passes, and anticipation for the war’s end grows. Perry gets a letter from Mama, full of complaints about her swollen feet. Peewee says that happened to his...
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Chapter 7
Peewee asks Perry to help him write a letter to the girlfriend, Earlene, who broke up with him soon after he arrived in Vietnam....
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Peewee goes to mail the letter, and Johnson comes into the hooch. Brunner starts to tell him that being called a...
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Chapter 9
...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...
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Lobel gets a letter from his father, condemning him for participating in an unjust war. Later, Lobel tells Perry...
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Chapter 11
...and pain of Lieutenant Carroll’s death. Back at camp, Simpson asks Perry to write a letter to Carroll’s family. Perry goes through Carroll’s personal things, looking at pictures and reading snippets...
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Mama sends a letter to Peewee, who refuses to tell Perry what it says. Perry worries that he upset...
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Chapter 14
Monaco gets a letter from his girlfriend, who wants him to consider getting married when he gets back. The...
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...he isn’t, but they’re sending him anyway. While they wait to leave, Brunner gets a letter from his wife in Seattle, describing how she got burned when the coffee urn at...
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Chapter 15
Perry tries to write a letter to Kenny about killing the Vietcong soldier, because he wants Kenny to know that he...
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...prepares to join a company-sized sweep of a nearby hilly area. Lobel writes an apologetic letter to his father and stashes it with his other belongings in the hooch. Perry wonders...
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Chapter 16
...now have tanks. He reads books to a soldier in dark glasses. He writes a letter to Mama, trying to make light of his injuries. He thinks about writing a serious...
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...highest reason known to man—defending freedom. Perry sends his medal to Kenny along with a letter promising to do normal things together, like go to the museum or basketball games. He...
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Chapter 17
Perry gets—and burns—a letter from Earlene, still trying to apologize to Peewee for abandoning him. He gets a letter...
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Chapter 20
Gearhart writes three copies of a letter to his wife. He asks Walowick and Perry to hold onto one each and mail...
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Perry asks Peewee if he should write a letter to Kenny telling his little brother what it’s really like in Vietnam. He keeps trying...
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...with Monaco about whether Monaco is manly enough to get jock itch. Perry starts a letter to Kenny. His letter says that war is not about right and wrong. It’s just...
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