American Soldiers’ Reflection On The Vietnam War In Fallen Angels

The United States is a country born and developed from various wars.The Vietnam War is an indispensable part of American history and has had a profound influence on American society.Hence,numerous Vietnam-War literary works spring up,especially novels taking the war as the historical background,and they belong to the category of historical novel.The historical novel is a form of fiction reshaping and reproducing history through artistic form.Its focus is on reproducing a specific historical period in front of the reader through the description of characters,the historical background and events to make readers better understand the history of that time.Contemporary African-American writer Myers’ novel Fallen Angels takes the Vietnam War as its writing background,reflects a series of social,racial and even national problems and phenomena.The American Vietnam-War literature flourished in the middle of the 1960 s,while domestic studies on it lagged behind for nearly 30 years,and the study of this novel is very limited,which makes this research creative in some sense.The aim of this study is to explore the thoughts and reactions of American soldiers on the Vietnam War from the perspective of historical novels.In addition,Myers’ attitude toward the war and what he wants readers to know about the war will also be analyzed.This study begins with an analysis on the changes of American soldiers’ psychological world in Vietnam,and their reflections on the Vietnam War.The thesis further discusses the reasons behind their awakening anti-war consciousness.Textual interpretation of Fallen Angels is closely related to detailed description of soldiers’ anti-war consciousness.From what Myers portrays in the novel and what the soldiers have seen and felt in Vietnam,readers can get a better view of the nature of the Vietnam War and initiate their own reflection on the war and the complex historical background behind it.Such kind of reflection has profound practical significance for readers to understand the history.