Fallen Angels

by

Walter Dean Myers

Monaco is an Italian-American soldier in the same squad as Peewee, Johnson, Brunner, Brewster, Lobel, Walowick, and Sergeant Simpson. He has a girlfriend back home who proposes to him by letter while he’s in Vietnam, and he plans to invite the whole squad to the wedding. Under Simpson and Dongan, Monaco frequently takes point on patrols. When one night patrol goes disastrously, he misses the evacuation helicopter and becomes a Vietcong prisoner, but Perry and Peewee rescue him. He spends a short time in Chu Lai recuperating from his concussion but is sent back to the unit before Perry and Peewee get their medical discharges.

Monaco Quotes in Fallen Angels

The Fallen Angels quotes below are all either spoken by Monaco or refer to Monaco. 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:
War, Trauma, and Dehumanization Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

“You call that a sport?” Monaco asked. “I mean, there you are, you gotta weigh two hundred pounds, and you got a rifle, and you’re against a squirrel that weighs maybe two or three pounds, and he ain’t got nothing.”

“Man, it’s a damn sport!” Simpson protested […]

“The way I figure it,” Monaco went on, “if you hunt a squirrel with a rifle, what do you hunt a bear with? Artillery?”

“Call in some white phosphorous on him,” Brew said. “That’ll get his attention until the jets zero in.”

[…]

“You don’t know nothing about no hunting!” Simpson was getting pissed. “You don’t know what hunting is!”

“What he’s trying to say […] is that the white phosphorous is enough. After it burns the bear’s ass off, then the good sergeant will finish him off with a couple of frag grenades,” [said Lobel].

[…] Sergeant Simpson got up and left the hooch.

Related Characters: Monaco (speaker), Lobel (speaker), Simpson (speaker), Brewster (Brew) (speaker), Richie Perry
Page Number: 49-50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“The guy’s got to be a spook,” Gearhart said. “You know, CIA.”

“What do they do over here?” Monaco asked.

“Below the DMZ they do pacification stuff, look around to see who is infiltrating, that kind of thing. Then they do a lot of stuff above the ’Z. The navy guys slip them in on the west and the Green Berets slip them around the ’Z through Laos. Down here she’s probably his cover.”

“Is the kid a spook, too?” Monaco asked.

“Who knows?” Gearhart answered. “This is a funny war.”

I didn’t like the idea of having people who were civilians around. It just didn’t seem right somehow.

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Monaco (speaker), Gearhart (speaker)
Page Number: 139-140
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Peewee skipped his meals the rest of the day. Monaco tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t answer. It was Johnson who finally got him to talk.

“Hey, Peewee?”

“What?”

“You care anything about these damn kids over here, man?”

“They got kids over here?” Peewee asked.

“Naw, man, all they got is Congs,” Johnson said. “Congs and mosquitos.”

“And rats,” Walowick added.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Peewee,” I said. “It’s okay to feel bad about what’s going on over here, man. It’s really okay.”

“Me? Feel bad?” Peewee turned over in his bunk and pulled his sheet up around his shoulders. “Never happen.”

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Peewee (Harold Gates) (speaker), Johnson (speaker), Walowick (speaker), Monaco, An Linh
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

It was Monaco. He was sitting against a tree. He had his head in his hands. His piece was about ten meters in front of him. I wanted to go to him, but Peewee stopped me.

“He ain’t sitting there for nothing,” he said.

I looked around. Nothing. What the hell was wrong with this damn war? You never saw anything. There was never anything until it was on top of your ass, and you were screaming and shooting and too scared to figure out anything.

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Peewee (Harold Gates) (speaker), Monaco
Page Number: 295
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

I got to sit up in a wheelchair, and the leg felt all right in spite of the cast. It felt good. I hoped it wasn’t. I could make it with a limp. I just didn’t want to go back to the boonies anymore.

We got a call from Lieutenant Gearhart on the ham radio network. He told us the other guys in the squad were all right. It was nice of him to call us, but it wasn’t true. Monaco wasn’t all right. Monaco was like me and Peewee. We had tasted what it was like being dead. We had rolled it around in our mouths and swallowed it and now the stink from it was coming from us. We weren’t all right. We would have to learn to be alive again.

He also told us that Captain Stewart had been promoted.

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Peewee (Harold Gates), Monaco, Stewart, Gearhart
Page Number: 304
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fallen Angels LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fallen Angels PDF

Monaco Quotes in Fallen Angels

The Fallen Angels quotes below are all either spoken by Monaco or refer to Monaco. 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:
War, Trauma, and Dehumanization Theme Icon
).
Chapter 4 Quotes

“You call that a sport?” Monaco asked. “I mean, there you are, you gotta weigh two hundred pounds, and you got a rifle, and you’re against a squirrel that weighs maybe two or three pounds, and he ain’t got nothing.”

“Man, it’s a damn sport!” Simpson protested […]

“The way I figure it,” Monaco went on, “if you hunt a squirrel with a rifle, what do you hunt a bear with? Artillery?”

“Call in some white phosphorous on him,” Brew said. “That’ll get his attention until the jets zero in.”

[…]

“You don’t know nothing about no hunting!” Simpson was getting pissed. “You don’t know what hunting is!”

“What he’s trying to say […] is that the white phosphorous is enough. After it burns the bear’s ass off, then the good sergeant will finish him off with a couple of frag grenades,” [said Lobel].

[…] Sergeant Simpson got up and left the hooch.

Related Characters: Monaco (speaker), Lobel (speaker), Simpson (speaker), Brewster (Brew) (speaker), Richie Perry
Page Number: 49-50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“The guy’s got to be a spook,” Gearhart said. “You know, CIA.”

“What do they do over here?” Monaco asked.

“Below the DMZ they do pacification stuff, look around to see who is infiltrating, that kind of thing. Then they do a lot of stuff above the ’Z. The navy guys slip them in on the west and the Green Berets slip them around the ’Z through Laos. Down here she’s probably his cover.”

“Is the kid a spook, too?” Monaco asked.

“Who knows?” Gearhart answered. “This is a funny war.”

I didn’t like the idea of having people who were civilians around. It just didn’t seem right somehow.

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Monaco (speaker), Gearhart (speaker)
Page Number: 139-140
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

Peewee skipped his meals the rest of the day. Monaco tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t answer. It was Johnson who finally got him to talk.

“Hey, Peewee?”

“What?”

“You care anything about these damn kids over here, man?”

“They got kids over here?” Peewee asked.

“Naw, man, all they got is Congs,” Johnson said. “Congs and mosquitos.”

“And rats,” Walowick added.

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Peewee,” I said. “It’s okay to feel bad about what’s going on over here, man. It’s really okay.”

“Me? Feel bad?” Peewee turned over in his bunk and pulled his sheet up around his shoulders. “Never happen.”

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Peewee (Harold Gates) (speaker), Johnson (speaker), Walowick (speaker), Monaco, An Linh
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

It was Monaco. He was sitting against a tree. He had his head in his hands. His piece was about ten meters in front of him. I wanted to go to him, but Peewee stopped me.

“He ain’t sitting there for nothing,” he said.

I looked around. Nothing. What the hell was wrong with this damn war? You never saw anything. There was never anything until it was on top of your ass, and you were screaming and shooting and too scared to figure out anything.

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Peewee (Harold Gates) (speaker), Monaco
Page Number: 295
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

I got to sit up in a wheelchair, and the leg felt all right in spite of the cast. It felt good. I hoped it wasn’t. I could make it with a limp. I just didn’t want to go back to the boonies anymore.

We got a call from Lieutenant Gearhart on the ham radio network. He told us the other guys in the squad were all right. It was nice of him to call us, but it wasn’t true. Monaco wasn’t all right. Monaco was like me and Peewee. We had tasted what it was like being dead. We had rolled it around in our mouths and swallowed it and now the stink from it was coming from us. We weren’t all right. We would have to learn to be alive again.

He also told us that Captain Stewart had been promoted.

Related Characters: Richie Perry (speaker), Peewee (Harold Gates), Monaco, Stewart, Gearhart
Page Number: 304
Explanation and Analysis: