The Quiet American by Graham Greene Essay Example for Free

The Quiet American by Graham Greene EssayThe Quiet American, is more than a governmental statement somewhat whether or non America or any other country for that matter should become involved in the affairs of another(prenominal) country Greene makes the head word human and personal. The overbold can be read as a political and righteous reflection on the opening stages of the United States social occasion in Southeast Asia. Therefore, Greenes novel becomes a commentary on the pointlessness of the United States later investment of men and material in a political action that could only end, as it did for the French, in defeat. The Quiet American is considered angiotensin converting enzyme of Graham Greenes study achievements. The trading floor is told with excellent characterization and sophisticated irony. The maculation bears a resemblance to that of a mystery story. A crime has been committed. Who is the murderer? As in most mystery stories, as much needs to be learned about the victim as about the villain. Yet what is learned takes on political, moral, and religious significance. The story ends in mystery as well. Who exactly killed Pyle is not revealed, yet the burden of the crime, like the burden of telling the story, is Fowlers.The large-scale political thesis of the novel is that American interference in the home(a) affairs of another country can only result in suffering, death, and defeat, and is not morally justifiable be piss of abstract idealism. This is not the only meaning of consequence in the novel, and effrontery the course of later steadyts, its importance may be blown out of proportion. The lesson, however, is clearly explained by a French aviator with orders to shoot anything in sight. passkey Trouin confides to Fowler that he detests napalm bombing We all get involved in a moment of emotion, and then we cannot get out, he explains.Trouin understands that the French cannot win the war in Indochina But we atomic number 18 pr ofessionals we have to go on fighting till the politicians tell us to stop, he says with bitter resignation. Probably they will get unneurotic and agree to the same peace that we could have had at the beginning, making nonsense of all these years. Greenes political objective is clearly to make a pasquinade the notion of a Third Force in Asian politics, countering the threat of Communism and replacing the rationale of colonialism as an explanation for Western involvement. Because of Greenes likely anti-American bias, the novel was not popular in the United States. It is no wonder then that Greenes warning about Vietnam was not taken seriously, even though later events tended to validate the wisdom f his political analysis. Thus Graham Greene summarizes the lesson of Vietnam fully ten years before the American government spread out its military commitment to fill the vacuum left by the defeated French. The Quiet American is a shocking novel of political prophecy. Its mystery story characteristics perhaps better define its interest to the average reader, as Greenes unreliable narrator gradually provides the details leading up to Pyles death.The spectacular focus concerns the conflict between Fowler and Pyle over love and the politics of war, the contest between Fowler and Vigot, who knows that Fowler was responsible for Pyles death still cannot prove it, and, finally, Fowlers internal conflict, his beliefs of noninvolvement transformed by circumstances and emotion to a position of murderous intervention. Sooner or later, the Communist Heng tells Fowler, one has to take sides if one is to remain human. peradventure Fowler finally takes sides because he understands how dangerous Pyles blind idealism can be, yet his motives are not entirely clear because of his dependence on Phuong. Fowler does not idolize her, as does the more romantic Pyle, who sincerely cares for Phuong but is absolutely unfeeling about the rest of the native population. Pyle believes in t he political theory of York Harding (a call down that links a less-than-stunning American president with a patriotic war hero) and the need for a Third Force (American intervention) in Vietnam.Yet Pyles naiveness is not entirely ordered with his intelligence, his training, and his Harvard degree. He is hopelessly innocent. In one of his strongest metaphors, Greene likens innocence to a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm, but obviously bearing contamination and corruption with him. Fowler is a fascinating character and narrator because he simultaneously reveals and conceals so much about himself and his involvement in the story. On the one hand, he is openly contemptuous of Pyle.Like other Americans, Pyle is so obsessed with his mission to save the world that he does not cross-file the reality around him. It is ridiculous for him to think that Phuong is an innocent he must rescue. She has stayed with Fowler because he offers her security. She le aves Fowler for Pyle because he offers her even more wealth and protection. Pyle is shocked because Fowler says he is save utilize Phuong for his own pleasure and because of his need to have a woman beside him to stave off loneliness. It never occurs to Pyle that Phuong has acted just as selfishly or that Pyle imself is using people. On the other hand, Fowler is not entirely honest with himself. He claims to be disengaged, not only from politics but also from the sentiments of love Pyle professes. Yet Fowlers passionate rejection of Pyles worldview and his defense of the Vietnamese, who he believes should be allowed to work out their own destiny, free of the French, the Americans, and any other intruding power, surely reveal anything but dishonesty. In this respect, Pyle is right to see good in a man who claims to be without sense of right and wrong.In fact, Pyle loses his life because of Fowlers moral outrage. Fowler is so appalled by the bombing atrocity at the cafe that he dete rmines to put a stop to Pyles activities. Fowlers passion is hardly consistent with his habit of staying reserved. Actually, he cares deeply about Phuong and about the Vietnamese. He believes in self-determination, which ironically is the ideology that Americans claim to support. Americans think they are supporting freedom by allying themselves with the anticommunists. Thus, there are multiple ironies in The Quiet American.Fowler says he is a pessimist, but he acts like a wounded idealist. Pyle says he is an idealist, but his involvement with anticommunist thugs places him in disparaging and brutal situations. Phuong looks like a delicate, easily manipulated, and passive victim, and yet like many other Vietnamese she is a survivor who plays one side against the other and changes according to the current political issues. Fowler declares to Vigot that he is not guilty, then retells the story of his involvement with Fowler to clear his name, yet concludes by realizing that he is guilt y.The novels title is also ironic. In one sense, Pyle is quieteven unassuming. He patiently questions Fowler about his tie to Phuong and even declares his love for her to Fowler before he marries her. Pyle is the opposite of loud, vulgar Americans such as his boss Joe, or the noisy American journalist Granger. In another sense, however, Pyle is anything but quiet. He stirs up Saigon with explosions and he turns Fowlers life into turmoil. An even greater irony is that for all their differences, Fowler and Pyle are alike in their moral earnestness.Fowler is the sophisticated European who has learned not to break down his heart on his sleeve. He denies any form of selfless behavior. Pyle is the naive American who is openhearted and believes he acts for the good of others. Yet both men cause great damage because they care about others. They are caught up in the evil that Fowler thinks he can avoid and that Pyle thinks he can remove. The political and moral divide between Fowler and Pyl e is not as great as Fowler has supposed. His narrative ironically binds him to Pylea dowry Fowler has consistently tried to avoid.The novel dramatizes Fowlers fate in the scene where he refuses to call Pyle by his first name. He also refuses to let Pyle call him Tom and insists on being called Thomas. No formalness can really separate the two men however. Fowlers own narrative shows them to strongly connected. The Quiet American is concerned with the effect the superpowers have when they interject in the politics of the developing nations, in this case, Vietnam during the last days of French colonial rule.Greene himself is in an interesting position in that England, once a major colonial power, has increasingly surrendered that position to the United States since World War II. This weakened position makes Greene, like Fowler, something of an observer of the more active Americans. Fowler observes the covert actions of Pyle and finds them wrong. He thinks Americans are politically naive, dangerously idealistic, and too willing to hurt other people if they get in the way of their political goals. Greene has been accused of being anti-American but the novel and Fowlers judgment of Pyle were obviously very relevant.The novel was especially popular during the war in Vietnam, when many Americans came to share Fowlers opinions. Although the war and the controversies surrounding it still provoke the memories of many Americans, the war and the novel itself are not quite so topical as they were in the 1960s and early 1970s. Still it might be worth stressing that the novel was written well before America became deeply involved in Vietnam. In fact, America is now involved as a Third Force in Iraq, where the political concerns of the novel are still quite applicable.