The Quiet American Essay. The film The Quiet American, based off the classic novel by Graham Greene and directed by Phillip Noyce. Based in Saigon, , in the middle of the Vietnam war between the communist and the French The Quiet American by Graham Greene Essay Example The large-scale political thesis of the novel is that American interference in the internal affairs of another country can only result in suffering, death, and defeat, and is not morally justifiable because of abstract idealism Dec 12, · Essay title: The Quiet American. The Quiet American is a novel that captures a period of time in a country that is consumed by a war, a war with deep foreign involvement. In amongst all of the political and social unrest within the country is Thomas Fowler, a British journalist. Throughout the novel we see Fowler’s interactions with the country in which he resides, Vietnam, symbolised by his Estimated Reading Time: 4 mins
The Quiet American Essay - Free Argumentative Essays For Students
The Quiet American, is more than a political statement about whether or not America or any other country for that matter should become involved in the the quiet american essay of another country; Greene makes the question human and personal. The story is told with excellent characterization and sophisticated irony, the quiet american essay. The plot 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. The large-scale political thesis of the novel is that American interference in the internal affairs of another country can only result in suffering, death, the quiet american essay, and defeat, and is not morally justifiable because of abstract idealism. This is not the only meaning of consequence in the novel, and given the course of later events, its importance may be blown out of proportion.
Thus Graham Greene summarizes the lesson of Vietnam fully ten years before the American government expanded its military commitment to fill the vacuum left by the defeated French. The Quiet American is a shocking novel of political prophecy. 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.
He is hopelessly innocent. 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, the quiet american essay.
Like other Americans, Pyle is so obsessed with his mission to save the world that he does not register 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 leaves Fowler for Pyle because the quiet american essay offers her even more wealth and protection. Pyle is shocked because Fowler says he is merely using Phuong for his own pleasure and because of his need to have a woman beside him to stave off loneliness. It never occurs the quiet american essay 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, the quiet american essay. In this respect, Pyle is right to see good in a man who claims to be without sense of right and wrong.
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 the quiet american essay 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 guilty. In one sense, Pyle is quiet—even 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.
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 wear 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 Pyle is not as great as Fowler has supposed. His narrative ironically binds him to Pyle—a fate Fowler has consistently tried to avoid.
He also refuses to let Pyle call him Tom and insists on being called Thomas. No formalities can really separate the two men however. The Quiet American is concerned with the effect the superpowers have when they intervene in the politics of the developing nations, the quiet american essay, 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.
Although the war and the controversies surrounding it still plague the memories of many Americans, the war and the novel itself are not quite so topical as they were in the s and early s.
Still it might be worth stressing that the novel was written well before America became deeply involved in Vietnam. Free Essays Topics Essay Checker Hire Writer Login. Free essay samples Examples The Quiet American by Graham Greene. The Quiet American by Graham Greene 12 December Hire verified writer. The Quiet American by Graham Greene Essay Example. How to cite The Quiet American by Graham Greene essay Choose cite format: APA MLA Harvard Chicago ASA IEEE AMA.
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The Quiet American - Graham Greene - Novel
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The Quiet American Essay. The film The Quiet American, based off the classic novel by Graham Greene and directed by Phillip Noyce. Based in Saigon, , in the middle of the Vietnam war between the communist and the French The Quiet American by Graham Greene Essay Example The large-scale political thesis of the novel is that American interference in the internal affairs of another country can only result in suffering, death, and defeat, and is not morally justifiable because of abstract idealism Dec 12, · Essay title: The Quiet American. The Quiet American is a novel that captures a period of time in a country that is consumed by a war, a war with deep foreign involvement. In amongst all of the political and social unrest within the country is Thomas Fowler, a British journalist. Throughout the novel we see Fowler’s interactions with the country in which he resides, Vietnam, symbolised by his Estimated Reading Time: 4 mins
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