The Quiet American

A detailed Summary of The Quiet American

In Graham Greene's The Quiet American, Greene uses the characters Thomas Fowler and Alden Pyle to represent a greater picture. In the interactions among these characters, he is simplifying the situation in Vietnam into a personal model to be viewed. Graham Greene developed the attitudes and personalities of his characters almost to be a condensed legend of the countries they represented. In their actions, and opinions formed on them by others, was a reflection of the general feeling overall in Vietnam.

Alden Pyle is the title quiet American sent to Vietnam with orders. Seemingly he is quiet because he is the innocent, neutral party coming to aid by selling plastic. He has a good reputation, and is very curt and proper. Naive is best to superficially describe his demeanor; he is only trying to help. But ignorance is probably better to this character for he

does not realize the destruction he is causing and does not realize that he is more meddlesome than helpf

Thomas Fowler is the main character in The Quiet American and he is the embodiment of his homeland, Great Britain in the story. Greene is portraying

England's views of the situation in Vietnam through the eyes of their representative, Fowler. Fowler is not very fond of Pyle and sees his actions as cold and cruel. And yet perhaps as England, he is trying to not get in to involved in emotions of the situation as he claims Phuong is needed by him as only a sexual object. He denounces God, and points out the ignorance in Pyle, yet he says, "One has to take sides. If one is to remain human" (174). So what side is Fowler on, though he claims he is just there to report the happenings of the war. Green may have pointed out some kind of dissention between England and the United States with the love triangle set up between the two and Phuong. Greene subtly and deftly intertwines the lives of his characters with their larger counterparts. Are they both trying to help

imposi

Some common words found in the essay are:
Liberty Phuong, United Pyle, Fowler Fowler, Vietnam Seemingly, Graham Greene, Phuong Greene, Alden Pyle, Quiet American, Pyle America, Thomas Fowler, quiet american, thomas fowler, trying help, situation vietnam, graham greene, alden pyle,

Approximate Word count = 663
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History

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The Quiet American

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