Graham Greene's The Quiet American

The moral content of The Quiet American arises in part from the fact that each character stands for an idea or a national-culture "type." The world-weary journalist Fowler has seen it all and in a way revels in his cynicism and frankly colonialist attitudes. "I had never desired faith," he says. "The job of a reporter is to expose and record. I had never in my career discovered the inexplicable" (88). His mistress Phuong is the thoroughly colonized country, self-absorbed and lacking sophisticated understanding of the colonizer and not particularly thrilled, but not overtly hostile. The people of the country just want to get along. Whether she remains with Fowler or takes up with Pyle is a matter of some indifference. Only where she is concerned is Fowler emotionally vulnerable.

With Pyle and Vigot the allegorical analogues become somewhat more complex. Vigot is the figure of French colonialism, and he is intelligent enough to suspect that as an "Economic Attaché" Pyle is probably a spy, but he is a co

. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Quiet American, Democracy Honor, Third Force--it, Saigon Pyle, Viet Minh, Third Force, American Vietnam, Cold War, Pyle Vigot, American Thé, quiet american, french colonialism, american vietnam, viet minh, third force, policy makers, cautionary tale, war ii,
Approximate Word count = 814
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Graham Greene The Quiet American