The involvement of the Western powers, primarily the French and the United States, in Vietnam was based on an imperial ideology that saw the West as superior and the East as inferior. As events unfolded, it became clear that the ideology of the West did not apply in Vietnam. The tragic results of nation-building in the Third World by the West are examined in the 1955 Graham Greene novel The Quiet American, and in director Philip Noyce's 2001 movie of the same name. By viewing the Vietnamese as "inferior," it was easy for the Western powers to believe that the Vietnamese were not a people deserving of their own independence. Under the guise of "liberating" and protecting the Vietnamese, the country was utilized as a Cold War battlefield following World War II. The French and Americans in Vietnam believed they had the moral and military might to determine the destiny of Third World countries like Vietnam. In both the book and film, the character of The Quiet American, represented by Alden Pyle, symbolizes the blind arrogance of the West that it knows what is best for the East. A major theme is how blind adherence to an ideology can turn into destructive acts. Ideology makes it unnecessary to confront issues on an individual basis, oversimplifying a situation.
Pyle is the nanve, ideologically committed young American filled with rigid theories he developed about the meaning and nature of the conflict in Vietnam. He developed his theories before arriving in the country, so they are mainly textbook theories and not based on any experience or real knowledge of the people. Pyle also brings with him racist attitudes, or at the very least, a superior attitude because he is white, making it easy for him to ignore the nature of the Vietnamese people and their struggle for nationalism.
Author Graham Greene wrote The Quiet American based on his own experience as a journalist in Vietnam. He believed that Vietnamese of all political persua...