Captain Trouin's The Quiet American
"The wars between people are a reflection of our own inner conflict and fear." This discerning sentiment from Jack Kornfield is a true testimony of the state of an individual plagued by constant conflict. Throughout history, individuals and communities have been affected by social turmoil, wars and depravity. The survivors of such conflict are faced with the challenge of re-establishing a sense of normality and are often forced to create a new life. Conflict changes the way people think about their lives, as the traumatic experience tests their prior values and beliefs. Some will be haunted by dark memories, guilt and shame, impairing their ability to lead a stable and satisfactory life. These individuals may become disheartened and depressed
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and in effect are destroyed by the battle. Yet, on the other hand, some gain insight and strength, allowing them to recover more readily from hardship. Positive changes can occur when suffering is viewed as a learning experience. The emotional impact of conflict may diminish with time, but in some way or form, we are all forever shaped by the destructive nature of the conflict that once rose.
“As it turned out, the first thing I knew about the war was also the truest, and maybe it's as true for nations as for individuals: you can survive and not survive, both at the same time." The predicament of Uncle John foreshadows Megan Stack’s eventual trauma. In the prologue to her collection of essays, “Every Man in this Village is a Liar”, Megan Stack drew attention to her Uncle John’s war experiences in Beirut. He survived the war but did not survive the harrowing conflict that tore apart his life. John's startling suicide was Megan's first exposure to the "battle scars of war" which became a predominant theme throughout her journalistic experiences in the Middle East. She illustrated just how "difficult it is to survive the war" and the psychological battles that went beyond the physical pain. Although Megan is able to dodge the bullets while driving through the battle-scarred Lebanon at the height of sectarian violence, Megan eventually became concerned and strained. There were signs all along. In 2004, at the height of anti-American sentiment during the Iraq war, Megan could not stop fainting when she visited the victims in a hospital outside Baghdad after a suicide bomb. She admitted that the stress was intolerable. “My body was shutting down in protest at the parade of broken humans." Raheem reminded her of the need to be “strong” (“We see this every day.”) but Megan confessed that it was not the first time she had started fainting, and “it would keep happening for months to come.”After 10 years in the field as a war correspondent, Megan realised the destructive nature of conflict she has survived in the flesh, but knows that she will always be scarred from what she saw, what she heard and what she felt.
Battles within, outside, socially, may aid us in seeing what is important in life as it reinforces our convictions.
Our perception of the world around us is built upon the conflict of ideas which takes place in our own minds and so it is almost impossible to validate our viewpoint with others. These disagreements present us with generally inexperienced sensations which may, in fact, support our preconceptions. Captain Trouin in the novel 'The Quiet American', unlike Fowler, is certain of his drive in Vietnam. His experience of "bombing defenceless villages" has tormented him to the horrors of the world as he seeks refuge within his purpose. By fighting for his "friends" he maintains a point of concrete security in an ever uncertain world. His experiences in Vietnam have merely given "greater weight" and meaning to his convictions, unlike Fowler's which are challenged by Trouin himself - urging him to "take a side" in the conflict - and echoed by various characters, such as Mr Heng and Vigot, throughout the novel. Through experience we gain understanding; indeed it is this principle that modern education is based. The almost always unique nature of conflict grants us with a superior understanding by way of it broadening our perception of the world. Despite occasionally causing trauma, and piercing through our lives, conflict is a force, an energy which can prove beyond our former conceptions which we hold dear
to.
"Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." Conflict provides us with differing perspectives as it grants us to experience a new reality which complete peace does not afford. However, if we remain blinded by the crucible of these sorts of conflagrations, we risk losing sight of the true reality around us. As seen in the Wayne Hudson shootings in Melbourne in 2007, a lack of scope can produce calamitous consequences. The three bystanders who intervened much like Pyle and Helen intruding on Fowler and Phuong's relationship, suffered by doing so; all were shot, one fatally so. When immersing ourselves in the ocean of conflict, we must maintain sight of the shore else we are sucked out into a struggle far bigger than our own being which may crush us and act as the spur to defeat our own very life.
Without conflict, it is difficult to ascertain the consequences of an action. Therefore, it is clear that conflict, though traumatic in its effects can be constructive in its process. However, one does not come without the other and so by attempting to learn through conflict, we risk the most dire consequence, our lives. This, though, is not always the case. As can be seen with grape vines, often the conflict can afford us a method of maturation which grants our fruit with greater essence, giving it a greater flavour. Conflict not only accentuates the value of things won through it, but helps us, indeed forces us, to decide what we believe is right, as can be seen in from the primary novel “you can escape the things that you have done, but you cannot overcome the things that are done to you."
and in effect are destroyed by the battle. Yet, on the other hand, some gain insight and strength, allowing them to recover more readily from hardship. Positive changes can occur when suffering is viewed as a learning experience. The emotional impact of conflict may diminish with time, but in some way or form, we are all forever shaped by the destructive nature of the conflict that once rose.
“As it turned out, the first thing I knew about the war was also the truest, and maybe it's as true for nations as for individuals: you can survive and not survive, both at the same time." The predicament of Uncle John foreshadows Megan Stack’s eventual trauma. In the prologue to her collection of essays, “Every Man in this Village is a Liar”, Megan Stack drew attention to her Uncle John’s war experiences in Beirut. He survived the war but did not survive the harrowing conflict that tore apart his life. John's startling suicide was Megan's first exposure to the "battle scars of war" which became a predominant theme throughout her journalistic experiences in the Middle East. She illustrated just how "difficult it is to survive the war" and the psychological battles that went beyond the physical pain. Although Megan is able to dodge the bullets while driving through the battle-scarred Lebanon at the height of sectarian violence, Megan eventually became concerned and strained. There were signs all along. In 2004, at the height of anti-American sentiment during the Iraq war, Megan could not stop fainting when she visited the victims in a hospital outside Baghdad after a suicide bomb. She admitted that the stress was intolerable. “My body was shutting down in protest at the parade of broken humans." Raheem reminded her of the need to be “strong” (“We see this every day.”) but Megan confessed that it was not the first time she had started fainting, and “it would keep happening for months to come.”After 10 years in the field as a war correspondent, Megan realised the destructive nature of conflict she has survived in the flesh, but knows that she will always be scarred from what she saw, what she heard and what she felt.
Battles within, outside, socially, may aid us in seeing what is important in life as it reinforces our convictions.
Our perception of the world around us is built upon the conflict of ideas which takes place in our own minds and so it is almost impossible to validate our viewpoint with others. These disagreements present us with generally inexperienced sensations which may, in fact, support our preconceptions. Captain Trouin in the novel 'The Quiet American', unlike Fowler, is certain of his drive in Vietnam. His experience of "bombing defenceless villages" has tormented him to the horrors of the world as he seeks refuge within his purpose. By fighting for his "friends" he maintains a point of concrete security in an ever uncertain world. His experiences in Vietnam have merely given "greater weight" and meaning to his convictions, unlike Fowler's which are challenged by Trouin himself - urging him to "take a side" in the conflict - and echoed by various characters, such as Mr Heng and Vigot, throughout the novel. Through experience we gain understanding; indeed it is this principle that modern education is based. The almost always unique nature of conflict grants us with a superior understanding by way of it broadening our perception of the world. Despite occasionally causing trauma, and piercing through our lives, conflict is a force, an energy which can prove beyond our former conceptions which we hold dear
to.
"Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it." Conflict provides us with differing perspectives as it grants us to experience a new reality which complete peace does not afford. However, if we remain blinded by the crucible of these sorts of conflagrations, we risk losing sight of the true reality around us. As seen in the Wayne Hudson shootings in Melbourne in 2007, a lack of scope can produce calamitous consequences. The three bystanders who intervened much like Pyle and Helen intruding on Fowler and Phuong's relationship, suffered by doing so; all were shot, one fatally so. When immersing ourselves in the ocean of conflict, we must maintain sight of the shore else we are sucked out into a struggle far bigger than our own being which may crush us and act as the spur to defeat our own very life.
Without conflict, it is difficult to ascertain the consequences of an action. Therefore, it is clear that conflict, though traumatic in its effects can be constructive in its process. However, one does not come without the other and so by attempting to learn through conflict, we risk the most dire consequence, our lives. This, though, is not always the case. As can be seen with grape vines, often the conflict can afford us a method of maturation which grants our fruit with greater essence, giving it a greater flavour. Conflict not only accentuates the value of things won through it, but helps us, indeed forces us, to decide what we believe is right, as can be seen in from the primary novel “you can escape the things that you have done, but you cannot overcome the things that are done to you."