Idealism In The Quiet American
Which does more harm in the world, cynical self-interest or blind idealism? The Quiet American by Graham Greene explores this question. It is set in Vietnam, mostly in Saigon, before the French left. Its main characters are an English reporter named Thomas Fowler, an American spy called Alden Pyle, and a Vietnamese woman of Chinese descent, Phuong.
Cynical Fowler is a drug addict, an opium smoker. Phuong probably got him addicted. He seems to have been a life-long philanderer, who finally destroyed his marriage when he fell in love. He is hiding in Vietnam, from the broken marriage and from a sense that he has used up all his options. Yet he is not presented as an evil man, even though he is dishonest with his lover Phuong and has his rival killed. …show more content…
(Phoung's sister is China, and Vigot is France.) The book cannot be a simple expose of the harm done by spying, however. Greene himself was a lifelong intelligence officer. He most likely objected to uninformed meddling.
As America's involvement in Vietnam deepened, many did consider the book a prescient condemnation of intervention in Southeast Asia. That description may be incomplete. The name Thomas reminds us of doubting Thomas, while Police Inspector Vigot lightly suggests Thomas Fowler try faith. Phuong herself mentions skipping a shopping trip because of a feast day. Was she Catholic? Atheistic Fowler himself turns to God at his low point, and Pyle is accompanied by a black dog, an associate of the devil in British folklore, and a portent of death.
The first film made from the book, released in 1958 in America, exonerates Pyle completely, and denies Fowler Phoung. Fowler does refer to McCarthyism, when he describes the children Pyle and Phuong might have:" Bright young American citizens, ready to testify." The film version released in 2002 is
Cynical Fowler is a drug addict, an opium smoker. Phuong probably got him addicted. He seems to have been a life-long philanderer, who finally destroyed his marriage when he fell in love. He is hiding in Vietnam, from the broken marriage and from a sense that he has used up all his options. Yet he is not presented as an evil man, even though he is dishonest with his lover Phuong and has his rival killed. …show more content…
(Phoung's sister is China, and Vigot is France.) The book cannot be a simple expose of the harm done by spying, however. Greene himself was a lifelong intelligence officer. He most likely objected to uninformed meddling.
As America's involvement in Vietnam deepened, many did consider the book a prescient condemnation of intervention in Southeast Asia. That description may be incomplete. The name Thomas reminds us of doubting Thomas, while Police Inspector Vigot lightly suggests Thomas Fowler try faith. Phuong herself mentions skipping a shopping trip because of a feast day. Was she Catholic? Atheistic Fowler himself turns to God at his low point, and Pyle is accompanied by a black dog, an associate of the devil in British folklore, and a portent of death.
The first film made from the book, released in 1958 in America, exonerates Pyle completely, and denies Fowler Phoung. Fowler does refer to McCarthyism, when he describes the children Pyle and Phuong might have:" Bright young American citizens, ready to testify." The film version released in 2002 is