Pyle had much more to offer Phuong than Fowler, but that does not mean she loved him. Phuong wasn't looking for love; she was looking for security, that's why when Pyle died she went back to Fowler, who welcomed her with open arms.
Like many of Graham Greene's books, The Quiet American is based on true events. J. Hoberman of villagevoice.com writes: "Greene based his novel on his own experiences as a journalist in Indochina. The book incorporates a number of actual people and events "including Thé and the terrorist car-bombing the general orchestrated in central Saigon in 1952. The eponymous American was apparently modeled upon CIA wunderkind Edward G. Lansdale, the instrument for U.S. involvement in the post-colonial South Vietnamese regime of Ngo Dinh Diem."".
The fact that most of his novels are based on personal experience separates Greene from most authors. His novels manage to be engaging and historically accurate at the same time. Reading Greene's novels is like reading a history book, but much more pleasant and enjoyable. By creating a fictional character to represent himself in Quiet American, Greene manages to convey a wide range of real emotions to the reader. It is very important that the emotions in the novel are real, because it helps the reader sympathize and relate to a character. Vast majority of books have purely fictional characters based on events that never happened, but because Greene lived through the events in his book, it makes those events, and the emotions involved, more personal and meaningful.
Greene reminisces his experiences in Vientam: "I was in the dive bomber which attacked the Viet Minh post and I was on the patrol of the Foreign Legion paras outside Phat Diem. I still retain the sharp image of the dead child couched in the ditch beside his dead mother. The very neatness of their bullet wounds made their death more disturbing than the indiscriminate massacre in the canals around- (http://members.
A Reply to DeVitis' "Transitions: The Quiet American- Since its first publication in 1955, Graham Greene's The Quiet American has been praised and abused by critics for more than forty years. ... Such is the case of "Transitions:The Quiet American- by A. ... Another relevant aspect to The Quiet American is pity as a form of egotism (113). ... The Quiet American. ... "Transitions: The Quiet American."" ...
In Graham Greene's The Quiet American, Greene uses the characters Thomas Fowler and Alden Pyle to represent a greater picture. ... 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. ... And yet you have America coming in monitoring the war, aiding sides, imposing democracy. ... Thomas Fowler is the main character in The Quiet American and he is the embodiment of his homeland, Great Britain in the story. ...
n Graham Greene's The Quiet American, Greene uses the characters Thomas Fowler and Alden Pyle to represent a greater picture. ... 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. ... And yet you have America coming in monitoring the war, aiding sides, imposing democracy. ... Thomas Fowler is the main character in The Quiet American and he is the embodiment of his homeland, Great Britain in the story. ...
Although this may not be entirely true in Greene*s other work, it is certainly true in his novel, The Quiet American. The Quiet American is judged as one of Greene*s "entertainments" that include comedies, spy fiction, and thrillers that take place in foreign countries (Introduction). ... Draper, The Quiet American is set in South Vietnam and anticipates U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict. ... Written in 1955, The Quiet American is a tale of a young American who is now dead because of his personal involvement in the French-Vietminh war. ... Greene himself describes his work...
Although this may not be entirely true in Greene*s other work, it is certainly true in his novel, The Quiet American. The Quiet American is judged as one of Greene*s "entertainments" that include comedies, spy fiction, and thrillers that take place in foreign countries (Introduction). ... Draper, The Quiet American is set in South Vietnam and anticipates U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict. ... Written in 1955, The Quiet American is a tale of a young American who is now dead because of his personal involvement in the French-Vietminh war. ... Greene himself describes his work as...
The Quiet American The Quiet American by Graham Green is a story set during the Vietnam War before the United States entered it. ... Americans were not very popular in Greene's novel, and Pyle was the hated American. ... Pyle was "a very quiet American"(17). ... The Quiet American proved to be a great book that was both praised and criticized. For the most part, it had good critiques, however some American critics felt that it put down Americans. ...
Graham Greene's The Quiet American is a story about love. The main focus of this love is from Pyle and Fowler to Phuong. Through the novel Fowler and Pyle battle for this women's love, but the reality is that Phuong's love is not obtainable. The two men even speak of her in the third person, which r...
America's New War As I awake for another day's journey and begin to go about the norm, America is terrorized and innocent lives are lost due to four stolen American and United Airliners. ... Many believed that America was a super power and how could something like this happen. ... Dan Rather reports," President Bush, said that America vows vengeance for these cowardly acts." ... I have never heard New York this quiet, grave yard quiet." ... As Dan Rather finished the newscast, he asked for all American's to ask what this country was founded upon, GOD BLESS AMERICA....
Pyle does not care about the destruction that just occurred only wants to keep his expensive pants clean and document the fatalities for American propaganda. ... Some interpret them in a Vietnamese sense and other in an American sense. However, I think there is only one way to interpret this, America has no clue what they are getting into and will have no clue how to get themselves out. The representation of Pyle as the quiet American is perfect because he wants to disguise who he actually is until the very end. ... The only real way for the Americans to go unscathed is to never show up. ...
