Many adjectives have been used to describe the novels and plays of Graham Greene - timely, religious, melodramatic, even seedy (Graham Greene, A Collection of Critical Essays, back cover). Although this may not be entirely true in Greenes other work, it is certainly true in his novel, The inactive American. The bland American is judged as angiotensin converting enzyme of Greene*s entertainments that include comedies, spy fiction, and thrillers that take place in foreign countries (Introduction). According to World Literature Critics editor, James P. Draper,
The Quiet American is set in South Vietnam and anticipates U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict. The novel*s protagonist, Alden Pyle, who is ignorant of Oriental culture, is depicted as a symbol of American arrogance (1537).
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. A British reporter, Fowler, tells the story from his point of view. Fowler and Pyle were both in experience with the same woman, Phuong. Phuong first started off as Fowler*s girlfriend, except when she realized he could not give her what she wanted, children, because of his wife who exit not divorce him because of religious reasons, she leaves for Pyle. Fowler and Pyle still remain friends, entirely Fowler always carries some envy for Pyle*s youth and confidence.
Fowler is against personal involvement in the war and when he realizes that Pyle is supplying plastic bomb materials to a third force, he discourages him. Even then, Pyle does not get wind and Fowler kills him indirectly. While the novel*s theme lies in the core of personal involvement, the relationship of Fowler, Pyle, the American, and Phoung, a Chinese woman, is also set forth in detail. Greene represents himself through the British reporter, Fowler, and shows his opposition...
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