Example Of The Quiet American Essay

Alden Pyle is portrayed in this novel as a naïve, soft-spoken, and thoughtful young American, who is an undercover CIA agent in the war-torn Vietnam. He meets with a French journalist Thomas Fowler who has been covering the war in Vietnam for two years and talk about Pyle’s thoughts of a ‘third force’ which may serve as the solution to a country like Vietnam. These characters go through a lot of moments both together and individually. The fact that they are both interested in the same girl brings them together on many occasions hence allowing them to interact quite often. Pyle comes out as a quiet American opposite of a typical American, who stays in a foreign land. Being a graduate of Harvard, he simply passes as a brilliant and intellectual person who likes to read the works of a famous and a notable scholar known as York Harding. The scholar talks about a ‘third force’ which can proof to be the real solution that countries like Vietnam need. Pyle talks to Fowler about these ideologies on their interactions while they are in the war-torn Vietnam.
Pyle has undergone quite a number of periods while he was in Vietnam. When he initially arrived, he requested Fowler to help him understand the country more because he is older and has been covering the war for more than two years. Therefore, Pyle relied on Fowler to help him cope with the environment. One critical aspect that this character underwent is the fact that he was in love with a local girl who was considered to be the most beautiful girl in Saigon but was already living with Fowler. From the time that he danced with the girl, he realized that he was in love with her despite being the journalist’s stay-in lover for some time. He finally came to open up to him and notified him of his intentions about the girl. The fact that the girl’s sister didn’t like Fowler gave him an upper hand.
One critical moment of his move is when Fowler traveled to Phat Diem to cover the war, and Pyle followed him there finally revealing to him that he was in love with the girl. What Pyle was thinking at this moment was definitely the fact that Fowler could let him have the girl because he was married and didn’t stand much chance with her. At this moment, Pyle thought that he stands a higher chance of finally having the girl and marrying her because Fowler had been requested by his editor to be transferred to England. He was planning to take away his mistress in a candid and decent fashion now that Fowler is being transferred back to England, although his time of transfer was extended. When Pyle visited Fowler that night, he didn’t give much thought about him resisting and repelling his appeal and expression to have Phuong. Instead, he thought that it was a one-sided endeavor that will give him victory in the end. Little did he know that Fowler had another mischief up his sleeve that will deprive Pyle the chance to marry Phuong finally. What Pyle had for Phuong can be described as lust rather than love because he had only interacted with the girl for a short period compared to Fowler. Blackburn describes lust as stealthy, embarrassed and ashamed, and it takes what comes, and it pursues its gratification and is impatient of any control. It is evident because he had never interacted with the girl much but wants to marry her.
Being a suave and intelligent young American, he thought that he had a chance of snatching Fowler his mistress and finally marrying her because the elder sister of the girl had developed interest in him to marry the sister. Having realized this, they decided to toast to nothing because they had not agreed on anything about the girl. Revealing about his intention about the girl just generated a new war of who is best suited to marry the girl. The subsequent tactics they use to woo and win the girl also is proof that both of them are so determined to have the girl, but Pyle thinks that he has an upper hand. He later asserts this by sending him a letter thanking him for being so nice and which also represented that he had agreed to leave the girl to Pyle so that he can marry her. Pyle was on a scheme to provoke Fowler about him ‘accepting’ to let go of the girl, and that is why he sent him the letter to discourage him further pursuing the girl. The aftermath of this letter was Fowler being so angry and disgusted by Pyle’s actions because he thought that he was displaying his arrogant confidence that he thought would make Phuong leave him for Pyle. The fact that Fowler’s editor wanted him back to England might have given him the confidence to pen this letter that he thought could have discouraged Fowler to pursue Phuong because he was going back to England anyway; a fact that didn’t materialize.
Sadly, all these thoughts that were harbored by Pyle didn’t materialize because he was murdered with the involvement of Fowler. But with an unwavering intent to win over Phuong, he decided to expose Fowler’s lies about divorcing his wife with a view that if she hears this she will undoubtedly leave Fowler. She did leave Fowler, and Pyle thought that he had succeeded in winning over Phuong though it was short lived because she went back to him again after the death of Pyle. At this particular moment, he thought that he was going to be the best suited choice for her because of his American style, intelligence, super sharpness and wit overlooking Fowler as an old, married journalist who may leave the country and go back home to his wife at any time. As Naipaul states in his book ‘A Bend in the River’, the world is just what it is, with men who are nothing and those who choose to remain to be nothing, these characters bring out the adulterous nature that exists in unstable communities prone to war.

Works Cited

Greene, Graham. The Quiet American. London: William Heinemann, 1955. Print.
Naipaul, V. S. A Bend in the River. New York: Vintage, 1989. Print.
Blackburn, S. Lust: The Seven Deadly Sins. New York: New York University Press, 2003. Print.