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Communism In Graham Greene's The Quiet American

798 Words4 Pages

The Cold War began with a string of events most notably between the United States and Russia, this lead furthermore to the Red Scare as well as the belief that the Domino Theory would affect Asia starting with Vietnam. In Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American, Fowler’s ability to easily empathize gives him a more justified perspective on the American conflict in Vietnam because he understands what the Vietnamese people want, as well as their nationalistic desires for independence.

Pyle believes that the Vietnamese need democracy, but Fowler understands that when it really comes down to it, all they want is to live simple uninvolved independent lives, that if need be might include communism. When Fowler is explaining the cause of Pyle’s …show more content…

Fowler comforted the Vietnamese informant Mr. Heng when telling him, “If you are hinting that you are a Communist, or a Vietminh, don’t worry” (Greene 120). This shows that in almost all aspects Fowler can be extremely empathetic to where someone is coming from. This really speaks words to how Fowler behaves as a person day to day, he does not lack judgement, on the contrary all he suitably looks for is honesty in order to possess a more authentic perception on the other individual’s perspective. Fowler understands where the Vietnamese are coming from as well as that all they genuinely desire is to be able to take on their own fulfilling independent lives. The secretary of the notorious NSC committee warned the president that, “...every individual faces the ever-present possibility of annihilation should the conflict enter the phase of total war”(Doc #3). This historical document strongly relates back to the carelessness and lack of awareness attributed to Pyle throughout the novel as he is representing the U.S. Furthermore, in many cases Pyle is seen to have a close connection to detonated bombs that are responsible for quickly intervening into Vietnam’s business in order to quickly contain communism. Moreover, Fowler has superiority over almost every one of Pyle’s

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