Thomas Fowler's The Quiet American

The Quiet American is set on a battlefield. Vietnam is being fought over by several competing powers in the 1950s, and while the French, British, and natives struggle to maintain a foothold in Indochina, a growing American presence further complicates the local landscape. Thomas Fowler, the novel’s narrator, is a British reporter in colonized Vietnam. His primary love interest, a young native named Phuong, has decamped to the household of an idealistic American named Alden Pyle, who “never saw anything he hadn 't heard in a lecturehall” (Greene 35). Pyle has recently arrived in Vietnam in order to confidential services on behalf of his country. The novel opens with the revelation of Pyle’s murder, and although the writing is on the wall, the narrator does not disclose his role in the homicide until the final part of the novel. Fowler uses flashbacks to describe the history of our three main actors, who each possess characteristic resemblances with their native lands. I acknowledge that the drama that plays out between

Throughout the novel, Fowler details his deep underlying disdain for all things American. America is associated with materialism, privilege, and naivete. For Fowler, Pyle embodies these characteristics, “belong[ing] to the sky-scraper and the express elevator, the ice-cream, and the dry Martinis, milk at lunch, and chicken sandwiches on the Merchant Limited” (20). Many critics translate Fowler’s attitudes towards Pyle as Greene’s indictment on American involvement. They assume “Greene’s anti-Americanism in the novel because . . . Fowler displays such feeling” (Donaghy, 65). I am willing to assume that Greene’s voice manifests itself through Fowler, but I am hesitant to read Fowler’s musings as strictly anti-American. While many of Greene’s other writings have derided American practices, I will argue that The Quiet American is actually less political than some scholars suggest. Fowler’s supposed contempt for all Americans is simply a contempt for