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What Is Fowler's View On The Conflict In The Quiet American

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In The Quiet American by Graham Greene, narrator Thomas Fowler has opposing views on the conflict in Vietnam compared to secondary protagonist, Alden Pyle. Pyle is American and believes strongly in democratic and anti-communist sentiments, while the older, English-born Fowler holds the more traditional beliefs of Western Europe. In Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American, Fowler’s perspective on the conflict in Vietnam is more justified than that of Pyle because of his ability to see Ho Chi Minh as a nationalist who cares more for the well-being of his country than his economic ideas, as well as his recognition of America’s arrogance towards the Vietnamese while occupying Vietnam. Fowler is able to view Ho Chi Minh as a nationalist who is using communism …show more content…

However, Fowler is able to recognize that true freedom is giving the Vietnamese the opportunity to pick their own leader and be independent from the control of the Americans and other Western nations. Fowler realizes that he and Pyle do not know what is best for the people of Vietnam, and the only way to empower them is to allow them to make their own decisions and not be controlled by the Americans or any other foreign power. He expresses to Pyle that they do not want American democracy, “They want enough rice. They don't want to be shot at. They want one day to be much the same as another. They don't want our white skins around telling them what they want” (Greene 87). Due to Fowler’s experience in Indochina, he understands the struggles of everyday life for the malnourished, neglected citizens who are caught in a civil war over a government that is insignificant to them. They want to be allowed to live in peace, without the fear of being killed or hurt in

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