The Quiet American by Graham Greene
"The Quiet American" by Graham Greene is a novel set in early 1950s Vietnam, during a time when the country is under French colonial rule and facing the rise of communist revolutionaries. The story centers around the murder of Alden Pyle, an undercover American agent, and the complicated relationship between Pyle, an idealistic young man determined to "save" Vietnam, and Thomas Fowler, a cynical English journalist. Fowler becomes embroiled in the investigation of Pyle's death, primarily due to his close association with both Pyle and Phuong, Fowler's mistress, whom Pyle ultimately takes away.
As the narrative unfolds, Fowler grapples with his disdain for Pyle’s naive enthusiasm for interventionist politics, viewing it as dangerous and misguided. Despite their differences, Fowler feels a complex connection to Pyle, particularly when Pyle risks his life to save him during a conflict. The novel explores themes of innocence, guilt, and the moral ambiguities of colonialism and foreign intervention. Ultimately, Fowler's actions contribute to Pyle's tragic fate, leading him to reflect on his role in the events that transpired and his conflicting emotions regarding Pyle's idealism and their shared humanity. The story concludes with Fowler's sense of guilt and a poignant acknowledgment of the consequences of both personal and political choices.
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
First published: 1955
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Tragedy
Time of plot: Early 1950s
Locale: Vietnam
Principal Characters
Thomas Fowler , an English newspaper correspondentAlden Pyle , the quiet American, an undercover agent in VietnamPhuong , first Fowler’s and then Pyle’s mistressVigot , the French police chief investigating Pyle’s murder
The Story
Alden Pyle, an undercover US agent, is found murdered in French Saigon. In the early 1950s, the French still control Vietnam as a colony, but they are beginning to lose control of the country to the communist revolutionaries. Pyle came to investigate conditions and befriended an English newspaper correspondent, Thomas Fowler. Vigot, the French police chief, orders Fowler and his former mistress, Phuong, to his office for questioning. Fowler is under suspicion because he is one of the last people to have seen Pyle alive and because Pyle took Phuong from Fowler.
Vigot interrogates Fowler, who proclaims not only his innocence but also his ignorance of what happened to Pyle. Phuong, who does not understand English, says nothing. After the interrogation, Fowler tells her that Pyle has been murdered. Her reaction is surprisingly mild, and she reveals almost nothing about her feelings. Fowler then goes over the sequence of events that led to Pyle’s murder and Vigot’s summons to police headquarters.
As the story goes, Pyle befriends Fowler during his first days in Saigon. Fowler is a reluctant companion. He dislikes Americans, especially ones like Pyle who seem on a mission to save the world. Pyle never admits to Fowler that he is a CIA agent; indeed, no reference is made to the US Central Intelligence Agency in the novel, except for Fowler’s suggestion that Pyle might work for the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Established in World War II, the OSS was the precursor of the postwar CIA.
To Fowler, Pyle is an innocent who reads books on Vietnam but does not understand the reality of people’s lives. Fowler believes that the Vietnamese should be left alone. He does not believe that their lives can be improved by Westerners. An older man who disdains Pyle’s idealism, he considers himself a reporter without political commitments or opinions. Pyle wants to save Vietnam from communism; Fowler finds this attitude ridiculous and dangerous because it means Pyle would involve himself with the local Vietnamese anticommunist military, who seem to Fowler no more than gangsters. If the French were to lose Vietnam, it could not be saved by Americans looking for a “third force” (some group other than the communists or the French).
The third force is a theory Pyle adopted from a book on Vietnam by York Harding. In Fowler's opinion, both Harding and Pyle ignore reality to pursue theory. Pyle even condones the terrorist acts of General Thé, an anticommunist thug who blew up a café, maiming men, women, and children. To Pyle, this atrocity was a mistake that he plans to straighten out with the general; to Fowler, it proves that Pyle is doing great harm in spite of his good intentions.
On the personal level, Pyle takes Fowler’s mistress away from him because Pyle believes that Phuong has to be saved. Pyle earnestly wants to know if Fowler loves Phuong and means to marry her. When Fowler admits he is using Phuong for his selfish pleasure, Pyle offers her marriage and a home in the United States, which she accepts.
In spite of their political and personal conflicts, Fowler finds it hard to reject Pyle. While on a mission to observe the war in action, Fowler is injured, and Pyle risks his own life to save him. Fowler knows that Pyle means well, and Pyle complicates Fowler’s feelings about him by constantly saying he knows that Fowler is not nearly as cynical and selfish as he claims.
Pyle’s dangerous innocence and idealism so outrage Fowler that he decides he must thwart Pyle’s plans to coordinate another terrorist act with General Thé. Fowler informs a communist agent of Pyle’s plot. Thus, it is Fowler’s own intervention in politics that leads to Pyle’s death. Exactly how Pyle died and exactly who was responsible is never made clear. Fowler realizes, however, that Pyle’s death is his doing, even though he only wanted Pyle stopped, not murdered.
Phuong returns to Fowler after Pyle’s death. Fowler gets a cable from his wife announcing that she will give him a divorce, and a happy Phuong goes to tell her sister that she is to be the “second Mrs. Fowlaire.” Meanwhile, Fowler broods on Pyle’s story. His last words reveal his guilt and his sense of responsibility for Pyle’s murder: “Everything had gone right with me since he had died, but how I wished there existed someone to whom I could say that I was sorry.”
Bibliography
Bacevich, Andrew J. “Best Intentions: An Appreciation of Graham Greene.” Rev. of The Quiet American, by Graham Greene. World Affairs Summer 2009: 93–98. Print.
Bergonzi, Bernard. A Study in Greene: Graham Greene and the Art of the Novel. New York: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.
Bosco, Mark. Graham Greene’s Catholic Imagination. New York: Oxford UP, 2005. Print.
Cash, William. “'No Man Is a Success to Himself.'” New Statesman 25 Apr. 2011: 70–71. Print.
DeVitis, A. A. Graham Greene. Rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1986. Print.
Gaston, Georg M. A. The Pursuit of Salvation: A Critical Guide to the Novels of Graham Greene. Troy: Whitston, 1984. Print.
Hoskins, Robert. Graham Greene: An Approach to the Novels. New York: Garland, 1999. Print.
Land, Stephen K. The Human Imperative: A Study of the Novels of Graham Greene. New York: AMS, 2008. Print.
Sharrock, Roger. Saints, Sinners, and Comedians: The Novels of Graham Greene. Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 1984. Print.
Steigman, Karen. “The Literal American: Rereading Graham Greene in an Age of Security.” College Literature 39.1 (2012): 1–26. Print.