The Quiet American is a 1955 novel by English author Graham Greene. Narrated in the first person by journalist Thomas Fowler, the novel depicts the breakdown of French colonialism in Vietnam and early American involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Quiet American deals with the difficulty of remaining neutral, or impartial, despite one’s intentions. Graham Greene weaves the concept of impartiality into areas of journalism, politics, and personal relationships.

In The Quiet American, Fowler represents the British government and colonialism. Fowler is a British journalist in his 50s who is covering the French war in and around Viet Nam.

The Quiet American, by Graham Greene, was written in 1955 and set in Vietnam, then the site of a rising local insurgency against French colonial rule.

Thomas Fowler (academic)

Phuong is character central to the novel, and she symbolically represents Vietnam as a nation caught inbetween the old colonial rulers of France/Europe, and the new order of American backed democracy.

noun. A person likened to Graham Greene’s character Alden Pyle, the ‘quiet American’, especially in being involved in espionage, or in being naive or idealistic.

Vigot
Pyle is killed with a rusty bayonet. The crime is investigated by Vigot, a vigilant detective familiar with Pascal. Phuong returns to Fowler.

Fowler is a well-read and contemplative man who is also philosophically attached to the identity associated with his career. He thinks of himself not as a “correspondent” but as a “reporter,” meaning one who conveys facts simply and objectively. This philosophy guides both his work and his personal life.

The Quiet American is considered to be a historical fiction novel and not a true story.

York Harding is the fictional writer whose political theories provide the foundation for Pyle’s idealism. It is from Harding that Pyle takes the idea of a Third Force. Pyle first read Harding’s books as a student at Harvard, and he brought many of them with him to Saigon.

When Vigot arrives, Fowler offers him a drink. Vigot notices a York Harding book on Fowler’s shelf and asks him about it. Fowler explains that Pyle took the idea of a Third Force from Harding, which makes him indirectly responsible for Pyle’s death.

In addition to the political context in which The Quiet American takes place, it is important to note Greene’s complex relationship to religion. In 1926, Greene met and fell in love with Vivien Dayrell-Browning, who had recently converted to Catholicism. Dayrell-Browning introduced Greene to the , and he joined the Church later that same year.

Greene wrote The Quiet American in Saigon between March 1952 and June 1955, and William Heinemann published the novel in late 1955. The Vietnam War officially broke out in November of 1955, and it would last for another two decades, until 1975. Like the Korean War, the Vietnam War was considered a proxy war between Cold War powers.

Fowler’s experience in the region has left him a cynical realist. Pyle, who is new to Southeast Asia, is a sincere idealist with a desire to foster political and social change. The novel follows the conflict that plays out between these two men over politics as well as over Fowler’s beautiful young Vietnamese lover, Phuong.

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