The Indochinese war revolved around the end of French colonialism in Vietnam and the start of Ho Chi Minh’s communist reign. By the end of the war Vietnam was split into two parts the North, communist, side and the South, democratic, side. The French fought to maintain their power over Vietnam while the United States fought against communism there. In Graham Greene’s book The Quiet American Phuong acts as a symbol of Vietnam, while other characters like Pyle represents the United States and Fowler, Britain. Greene characterized each of these characters as means of portraying their part in the war. While Phuong acts as a character seemingly unimportant she is a great representation of her country during the Indochinese war. Greene has created an indifferent, reserved, and unassertive character that symbolizes Vietnam’s own self at the time of war.
Phuong simply listens to other characters directions without taking any particular stand. In the beginning of the novel she has an established life with Fowler. While he cannot give Phuong everything she wants, specifically marriage, Phuong settles for Fowler because he is her best option for security and a potential future. When Pyle comes into Fowler and Phuong’s life she leaves Fowler for him due to her sister’s wishes since Fowler cannot marry her. Phuong had left Fowler’s house because her sister wanted her to, not of her own freewill. This is clear after considering Phuong’s sister’s first conversation with Pyle. “It sounds as though you were examining Mr. Pyle’s marriageability” (34). Also after Fowler speaks with Pyle once Phuong has moved out he discovers that Phuong’s sister found out about his nearing return to England. As she does for her sister Phuong listens to Fowler witho...
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...to her or her life she easily moves from Fowler to Pyle depending on who can give her the better life.
The Indochina war caused a spark especially in terms of the cold war. Conflict between the super powers, Soviet Union and the United States, rose. Vietnam became a point of dispute throughout the world. Several countries wanted to stake a claim of some kind on Vietnam. The resemblance between Phuong’s uncaring nature and the domineering presence of the other character greatly resembles that which happened to Vietnam during the war. Pyle and fowler both want Phuong to be taken care of, but each in their own way. Much like France wants to maintain control over Vietnam and the United States want to make it democratic. The country was easily overtaken by the other powers of the world be its own naivety, lack of its own powerful free will, and reservations of opinion.
The Vietnam War was a very mismanaged war but our involvement was very crucial. Some people believe that the side we were on was wrong, and the author of this completely agrees. Ho Chi Minh was really a quite conservative communist leader. He was fair and he was also was balanced. He treated his people very fairly. The beliefs of the author are that if Truman would have not set the precedent of opposing all communist leaders than the Vietnam War would have been a lot different.
The Vietnam War, which lasted for two decades (1955-1975), was probably the most problematic of all American wars. US involvement in Vietnam occurred within the larger context of the Cold War between the US and the USSR. It was, and remains, morally ambiguous and controversial. The Vietnam War was slated as both a war against Communism and a war aimed at suppressing dangerous nationalist self-determination. Christian G. Appy's book, Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam, is a graphic and perceptive portrayal of soldiers' experiences and the lasting effects the Vietnam War has had on the American culture and people. Working-Class War: American Combat Soldiers and Vietnam, is an analytical work that has three major purposes: 1. to show that those who fought in Vietnam were predominantly from the working class 2. to convey the experiences of the soldiers who served in Vietnam and 3. to offer his own scathing commentary of American actions in Vietnam.
Mark Atwood Lawrence’s The Vietnam War: A Concise International History shows readers an international affair involving many nations and how the conflict progressed throughout its rather large existence. Lawrence starts his book in a time before America was involved in the war. It starts out with the French trying to colonize the nation of Vietnam. Soon the United States gets involved and struggles to get its point across in the jungles of Indo-China. Much of the book focuses on the American participation in helping South Vietnam vie for freedom to combine the country as a whole not under Communist rule. Without seeing many results, the war drug on for quite some time with neither side giving up. This resulted in problems in Vietnam and the U.S.
Brumwell, Stephen. White Devil: A True Story of War, Savagery, and Vengeance in Colonial America. Da Capo Press Inc. March, 2005.
In the twentieth century many young adults and many other men were chosen/ drafted to enter the war. The Vietnam War started during the time period of 1959 and this brutal war ended on 1975. It started with the United States sending aid and military advisors to the Southern part Vietnam. The U.S helped the southerners of Vietnam because the northern part of Viet was a communist state so the south wanted to end Communism up in the north. Also, this war was said to be one of the bloodiest wars that took place in the twentieth century. It was a very bloody war because more than 58,000 American soldiers had perished in combat. Also, during the decade of direct U.S Military participation in Vietnam, during early time of the year, 1964 the U.S treasury spent over 140 billion dollars on this war. “This was enough money to fund urban projects in every major American city” (history.com). As this war effected the American’s, it affected the Vietnamese people to. This war affected both the American’s and the Vietnamese, because in the year of 1973 the United States began withdrawing troops. This caused the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon to fall to the Northern Vietnamese forces. Just like how the war was long and bloody many characters from the novel The Things They Carried experienced many things that were relatable to people who in reality dealt with the war. The very brutality of war cause indelible psychological and emotional changes in most of its
In conclusion, I think that the United States became increasingly involved in the Vietnamese War because of the policies they had made as a promise to fight communism, and because they had sorely underestimated Vietcong’s ability to fight back using Guerrilla warfare. They refused to pull out of the war in fear of losing face before the world, but this pride factor scored them massive losses in the war. In the end, with both side sustaining heavy losses, the US were still seen as mutilators in the war, with advanced showing what their intervention had costed, and Vietnam was still fully taken over by Communism – they had achieved nothing and lost a lot.
Philip Noyce's adaptation of Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American to film was a large success. It stayed true to the script, and kept the basic essence of the characters; pulling them from the pages of the book and creating them visually into marvels on screen. The earlier film made on the book was made in 1958 by Joseph Mankiewicz. Fowler was played by Michael Redgrave, with Audie Murphy as Pyle. This version was forced to reverse Greene's political stand taken in the book however, meaning it had no-where near as much impact as Noyce's production. Noyce chose to film in actual Vietnamese locations and without compromise, boldly sticking to the novel by not letting the Americans come out of the story too kindly. The Vietnamese conflict-its roots, effects, and lifestyle was captured brilliantly with Brendan Fraser depicting the deceivingly innocent yet devious Pyle, and Michael Caine as Fowler the ageing and unhappy journalist.
Vietnam War (1954-1975) is considered as one of those big wars of the modern world that has been acknowledged and studied by countries in the world. Especially, in regard to the United States, starting and ending war in Vietnam was an unforgettable experience that has left a priceless lesson in its foreign policy, and of course a lot of loss, physically, mentally, and property. “The Legacy of Vietnam” article of George Herring basically summarizes how the Vietnam War led to an end in failure of America and what consequences it left behind.
After reading The Book of the Unknown Americans, I realized how difficult immigrating to the United States can be. I am an immigrant also, so just reading the story makes me relate to many problems immigrants experience relocating to a different country. Immigrants often face many issues and difficulties, but for some it is all worth it, but for others there comes a point in time where they have to go back to their hometown. Alma and Arturo Rivera came to the United States to better their life, but also so that Maribel could attend a special education school. While Arturo had a job things had gone well for the family, but once Arturo lost the job and passed away the two of them had to go back because they felt that that was the best option for them. Reading this book made me realize how strong an individual has to be to leave their own country and relocate somewhere else not knowing if this will better your life or cause one to suffer.
This book would be an excellent source for anyone wanting to understand this period of the entrance into the Vietnam War. It is a great look into the character of each of the participants. It also would benefit those who are studying and learning how to develop strategy and policy for future wars that the United States may involve itself.
After the move Riley takes a turn for the worse. Her emotions, behavior, social interactions, and way of thinking all change. Her emotions have opinions on how she should
It is not a well known fact that around the time the Holocaust took place in Europe, another internment (less extreme) was taking place in the United States. “Betrayed by America” by Kristin Lewis gives readers an insight on what happened to Japanese-Americans in America. The article tells us about Hiroshi Shishima, Japanese-Americans internment, and what was going on during the regime. During WW2, America went into a frenzy after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Many Americans believed what was being said about Japanese-Americans even though it was proven to be false. Since the whole fiasco with Japan took place, many Japanese-Americans were forced into internment in certain parts of the United States. The reason for the internment of Japanese-Americans was due to fear & hysteria, racial
Robert H. Clancy in his speech, “An “Un-American Bill”: A Congressman Denounces Immigration Quotas” effectively describes how the Johnson Reed Act affected immigration. Clancy’s purpose is to inform people in the racial discrimination of the immigration act in 1924. He adopts a serious tone and strong feeling in order to provide proof to the intended audience. Robert H. Clancy uses sufficient pathos with many examples throughout the text, many logos were used clearly and ethos was provided effectively.
The reports in this novel are prefaced with a quote by Robert Shaplen, which sums up the feelings of those Americans involved in the Vietnam conflict. He states, "Vietnam, Vietnam . . .. There are no sure answers." In this novel, the author gives a detailed historical account of the happenings in Vietnam between 1950 and 1975. He successfully reports the confusing nature, proximity to the present and the emotions that still surround the conflict in Vietnam. In his journey through the years that America was involved in the Vietnam conflict, Herring "seeks to integrate military, diplomatic, and political factors in such a way as to clarify America's involvement and ultimate failure in Vietnam."
In Hayslip’s book When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, she talks about her life as a peasant’s daughter and her and her family’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War has not only affected Vietnam itself, but also the United States, where in the beginning they did not want to get involved. However, with the spread of communism, which had already affected China, the president at the time Lyndon Johnson, thought it was time to stop the spread of the Vietnam War. With America’s involvement in the war, it caused great problems for both sides. In Vietnam, it causes the local people from the south and north side to split up and either becomes a supporter of communism or of the US’s capitalist views. In addition, it caused displacement for those local people, thus losing their family. In America, the Vietnam War has brought about PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and deaths of many soldiers, more than World War II. With the thought of containment for communism, the US had gave back Vietnam their war and “gave up” on the war, leaving Southeast Asia in the sphere of communist views. With the thought of the domino theory that a country will fall in similar events like the neighboring countries, like China as Vietnam’s neighbor the United States tried to remove communism from Vietnam. US’s involvement in the war caused problems for both sides of the war.