Graham Green's The Quiet American
The Quiet American by Graham Green is a story set during the Vietnam War before the United States became involved. The main character is Thomas Fowler, an English Reporter stationed in Vietnam. The story follows approximately six months of his life where he is faced with personal, professional, and ethical trials. The story also follows closely, the lives of two close friends, Pyle and Phuong. Each of the three main characters are from a different country, and they were used to represent it.
As the main character in the novel, Fowler possessed many complex levels to his psyche.
He came across as a bitter, cold-hearted person but in actuality was probably the character that felt the most in the book. Like the typical Englishman, he kept his emotions to himself, and out of sight from others. He had his own stand points on religion and politics that he definitely stood by. In the war, England did not take sides, on account of their immense losses during WWII, and like them, Fowler did not take sides. Different people in the story felt that "One has to take sides. If one is to remain human" (174), but as an a European, especially an Englishman, he was for the most part, neutral.
Americans were not very popular in Greene’s novel, and Pyle was the hated American. He immediately assumed a close relationship with Fowler upon just one meeting. He became accustomed to calling him Thomas, and not only as a referential name, but in almost ...
What is in a story if you can’t take something out of it and relate to your everyday life? The book “Typical American” by Gish Jen, gave me something that I never fully, and I probably still don’t, comprehend: foreigners, and their struggles in making a new life in another country. I have been on my share of trips, both domestic and abroad, but was never in a distant land long enough to feel the effects of the unknowing these people felt every day. The manner in which this story was presented has given me a new insight into, not only foreign nationals, but more importantly, how one goes about presenting emotional feeling not just through words, but setting, characterization, point of view, conflict, and theme.
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.
David Malter was part of the Jewish sect that took on a more modern approach. He is very understanding, and he cares very deeply for his son Reuven. Reuven and his father's relationship would be considered healthy by most people. They love each other very much, and they have a very open communication with each other.
In the book The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, Reuven Malter is shaped by everyone around him. During this interaction his character becomes more developed and engaging. Through the interactions, it becomes apparent that Reuven’s father is always teaching his child how to improve himself. The conversations between Reuven and his father help prepare Reuven develop the mentality and the personal qualities, such as wisdom, compassion, and tolerance, necessary to become a rabbi.
Based on true story, Lieutenant Phillip Caputo and his experience of the Vietnam War. During this era there was a rebalance act within the young adults community in America, they did not want to live the boring and peaceful life their parents lived. This generation of young adults got fixated on the stories and heroes that came from the WWII and what they can do to experience this “trill” first hand. The novel is written with Lieutenant Phillip Caputo in mind starting when he first enrolled in the Marine Corps at the age of 20 in hopes of chasing his fixated dream of the war. At first Phillip had this elusion that the war would only last a couple of months and that he’ll be the American hero everyone talked about. Then the slap to the face
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.
During the opening six minutes of Nicholas Roeg’s film Don’t Look Now, the viewer experiences a dynamic mixture of film techniques that form the first part of the narrative. Using metaphor and imagery, Roeg constructs a vivid and unique portrayal of his parallel storyline. The opening six minutes help set up a distinct stylistic premise. In contrast to a novel or play, the sequence in Don’t Look Now is only accessible through cinema because it allows the viewer to interact with the medium and follow along with the different camera angles. The cinematography and music also guide the viewer along, and help project the characters’ emotions onto the audience because they change frequently. The film techniques and choppy editing style used in Don’t Look Now convey a sense of control of the director over the audience and put us entirely at his mercy, because we have to experience time and space as he wants us to as opposed to in an entirely serial manner.
The majority of published literature in the US derived from the Vietnam War primarily has a base focus on effects the war experience had on Americans, and on the American culture and psyche. However, Robert Olen Butler, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning, "A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain," as well as many other critically acclaimed publications has been recognized for "breaking the mold" of traditional war writers by constructing his narratives in the first person voices of the Vietnamese. In order for an American write to compose stories through the perspective of individuals from a culture considered so foreign from our own he would have to have accumulated a significant amount of experience and knowledge for his works to be considered legitimate. Butler himself is well versed in the Vietnamese language, has voluntarily participated in the Vietnam War as a translator, and has taught in a predominately Vietnamese American area. The question at hand is; do these facts alone allow his stories to be admissible as authentic works?
Adults entering the midlife years (middle adulthood) are experiencing an overabundance of life changes. Hall, Hernandez, Wong, and Justice (2015) stated that, during middle adulthood important changes occur across the physical, cognitive, and social domains of development. There is a mounting amount of research on the changes that middle-aged adults experience. One of the most unexplored factor that middle-aged adults experience is Ageism. Ageism can be defined as the act of being prejudice or discriminative towards a specific age group. Although, Ageism can occur at any given place and in any age group. Research shows that it is more prevalent in older adults,
Band of Brothers is a fascinating book that captures moments lived by soldiers during World War II. It specifically relates to the History of a small unit of paratroopers known as Easy Company, 506 Regiment, 101st Airborne. It is a story that follows the company from its inception to the capture of Hitler’s nest. It begins with the training of these soldiers at Camp Toccoa, Georgia. The 140 members of easy company who were young men from different social levels were physically and mentally trained. This particular company had an extremely harsh training, but many believe it is because of this training that they were considered as one of the best rifle companies in the army.
freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building” (Edward Snowden). Before WW2, communism became a colossal concern due to the idea that various people were aiming more on what countries they wanted to colonize. Later after the war, from 1945-1964, the Vietnamese expanded Southward expecting to reach the Mekong River Delta. As a result of their movement, the Vietnamese absorbed French influence established upon choice and freedom to individuals. France was preferential where as the U.S. Was pushed further away because the French recognized the democratic republic of Vietnam (DMV) as a free state. In the novel The Quiet American, by Graham Greene, Thomas Fowler, a British journalist, meets an American CIA agent named Alden Pyle who is always reading books by York Harding. Pyle's opinions are based on Harding’s beliefs that a Third Force, a country that interferes with two fighting nations to help reach a settlement, is the best way to help Vietnam out of Communism. Both Fowler and Pyle battle over a women named Phuong, wanting what is best for her and the rest of Vietnam. While Fowler wants nonintervention, Pyle wants to do the complete opposite. In the novel The Quiet American, Pyle believes he has to bring in a Third Force to stop communism which became a threat to the Vietnamese when in contrast, Fowler is more justified because he interpreted the main conflict of the Third Force and the view of the Vietnamese people.
Kelly, John. ENGLISH 2308E: American Literature Notes. London, ON: University of Western. Fall 2014. Lecture Notes.
Easy Company from its inception in July of 1942 to its disbandment at the end of World War II was an elite paratrooper force made up of “voluntary citizen soldiers” meaning they were in Easy Company of their own accord and for the most part where all previously not in any form of military. (Ambrose p. 16-17) "Easy company included three rifle platoons and a headquarters section. Each platoon contained three twelve-man rifle squads and a six-man mortar team squad.” Easy also had one machine gun attached to each of its rifle squads, and a 60mm mortar in each mortar team. The training they would endure was much more rigorous, as the conditions would be more perilous, “of the 500 officers who had volunteered, only 148 successfully completed the course. The enlisted men had it equally tough, with only 1,800 men being selected out of 5,300 volunteers” (Ambrose, 18) this left them feeling that themselves and the man watching their back would be much more prepared for battle than your average draftee.
It is quite difficult to fully understand the motives behind Emma Bovary’s suicide, however, knowing she never accepted her reality of being part of the bourgeoisie class, one can only infer her to fail in life. Throughout her life she was, in simple words, like a child living with greater imaginations than one could provide for. No antique object, or fine decor, or an affair with a noble man satisfies this woman. Emma spends her whole life searching for fulfillment of her idealistic romantic illusions, which have been embedded in her mind through readings of the 19th century romantic novels. These books falsified her mind, creating a fantasy she desired that would never cease till it was conquered. Instead of appreciating what she has, she despises her husband for being unable to provide for her every desire. In Emma’s life, she believes she is greater than the class she is born in. She aimed everyday to rise higher in the social classes. In result, throughout Gustave Flaubert’s novel, Madame Bovary, Emma builds the path to her own destruction. She creates a falsified world for herself of unhappiness by having two failed affairs, leading her family to
On page 35 you can see how Denver lost her childhood by trying to escape from the loneliness of 124 by going into her Emerald Closet, which is a place in the bushes to not be alone anymore which basically contradicts with it “...Denver’s imagination produced its own hunger and its own food, which she badly needed because loneliness wore her out” (Morrison 35). She tries to escape her loneliness by going to the “Emerald Closet” even though it actually contradicts which saying that the “Emerald Closet” is the only real home for her. The fact that she is not able to develop her own real identity leads her to get isolated and becoming an easy victim for Beloved. In Chapter 4, Paul D, Sethe, and Denver are going to a carnival which is one of the first events in Denver`s live where she is actually able to have fun “Denver was swaying with delight” (Morrison 59). Denver is being happy the first time in many years because Paul D is able to make a new beginning in 124. Beloved actually feels that the residents of 124 are starting to forget about her so she is going to make an appearance to remind them of her presence. The haunting of Sethe’s past spills Denver’s present by not letting other people forget about Sethe’s actions which leads them to treat Denver like an outcast “But the thing that leapt up to her when he asked it was a thing that had been lying there all along” (Beloved 121). Sethe’s past destroys Denver’s only joy in her life and that is to be in school. Denver´s inexperience of social events leads her to not tell on Beloved because the first time in her life she has a friend and she is not planning on losing