In Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American, his main focused-upon character is named Alden Pyle, an American who has become an ally to the malicious and violent General The. Pyle imports the explosives into Vietnam that General The uses under his rule to shift blame toward the communists through bombings that both kills and harms many Vietnamese citizens. Greene’s theme is to elaborate on the paradoxical dangers that Pyle expresses through innocence, idealism and ignorance. Howard Zinn and James Carroll explore the same paradoxical dangers in their works about American exceptionalism. Alden Pyle is one of the main characters in Graham Greene’s The Quiet American. He is an American who has an assignment with the Economic Aid Mission in Vietnam. …show more content…
Pyle has one main acquaintance in the story and that is Thomas Folwer. Fowler is a British journalist, who in the end of the story has the fate of Pyle in his hands which is ultimately decided on the ignorance of Pyle. As Fowler states in the story Pyle’s belief he is innocent is a type of insanity that can’t be fixed, “he’ll always be innocent, you cant blame the innocent, they are always guiltless. All you can do is control them or eliminate them. Innocence is a kind of insanity”(Greene 163 ). This also occurs in James’s Carroll’s Bushes War Against Evil. In the writing he states, “It was Sept 14, 2001. “Just three days removed from these events,” he said, “Americans do not yet have “the distance of history.” But our responsibility to history is clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil”(Carroll). Bush’s retaliation was seen as innocently as possible by United States Citizens because of the dramatic events of 9/11 but the harsh reality behind what he is causing does not do any good for the United States. This comparison helps explain the dangers behind American exceptionalism. The United States believe they have the power to fix the world, in the same sense Pyle believes helping General The has the power to save Vietnam. Each of these situations are causing a backlash to the original good they were attempting to
Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, portrays stories of the Vietnam War. Though not one hundred percent accurate, the stories portray important historical events. The Things They Carried recovers Vietnam War history and portrays situations the American soldiers faced. The United States government represents a political power effect during the Vietnam War. The U. S. enters the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The U.S. government felt if communism spreads to South Vietnam, then it will spread elsewhere. Many Americans disapproved of their country’s involvement. Men traveled across the border to avoid the draft. The powerful United States government made the decision to enter the war, despite many Americans’ opposition. O’Brien’s The Things They Carried applies New Historicism elements, including Vietnam history recovery and the political power of the United States that affected history.
	The novel illuminates light on the situation not just during the Vietnam era, but also rather throughout all history and the future to come. Throughout mankind’s occupation of earth, we have been plagued by war and the sufferings caused by it. Nearly every generation of people to walk this earth have experienced a great war once in their lifetimes. For instance, Vietnam for my father’s generation, World War 2 for my grandfather’s, and World War 1 for my great-grandfather’s. War has become an unavoidable factor of life. Looking through history and toward the future, I grow concerned over the war that will plague my generation, for it might be the last war.
During the process of reading this compilation of works, Portrait of America, many different point of views were aired. The opinion or attitude on the subject was too tainted. The authors were very biased to their perception of the "story". This book could have been much more beneficial if the facts would have stayed to the straight and narrow. Only the detrimental facts needed to be applied to these chapters. For a history class, as broad as this, this book opened too many doors that could not be explained in as much detail as would be liked. Many of the authors enjoyed mentioning the most scandalous moments of the people's lives then dropped the fact without much support or follow through as to what happened to cause or end these events. Brief summaries only tease the mind, and with the course load of most students, there is hardly extra time to investigate the matter further in detail. For a class such as History 152, biographies and/or documentary style books are more worth the while of the student. For instance make a list of a selection of novels that could be read for the class, so that every student can then explore in depth what that student thinks is interesting. Although the book was teasing in nature the chapters did flow well and were easy to read. The procession of the chapters had wonderful transition as to not loose the student. While proceeding through this book there were several different reoccurring topics that appeared. This paper will discuss these two reoccurring topics: the civil rights movement and former presidents.
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.
President Bush and Prime Minister Blair delivered speeches shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia, which occurred on September 11, 2001. Former President George W Bush utilized pathos, anaphora, and personification in his speech to convey an optimistic tone. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, addressing the same topic, utilized mild invective and parallel structure to express an affirmative tone. Throughout the speech, the former President George W. Bush strives to empower Americans by instructing them to remain resolute, but to “go back to [their] lives and routines”. He uses the personal pronoun we and the common pronoun us repeatedly to indicate that the people of the United States, who either saw the event on television or experienced this event firsthand, were and still are involved in this national tragedy.
On September 11, 2001, America was forever changed. On this day, America faced the biggest terrorist attack that had ever been carried out; thousands of people lost their lives that day. Throughout the sadness and mourning of this terrible event, George Bush addressed the nation with one of the most memorable speeches. When President Bush addressed the nation, he stated that America is strong and they could try to bring us down, but we will not be broken.This speech gave hope to many Americans and helped them remember to stay strong. This day will be forever remembered for all the souls that lost their lives and the brave people who threatened their own life to save others.
Host: On September the 11th 2001, the notorious terror organisation known as Al-Qaeda struck at the very heart of the United States. The death count was approximately 3,000; a nation was left in panic. To this day, counterterrorism experts and historians alike regard the event surrounding 9/11 as a turning point in US foreign relations. Outraged and fearful of radical terrorism from the middle-east, President Bush declared that in 2001 that it was a matter of freedoms; that “our very freedom has come under attack”. In his eyes, America was simply targeted because of its democratic and western values (CNN News, 2001). In the 14 years following this pivotal declaration, an aggressive, pre-emptive approach to terrorism replaced the traditional
These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.” George Bush was president at the time when the 9/11 attack happened. George Bush wrote this quote for the thousands of lives that were hugely affected. To the kids worried about their parents while they are in school, to the worried husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. The 9/11 attack did not only change the lives of people who lost a loved one, and the people who were there where the planes hit, but also people who just saw what was happening and people who heard about it, cried. The increase and patriotism and the rise in security will make people feel more secure and protected but it will never change the the amount of people affected by 9/11. Millions of people around the world know about what happened on September 11th, 2001. Millions of people will be changed
“The Ugly American,” directed by George Englund, depicts the fictional nation of Sarkhan and how it is affected by the involvements of both a democratic and communist state. Throughout the movie, one key theme is depicted, ignorance, which is displayed through the revolutionary war, the intervention by the United States government, and the public support in the United States.
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
Also, during the revolution the Americans fought to free their country from the oppression of Britain, while in the Vietnam War they used their super power position to try and stop the communist ideology from growing. During the revolution, the American’s emerged as the victors in their fight against Britain. Unfortunately victory in the war against South Vietnam did not occur. The American Revolution war lasted eight years, while, the war against the communists in South Vietnam lasted as long as twenty years (Daly & Robert,
The narrator, Le Ly Hayslip was born into a family of six in a town called Ka Ly in Vietnam. The villagers of Ka Ly fight for both side of the war; Hayslip’s own brothers were split between the communist north and the puppet government controlled south and so were her family. By day the village was looked over by Republicans, but by night they were under...
Historically, American students are taught from a single perspective, that being the American perspective. This approach to history (the single perspective) dehumanizes the enemy and glorifies the Americans. We tend to forget that those on the opposing side are also human. The author's main theme centers not only on the loss of innocence experienced by Paul and his comrades, but the loss of an entire generation to the war. Paul may be German, but he may just as easily be French, English, or American.... ...
Another quote that shows this is, “Preventing further attacks requires the U.S. to drop its law-enforcement approach to terrorism and recognize that we are at war” (9/11). To stop attacks like 9/11 from occurring, people need to see that the U.S. isn’t only under attack, but at war as well with the terrorists. Slowly, the country and its citizens are realizing this. The counterclaim for this argument is, “The work of public officials allowed us to ask if the country overreacted to 9/11. Providing counter terrorism has increased costs more than what was expected” (9/11).
In Graham Greene's The Quiet American, the themes of naivety and innocence are in constant and direct conflict with the reality and crudeness of the Vietnam War. Sometimes Greene sees innocent people as helpless victims of the devastation others wreak, like the soldiers who are killed when Fowler and Pyle shelter in their tower. More often though, he regards innocence as a kind of pre-moral condition. There are frequent references to the ignorance of the innocent character of Alden Pyle. An extremely idealistic and naive American, Pyle represents the innocence of the inexperienced who are exposed too early in life to a situation as concrete as a war in the battlefield. The innocence of Pyle is displayed through his ruinous idealism that culminates in his murder, his work for General Thé, and Pyle's personification of America as an international powerhouse.