The Quiet American. Literature and Language Essay.
Write a 2-page essay (double-spaced and 12-point font, maximum 600 words) on The Quiet American, focusing on the following questions:
1. Graham Greene's The Quiet American has remained one of the most popular and also controversial books about Americans’ “adolescent” view of the world because of his cynical portrayal of the role of Alden Pyle, the brash young Harvard graduate sent by the CIA to Vietnam. In what ways does the novel expose the difference between American Orientalism and European views of world affairs?
2. In The Quiet American, Thomas Fowler, the British reporter and the novel’s narrator, says of Pyle: “I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused” (p.52). Can his remarks be seen as a summary of U.S. involvement in Asia and other non-Western countries? Why or why not?
You can use our textbooks/e-readings to support your argument, but there is no need to conduct additional research. Use the MLA style (works cited) or AHA style (endnotes) in citing and documenting your sources of information. You must be consistent in style
Institution
Tutor’s Name
Date of Submission
The Quiet American
Question 1
Orientalism refers to the study of languages and the culture of people as well as the way they do things. Studies are, in most cases, conducted by people who do not belong to that culture and are individuals from the Western nations (Columbia Spectator, 2005). Graham Greene’s The Quiet American presents Alden Pyle, a 32-year-old American, as a very tranquil man speaking and acting with no open sarcasm and pitch. His sincerity in all his dealings as an idealist and an optimist somewhat presents the difference between the American orientalism and the European world affair views.
The Quiet American presents several distinctive ways in which the American orientalism differs from the European views of various world affairs. The major themes in the novel depict this. Firstly, the difference in virginity as a mode of intellectualizing immaturity and level of experiences in life and sexuality is presented in the story. Pyle is stuck in a house of five hundred girls on the night when they dine together for the first time with Phuong and Fowler. Fowler’s relates the situation to virginity as learns of Pyle’s struggles to get off the environment (Greene).
Secondly, the novel portrays life as a movie where Fowler recurrently questions Pyle for behaving as if he were playing a character in Hollywood. Fowler describes this point of view as categorically American as it makes fiction a reality rather than a reality. This mentality is distinct from the European perspective of world affairs. Another fundamental difference in the American orientalism and the European view of world affairs is the idea of religion and faith. Each character in the novel presents a different view of religion, and this ...
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