Although one of the major themes of the book is the conflict in Vietnam, love also plays an important role in the story. Throughout the novel, Fowler and Pyle compete for the affection of Fowler’s mistress, Phuong. She leaves Fowler for the much younger Pyle, but later returns to Fowler. Even as the story concludes, we still do not know if she truly loved either one of them.

Phuong represents the typical Vietnamese woman. From an early age, she must look out for herself because she can’t really rely on her family for support. Her older sister is constantly trying to convince Fowler to marry Phuong and take her back

The scene of the child lying dead in a ditch beside his mother was vividly illustrated in the book. Greene wanted the reader to realize the horrors of war. He describes the “neatness” of the bullet wounds on the mother and child as: “more disturbing than the indiscriminate massacre in the canals around.” Perhaps since he was used to seeing mangled and abused corpses of random dead innocents and soldiers, the way in which the mother and son died disturbed him. It was different from what he was used to seeing.

Like many of Graham Greene’s books, The Quiet American is based on true events. J. Hoberman of villagevoice.com writes: “Greene based his novel on his own experiences as a journalist in Indochina. The book incorporates a number of actual people and events—including Thé and the terrorist car-bombing the general orchestrated in central Saigon in 1952. The eponymous American was apparently modeled upon CIA wunderkind Edward G. Lansdale, the instrument for U.S. involvement in the post-colonial South Vietnamese regime of Ngo Dinh Diem.”

Another scene that stuck in my head after reading the book is the mass confusion and chaos after the bomb was detonated in the main square of Saigon. Greene clearly remembers the bombing and the Life photographer who “at the moment of the explosion was so well placed that he was able to take an astonishing and horrifying photograph which showed the body of a trishaw driver still upright after his legs had been blown off” (http://members.tripod.com/~greeneland/quiet.htm). It’s scenes like these that make you realize just how horrible war really is.

The fact that most of his novels are based on personal experience separates Greene from most authors. His novels manage to be engaging and historically accurate at the same time. Reading Greene’s novels is like reading a history book, but much more pleasant and enjoyable. By creating a fictional character to represent himself in Quiet American, Greene manages

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