The horrors of war in Vietnam and Fowler's attitude to war.
The action of "The Quiet American" takes place in Vietnam during the most difficult and troubling period of the life of this country - the time of war between the South and the North. The main character of the book (Fowler) works in Vietnam as a war correspondent and describes the war pictures to the reader very vividly and truthfully. It's important to determine his position because to my mind it coincides with the author's position concerning this question.
Let's remember Fowler's trip to Phat Diem - the town where war actions directly took place. Fowler had known Phat Diem well before the attack: it had been the most living town in all the country, and then it was the most dead. Rubble and broken glass, the smell of burnt paint and plaster, long empty street and houses in ruins - that was all left from the town. And then goes the canal full of bodies, which reminded an Irish stew containing too much meat, and one head sticking up out of the water like a buoy. But what struck Fowler most was the sight of a dead woman and a small boy lying in a narrow ditch. The child was about six years old and he lay like an embryo in the womb with his little bony knees drawn up; he had a gnawed piece of bread under his body and he was wearing a holy medal round his neck, but his juju didn't help.
Seeing those horrors of war Fowler could no more stick to his policy of not being involved. Fowler could see pain, he didn't manage to hide his emotions any more and (in the moment of emotion) admitted that he hated war. And this phrase "I hate war" is brought by Fowler several times during the narration.
Fowler hated war for its absurdness, he didn't believe in building national democracy and the power of the 3rd force, as Pyle did. And what irritated Fowler most it is the fact that mainly innocent people suffered and died. Fowler was very worried about the children's death.