The Quiet American

Each year, a Caodaist festival is held in Tanyin. Caodaism is a religious practice that synthesizes Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Government and diplomatic officials travel through areas affected by the war to reach the festival. Fowler joins them, interviewing officials about General Thé, who is rumored to be hiding near Tanyin in his fight against both the French and the Viet Minh. He receives little response. Fowler believes that the officials have as little respect for Caodaism as he does.

He finds Pyle, who is struggling to start his Buick. As a mechanic is summoned, Pyle reflects on the French military’s failure to exert authority over the Vietnamese. They have not learned to trust Vietnamese people, he says. Sensing that Pyle and a local commandant “want to be alone” (109), Fowler visits the cathedral and studies the décor, which is a strange blend of the religions’ artistic heritages. The cathedral makes him think of his wife’s devotion to her Catholic faith and his relative lack of belief. He does not particularly desire to be religious. Having already written to his wife to ask for a divorce, he imagines how she will respond. Fowler finds Pyle still waiting for his car to be fixed. He offers to take Pyle back to Tanyin, saying his car will be taken care of.

As they drive, Pyle asks Fowler about Phuong. He reveals that he spoke to Phuong’s sister and is surprised to hear that Fowler is planning to leave Vietnam. Fowler dismisses this as a rumor. Pyle, revealing that he asked to be transferred, believes that he will leave Vietnam within half a year. The car slows to a halt. Fowler worries that someone in Tanyin “siphoned [their gas] out” (114). Worse still, they are in an enemy zone. They manage to reach a watchtower. Hoping the guards inside have fuel, Fowler enters. Inside, the two young Vietnamese soldiers seem as scared as Fowler. They admit that they have no fuel. Fowler and Pyle are permitted to stay in the tower; Pyle fears that the guards are “ill-trained” but Fowler sympathizes with them (118). He chides Pyle’s naive understanding of Vietnamese culture and politics. Pyle asks whether Fowler believes in anything for himself. Fowler says that he only believes in the reality of his current predicament.

Fowler tells Pyle about the true motivations of Vietnamese soldiers. They do not care about democracy or communism: They want to improve their immediate lives, and “they don’t want our white skins around telling them what they want” (119). Pyle responds with a critique of French colonialism, though Fowler insists that liberalism is far more dangerous than colonialism. After all the violence, Fowler suggests, the colonialists will withdraw and leave the Vietnamese with a “toy industry” such as the plastic manufacturing that Pyle is trying to set up (122). They bicker about politics throughout the night. When Fowler fetches a blanket from the car for Pyle, he hears an explosion in the distance. He hurries back to the tower, where Pyle and the guards are staring at a machine gun. Pyle does not trust the guards, he says. There is another, closer explosion. Fowler imagines himself in another place, picturing Phuong preparing an opium pipe for him.

Annoyed that time is passing so slowly, Fowler talks to Pyle. The American admits that he is thinking about Phuong. Fowler assumes that she is reading a French news magazine in his apartment and tells Pyle the story of how he met her. Pyle misunderstands the story, and Fowler must assure him that Phuong was not a sex worker.

Pyle, by his own admission, is inexperienced with women. He presses Fowler for stories about sex and then incorrectly guesses that one story is about Phuong. Once, Fowler confesses, he was “terrified of losing” a woman (131), so he ended the relationship as quickly as he could and then left. Now, he only fears losing Phuong. He claims that Vietnamese people do not love in the same way that he or Pyle would.

Pyle insists that he has had sex before. Fowler claims that “virginity” does not depend on having sex with women but refuses to elaborate. More than sex, Fowler is preoccupied with “old age and death” (133). He does not want to die alone and would prefer to be with someone who does not love him than no one at all. Pyle believes that this is an insult to Phuong. They are interrupted by someone calling from outside. In Vietnamese, the voice on the megaphone demands that the guards give up the European men in the tower. Pyle grabs the machine gun, allowing Fowler to exit. He jumps the last rungs of the ladder and hurts his ankle before being knocked down by a bazooka shell. The tower explodes.

Pyle helps Fowler, who has wounded his leg but insists that it is “nothing serious” (137). Fowler tries to crawl toward a paddy field but stops when he hears crying noises. Though Fowler tells Pyle to abandon him and seek safety, Pyle refuses. He drags Fowler to the field. They hide in the water and hear Fowler’s car blow up in the distance. Pyle tells the freezing Fowler to wait a little longer. He admits that he saved Fowler because he could not have faced Phuong if he had allowed him to die. Fowler tells Pyle that, in the reverse situation, he would have abandoned him. However, Pyle insists that this is not true and that he knows Fowler better than he knows himself.

Pyle explores the area, leaving Fowler to recuperate. He hears the crying sounds again and worries that he caused this pain. As he tries to follow the sound, he faints from his pain. When he comes around, someone is pointing a flashlight in his face. Pyle is back with help. Someone gives him a morphine injection.