The Quiet American is about people who are unable to alleviate their guilt: a soldier struggles with himself after using napalm, newspaper correspondents rationalize the lies they help spread, an intelligence agent can't face the human costs of his operation, and a man facing the last decade of his life wishes he could confess his crime. Some of them can acknowledge their guilt, but none of them can quite bring themselves to change—to take the steps to admit their guilt and to go and sin no more. They are all trapped by their guilt and unable to break free.
Questions About Guilt
- Pyle clearly sees the bombing of civilians as abhorrent, and he knows he's involved with it, but he doesn't feel guilty about it. Why?
- Do you think Fowler will ever find peace?
- What does Vigot see in Fowler that leads him to think he's somehow involved in Pyle's death? Fowler claims he doesn't care about Phuong's interests; is there any evidence that he regrets the way he treats her?
Chew on This
According to The Quiet American, guilt can be turned to peace through confession and penance.
According to The Quiet American, guilt cannot be transformed into peace; at most it can be suppressed.