The Quiet American Themes

The Quiet American relates fear to uncertainty. In a lot of ways, the story reminds us of that Munch painting, "The Scream"—there's this anxious sense of impending doom throughout the story. The...

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 i...

Everything passes away: love, heath, life, Pixar's consistent awesomeness—only death is permanent. It's the real thing. So believes Thomas Fowler, the narrator of Graham Greene's The Quiet Americ...

In The Quiet American, the theme of sexuality is closely related to the theme of innocence. Fowler, the older of the two main characters, has the sexual experience and cynicism of a man who's seen...

Narrated by an atheist, The Quiet American takes an outsider's perspective on the religious practices and pieties of the people in Vietnam, assessing them mostly on their social utility. How well d...

Sometimes isolation is a choice, knowingly and willingly taken. It is the chosen way of life for Thomas Fowler, the narrator of The Quiet American. Fowler fancies himself a reporter, not only as an...

The Quiet American could rightly be called an anti-war novel. It depicts war as an absurd endeavor, orchestrated by cynical politicians, fought by terrified, guilt-ridden soldiers, and reported on...

The Quiet American isn't at all hush-hush about lies and deceit. They're everywhere, especially in love and war. Nations lie about their operations. Army commanders lie about their wins and losses....

Innocence isn't a virtue in The Quiet American. It's a contagious disease. The novel is a story of well-meaning American intelligence officer who believes he can spread peace and democracy with eas...

Pyle, the dangerously innocent antagonist in Graham Greene's The Quiet American, wants to bring democracy to the people of Vietnam. That's not his problem. He gets into trouble because he tries to...