🌹The Rose & Skull: Lovers in a Dangerous Time ☠️
The Quiet American
Look at Colonialism & the Cold War for political and historical context, Interview & Article, Sample Essay, and at Context for translations of the French used in the novel, for autobiographical elements, and for some information on the religion of Caodaism.
I strongly suggest you watch the 2002 film version of The Quiet American (Noyce, 101 minutes). The film simplifies the novel somewhat yet is also close to the novel in many ways. It’s available for streaming for about $5 on Google Play. I find it an easy and enjoyable watch.
Remember to look at the sample essay (QA Sample Essay) and at the comparative essay on The Quiet American and The Year of Living Dangerously (Betrayal and Good Intentions & Sex Trade and Orientalism).
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Video 1: QA & Year, and Fowler as Protagonist
In this video I give an introduction to the two novels we’ll look at in The Rose & Skull. I then focus on The Quiet American, using recurrent references to trishaws to suggest a way of looking at narrative structure. I refer to the following pages: — 1.1.3 (Part 1, Chapter 1, page 3) "After dinner” to “the long street" — 1.3.26 "They seem” to “for the man to stoop for" — 1.5.58 "It was cold” to “trishaw drivers plied for hire" — 3.2.154-5 "The legless torso” to “Quai Mytho" — 4.2.167-177 "A trishaw driver” to “Phuong there." (One correction: in referring to an edition of the text, I said Viking, but should have said Vintage.)
Student Responses from Previous Classes
During the Covid pandemic online course, students sent in brief paragraph responses. The first online term is listed under “Response1A.”
Response 1A ❧ Make a point about the first and the last paragraphs of 1.3 (Part 1, Chapter 3) — that is, from “The first time Pyle met Phuong” to “One of our attachés” and from “Then came the turn” to “This isn’t a bit suitable for her.” Compare the paragraphs in light of something specific (such as the use of space or imagery, relationships), and/or show how the paragraphs relate to the intervening paragraphs of 1.3 or to the chapters around them. I suggest that you think about the six categories of literary analysis (space or setting, time or chronology, character, relationship, theme, and style) and use one of these categories to help you focus in on an aspect that bears analysis.
1B ❧ How does Fowler start to change as a result of his experiences in the canal in Phat Diem? ❧ Compare the opening scene (or scenes) in the novel and film.
1C ❧ Take a series of images or references and show how they work in the first chapter. ❧ Imagine the first chapter as a short story. What would you need to add or subtract to retain its subtlety yet make it work as a complete and unified story? In other words, what would Greene need to include or omit so that we could get a complete sense of it?
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Video 2: “I’m not involved”
I preface this week’s video with some words about your final essay, Greene’s view of religion, and Greene’s place in history (after WWII and before the Vietnam War). I then make a detailed argument about the relation of settings to Fowler’s decision to become involved. I refer to the following themes and locations, often making links back to Phat Diem (1.4): abstract religion and politics vs. realistic human predicaments in Tanyin (2.2.3-4 — Part 2, Chapter 2, Section 3-4); beauty vs. anonymous violence and napalm bombing in Haiphong (3.1.1.4); Fowler’s shifting allegiance and the dovetailing of motifs in Place Garnier (3.2.2) and at Quai Mytho (4.2.1).
Vietnam 2002, photo by RYC
The thumbnail image above is from Wikimedia Commons: “A Bearcat naval fighter aircraft of the Aéronavale drops napalm on Việt Minh Division 320th's artillery during Operation Mouette (November 1953).” It relates to the aerial bombing Fowler witnesses above Haiphong — and which Greene witnessed when he was a journalist in Vietnam from 1951-4.
Response 2A ❧ Take or create a character, who then makes a point to a character in the novel. The character you take can’t be Fowler, Phuong, or Pyle. Your character could be a minor character, such as Heng or Trouin (but not a rickshaw driver, that ground is covered elsewhere) or an entity, mythic figure, or real-life person outside the novel (an alien, Caodai priest, the Pope, Pascal, Baudelaire, Stalin, Mao, McCarthy, James Bond, Captain America, Loki, Freeland, Wonder Woman, Trump, Putin, etc.). I suggest starting your scenario with a specific place and time, as in the following: Oprah [to Phuong, in milk bar a day before the bombing]: I know they’re offering you an easy life, but… ,” or Oliver Stone [to Fowler, smoking opium in Haiphong]: Take a big puff, grandpa, you’ll need it. When I got back from Nam…”
2B ❧ In her introduction (page vii), Zadie Smith suggests that Phuong floats "free of her symbolic weights." Is this so? ❧ Is Phuong a complex character or a stereotype, or both? ❧ Compare the novel and the film in terms of the relation between Phuong and Fowler.
2C ❧ Create a graphic or drawing that shows the structure of the first chapter and the novel. You can do this however you want, but you may want to use arrows or colours to show how the first chapter connects with later chapters. Make sure to write a brief explanatory paragraph (minimum 50 words) beneath your graph or drawing. ❧ Briefly identify an image, reference, or aspect in the first chapter and then explain in more detail how it expands in meaning in the rest of the book. Make sure to find a new angle or idea to explore. For instance, who is Pascal and where does he come in later? What is Vigot’s role or function in the novel? Is there a pattern to the way Fowler fixes on details, distances himself from American politics and culture, identifies Phuong with images, uses the poetry of Baudelaire, differentiates the French from the Americans, or generalizes about death, love, or meaning?
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