From what we have read, Fowler
claims to see the world as it really is. His words are cynical and often
pessimistic. He hates Pyle’s idealistic view of the world, yet he makes the same
error that Pyle does: he makes the world one color. Fowler believes that one
thing is bound to happen. With
this outstanding cynicism and Pyle's outstanding idealism in mind, we must wonder what Greene is trying to
convey to us about life. Ultimately the ending of The
Quiet American is, in the words of Phoung, “very sad” (178). She states that she “likes films with happy
endings best,” which is a sentiment I would say most people agree with (178). Even Fowler himself agrees with it: “I like happy endings too” (179). We must ask ourselves, “Is life real
enough to allow those happy endings?”
Fowler at first
declares, “no life is charmed” (174). He has experienced life and its blows for
many years. His cynical view suggests that life will always have you bleeding
at the eyeballs as Oedipus was, no matter how happy you thought you were. Fowler
experiences this very pain after Pyle’s death. Without Pyle, Fowler probably
would not have been as engaged as he is. In fact, he does not differ much from
Pyle: his “foot [is] thrust in the mess of life” (the blood of innocent people)
“before [he] sees the pain” life presents (177). Fowler cannot help but
remember Pyle after he dies. Although Pyle is gone Fowler knows he lies when he
says, “life is like it used to be” (179). Life can never be the same. What’s
worse is that Fowler is granted what he has wished for when Pyle was around:
marriage to Phoung. It seems like an egregiously cruel act of fate. Now that
his life is ruined, Fowler gets what he wants.
However,
the resolution to Granger’s heartbreaking experience with his son provides us
with a completely different story. Maybe life has purely happy endings. That Granger
“has something to celebrate” even though life can be as terrible as it is in
the movie and as it is for Fowler, suggests that perhaps luck does last (179). It
may take the decision of “that Somebody”
who seems very distant in demanding times, but the future can be altered (172).
Fowler’s cynicism blinds him to the reality he claims to see. Life has its fair
share of trials and celebrations. There may be no whole answer to this question
Greene poses. There are two sides to every story even if we “like happy endings
best” (178). Just like Fowler and Pyle, life can be contradicting and paradoxical.
Perhaps we must not look at life in the way Fowler does, full of endings. Instead,
life gives us the choice. We may “never know what we’re going to get,” but we
can certainly choose how we see them.
4 comments:
The question Josh poses really strikes at...the heart of the matter...of most of Greene's works. As we know, many of his protagonists are walking contradictions who struggle in reconciling their two halves that don't entirely fit together. It seems that these characters (i.e. the Whiskey Priest, Martins, Scobie, and Fowler) would be well served to become more human. In Fowler's case, this notion is particularly ironic. He says with much venom to Pyle, "I wish sometimes you had bad motives, you might understand a little more about human beings" (124). Here, Fowler accuses Pyle of lacking humanity because of his consistently good motives. However, this is based upon the assumption that humanity is depraved. Returning to the point, Fowler would have saved himself a headache if he had admitted to himself (and informed Pyle) that he loved Phuong as more than just a physical presence. So to answer Josh's question, yes; happy endings can happen. However, one must make a concerted effort to return to the original state of humanity (in "The Quiet American," this would have entailed Fowler and Pyle finding a healthy balance between idealism and cynicism).
On the opening page of “The Quiet American,” Fowler explains that Phuong means Phoenix. He goes on to say that “nothing nowadays is fabulous and nothing rises from its ashes” (3). I think that this applies well now. On one hand, Fowler tries to believe that life has returned to normal after Pyle dies, which sort of goes against his Phoenix observation. However, even he acknowledges that life can never return to the way it was, and that it won’t rise from its ashes. On the other hand, he basically sets his position right at the beginning by saying that nothing is fabulous. Right off the bat, we can see the Fowler does not see anything in a good light by his own choice. So, although he may admit that we can see endings and stories as we want them, he’s always going to see the glass as half-empty.
I think that if we look past some of the elements of the plot to the greater picture, this novel does have somewhat of a "happy ending." I think the best example of positive changes is the progression we see in Fowler. By the end of the novel, he has become much more of a real person. He blows aside the facade of being "uninvolved" and devoid of emotion, and instead becomes very involved for the good of the people around him. He sacrifices his own ideals for others. Also, his description of Phuong changes to a much more realistic one: instead of her being emotionless and incapable of harm like he describes her as to Pyle in the beginning, he recognizes that she can't just show her emotion, and that she easily can be hurt. I would say that over all, there are some clear positive changes at the end of The Quiet American.
I agree with Tom here. In the end, Fowler admits how invested he is in Vietnam. He's marrying Phuong, he wants to live there for the rest of his life, and he was actively involved in the war by helping Pyle get killed. Before the bombing, he lied to himself about his involvement and took on an extremely cynical view of the world. Afterwards, he begins to look at things from all perspectives, he questions himself with Granger after seeing a different side of him, he wonders how much pain he caused before he was able to see it. He did cause a lot of heartache in his younger years, first with his wife, then repeating it with another woman. He admits that he scared Phuong with his "unreasonable anger at her silence" when he tries to talk to her about love and other feelings.
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