The Quiet American and its Criticism of the United States
             It seems more and more that Americans are stereotypically depicted as obnoxiously brash by the "cultured" European countries, and that Americans think that they are completely innocent.. This may be derived by a general European prejiduce against the average American. The General Public of France normally has some views like this which may be where Fowlers character pulled his slanted opinions from the most. Graham Greene's portrayal of American citizens is a bit biased on his own personal and cultural feelings about Americans.
             In the novel "The Quiet American", one of the main characters is Alden Pyle who is in a constant rivalry with the central character Fowler. They form a strange bond where they are more aquaintances then friends and have a strong but not out-spoken strife with one another.Whether being the tug of war over Phuong, or just politics in general, it seems that the Fowler and Pyle rarely agree and are never on the same level. Greene tries to pin the American on the lower level under Fowler and tries to portray him as merely ignorant.
             They are very different and Pyle is shown as the idealist, portraying Americans as the idealists, while Fowler is shown as strictly an older journalist as well as an atheist. Pyle is not show to have much of a personality. He is obviously much younger and much more naive than Fowler. This may parallel England's and the French view of The United States as a young, and a little bit naive of a country. A good example of Pyle being naive and a bit of a dreamer is when he comes down the river at night through a warzone to see Fowler and tell him that he is in love with Phuong. Fowler even pictured Pyle in the United States with his colleagues in skyscrapers, eating ice cream, and having martinis with friends. Speaking in comparison with the novel Daisy Miller, another novel with a somewhat biased portrayal ...