The Quiet American

The narrative returns to the present. Two weeks after the assassination of Pyle, Fowler runs into Vigot in Le Club. As they play dice, Vigot explains that Pyle’s dog was killed very close to the spot where Pyle’s body was found. Fowler and Vigot discuss fate and chance, swapping quotes by Blaise Pascal, a 17th-century French philosopher. Vigot seems hesitant to talk about his impression of Fowler and agrees to visit him later that night.

The narrative switches back to the time after Pyle confronted Fowler. In the following weeks, Fowler is distraught that Phuong might leave him for Pyle. He grills her for information about her whereabouts and often requires her to provide physical proof of her activity outside the apartment. His loathing for Pyle manifests as a broader dislike of everything American.

Dominguez sends Fowler a note from Mr. Chou, asking for a meeting. Fowler attends the meeting and, while he waits for Chou to arrive, watches police officers remove three bicycles from outside a property. They throw the bicycles in a nearby fountain. When Heng arrives, he and Fowler walk away just as the fountain explodes. The bomb sends glass and water flying in every direction, but there are no casualties. Heng leads Fowler away, showing him a pump attached to his own bicycle. Later, Fowler realizes that the pump is made from the American mold he was shown in Chou’s warehouse. The fountain explosion was part of a series of planned bomb attacks across Saigon. Journalists attribute the bombings to the communists, but Fowler—using intelligence provided by Heng—connects them to General Thé. When his article is published, however, he discovers that his editors have changed his story. Meanwhile, Fowler hopes that Pyle will be too preoccupied with his plastic molds to pursue Phuong.

Visiting Muoi’s garage, Fowler realizes that the building’s layout provides everyone outside with a clear view of what happens inside. Despite this, foreigners like Fowler still find the local culture and community to be impenetrable. He walks into the garage, through a door, and into a shed. There, he finds an old machine coated with “traces of a white powder” (190). He wonders whether this is the same chemical used in the plastic molds shown to him by Heng. Fowler leaves the garage, calling out for anyone but receiving no response. He returns to his apartment, which is also empty. Phuong’s note explains that she is visiting her sister. Fowler takes a nap and walks up to find that Phuong is still not home. He notices that she has taken the silk scarves and the photography book and knows that she left him. Forcing himself to remember only unhappy times with Phuong, he consoles himself by recalling that this is not his first breakup.

Fowler searches for Pyle but finds Joe instead. He is with Miss Hei, Phuong’s sister, who was recently hired by the American Legation. When he discovers Pyle is not present, he shouts at Joe about Pyle’s romantic affair with Phuong, claiming that it was orchestrated by Miss Hei. Joe warns Fowler not to make a scene, and Fowler walks away and hides in the bathroom in the Legation offices. When he is alone, he cries.

Fowler leaves the city to report on the recent military activity in Haiphong. He defies his office’s rules about which kinds of military raids he is permitted to join and takes part in a vertical bombing raid on a B-26 plane as “a way of killing time and killing thought” (195). The pilot is a man named Captain Trouin, who tells Fowler that he cannot write explicitly about his experiences. During the bombing raid, Fowler is interested and then irritated. The mission ends with Trouin destroying a small boat and then taking a brief detour to give Fowler a view of the setting sun.

That night, Trouin and Fowler visit an “opium den.” Trouin confesses that he has been told “to shoot up anything in sight” (199). Potential threats are everywhere, he says. The French military is using napalm, he claims, which is far more destructive than traditional bombs. He vividly describes the fiery destruction caused by napalm. Visibly upset, he deplores the war, which is nothing like a normal colonial scuffle. The French, Trouin claims, are fighting for more than just their colony; they are fighting for all of Europe. Though Fowler claims that he has no investment in the war, Trouin assures him that he will not be able to stay out for long. After his first napalm raid. Trouin imagined himself dropping napalm on “the village where [he] was born” (200). Now, he feels a twinge of guilt whenever he embarks on a napalm raid. When he sees violence carried out by the other side, however, he reminds himself that he is fighting for Europe. Fowler claims that he does not want to get involved in such a violent conflict. Participation in the violence, Trouin claims, has nothing to do with reason.

As the men scrutinize the local sex workers, Fowler hires one woman’s services. When he realizes that she is wearing Phuong’s favorite perfume, however, he stops and apologizes, blaming his inability to perform on the opium.