The Quiet American

“Nothing nowadays is fabulous, and nothing rises from its ashes.”

Immediately, the novel introduces the audience to Fowler’s cynicism. He is a British subject in a French colony, living at the tail end of the European colonialist era. The colonial projects of the European powers seem, to him, exhausted and doomed. Similarly, however, self-determination and independence seem equally negative. To Thomas Fowler, the “fabulous” times are over, and he is now existing amid the ashes of what was once considered “great.”

“These were the open legal methods, but legality was not essential in a country at war.”

In a country at war, the fighting is so fierce on both sides that the traditional rules and expectations of society break down. Fowler understands the legal methods available to the police, but he understands that since the country is locked in a military conflict, legality has become a relative term. Violence is so prevalent, and he—as an Englishman in a French colony—has so little status that he cannot rely on colonial laws to keep him safe when the colony itself is facing an existential threat.

“I was a correspondent; I thought in headlines.”

Fowler likes to think of himself as detached and objective. His job, however, has imbued him with a tendency to view the world through a certain lens. He conceives of the world as though it were a giant newspaper, with certain stories gaining prominence.