Lacking Control: A Soldier’s Excuse Anonymous 11th Grade

In Graham Greene’s novel, The Quiet American, one of the main points of discussion is the West’s involvement in Vietnam. A telling scene that explores this theme is the dive-bombing one in which Fowler accompanies a French pilot, Captain Trouin, on a vertical raid against a small village in Northern Vietnam. Fowler’s desire to see more combat is motivated by his anger towards Pyle, and his skepticism of the war in general. During the raid, Fowler is put in the shoes of a soldier who must contend with violence and his own moral standards. The scene relates to the West’s involvement in Vietnam in that it portrays the thoughts and feelings of the West’s soldiers as they carry out the commands of their superiors. Fowler believes that he has no control over what is happening during the dive-bombs just as other soldiers must not throughout the Vietnam War. By looking through the lens of someone is put in their position, the dive-bombing passage highlights the lack of control soldiers from the West have while in Vietnam.

Fowler tells the reader much about the pain and terror that he feels throughout the attack, but rarely about those of the victims. This is one way he expresses his belief that he has no control over what is happening....