The Quiet
American
Characters
Thomas Fowler
Fowler is the cynical narrator of the novel
who has made a career out of being a
bystander.
He is so detached from events around him,
he even disparages fellow journalists,
whom he refers to as ‘correspondents’.
Fowler has left his wife, Helen, in England,
after being unfaithful to her and then
being unable to reconcile with her.
He has come to a country in the middle of
a war, where he as an English man is
regarded as neutral. This is very much a
symbol of how he regards himself. He is in a
relationship with the much younger and
very attractive Phuong, and although he
does not see this in himself, he regards her
very much like a possession; he is very
surprised when she exercises her own free
will and knocks Pyle back.
Fowler is an avowed atheist, although as a
narrator he is often preoccupied with
religion and religious thought. This is a part
of the cynicism which is a fundamental
part of his character, in this way his name Thomas, from doubting Thomas, is well
deserved. He believes that the only
absolute thing that can be relied upon in
death - as the final annihilation of self and
ego - and writes that he welcomes it;
however, when faced with death, he
abandons this precept, like so many of his
other ideals, and is afraid.
Pyle is the character after whom this novel
is named. He is in many ways the complete
antithesis to the narrator - young and
idealistic where Fowler is old and cynical.
He is often characterised as innocent, like a
virgin and it is therefore ironic that the
name Alden means ‘old and wise’.
Pyle is keen to get involved, with the war,
with Phuong, but he has a great need to
‘play fair’; it is this last characteristic that
gives the novel some of its humour - he
wants to marry Phuong and therefore steal
her from Fowler, but he wants to be upfront
and open about his intentions. Fowler and
he discuss Phuong’s future and their
involvement, but in the end, of course, it is
Phuong herself who decides her own
future; both Pyle and Fowler are surprised
by this, and it demonstrates how caught up
Pyle is in his ideal view of the world, and
how little bearing on reality it has.
Pyle idealistically gets involved in plastic
explosives (the plastic representing his new
world); but in his naiveté detonates the
bomb in a market place, killing and
maiming women and children. His
astonishment and desire to clean his
bloodied shoes is contrasted with the
grieving mother who covers her dead
infant with her hat. Once again, he is
clean, innocent of his own actions, and it is
for this reason that Fowler decides Pyle is
too innocent, naive to live.
Alden Pyle
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Phuong is the centre
of the love triangle she is objectified by
both Pyle and
Fowler. Pyle thinks of
her as unable to
make her own
decisions, childlike,
and is challenged in
this view by Fowler
who sees her much
more realistically.
However, for Fowler
she is an escape –
she prepares the
pipes he is addicted
to as an escape
from emotional
reality, and even
the colour of her skin
is the same amber
as the opium resin.
Phuong
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She cannot read
English and is thus
completely separate
from Fowler’s life as a
man of letters.
The meaning of
Phuong’s name is
given to us on the first
page o the novel,
and it is clear that she
is the only one who
does rise from the
wreckage of the
world around them,
she is not destroyed
by those around her.
Miss Hei
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The sister of Phuong, she is interested only in the
material comfort of her sister and herself. She acts for
Pyle when she sees that he is in a position to marry
Phuong and can therefore be seen as the antagonist
in Fowler’s drama.
However, it is clear that for her and Phuong life is not
a gentle and forgiving existence. Without a secure
relationship, these women do not have many
options. The old, Vietnamese way of living is no
longer viable; the life of Vietnam as a French colony
is fast coming to an end, and these women need to
fend for themselves, using the talents (beauty) that
they have.
Compared with the troubles that face the men in
the novel, Phuong lives from day to day, a victim of
the world around her who refuses to be a victim.
Vigot

The French detective in charge of investigating
Pyle’s death, Vigot is portrayed as a sensitive man
of learning. He is a minor character in the novel,
appearing in Books 1, 3 and 4. Although Vigot is
‘not altogether sorry’ that Pyle has been killed, he
is a man with a vocation (again, in contrast to
Fowler who considers that he has a job), a man
who knows what his purpose in life is - to find out
the truth. In this way, Fowler is sorry to have lied
about his involvement with Pyle’s death, because
he knows that Vigot is representative only of the
truth, a concept that Fowler himself struggles with.
Mr Heng
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The person ultimately responsible for the death of
Pyle, he makes Fowler aware of the extent of
Pyle’s activities. Heng is the man behind Mr. Chou,
who is supposed to have a position of power; in
turn Heng is supposed to have friends ‘like rats’
supporting him.
It is Heng who tells Fowler, ‘Sooner or later,...one
has to take sides. If one is to remain human.’
The inference is clear: Fowler is judging Heng and
his associates as rat-like, animalistic, but they are
concerned with the human war in way that Fowler
is not. It is Fowler who is the animal, and not Heng.
Captain Trouin
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A very minor character who appears in Part 3,
Trouin is a pilot who drops bombs and napalm
on villages while claiming that the risk to
himself is as great as it is to the village.
He is dismissive of Fowler’s detachment from
the situation; he knows that the war can’t be
won, but he is a professional soldier. Trouin
takes Fowler to a prostitute, and Fowler is
impotent: a contrast to Trouin.