Pyle's View Of Communism During The Cold War

The Cold War was a memorable and long-standing conflict in recent history, where the United States and the Soviet Union competed for influence for the rest of the world. After World War II, traditional colonial powers, such as England and France, struggled to retain their colonies and global influence in the world. France tried to reclaim their colonies in Indochina after the collapse of the Japanese empire. Whereas, the United States had substantially developed into a dominant power that had valued a democratic perspective. However, many countries in East Asia were influenced by the USSR to follow communism. Under those circumstances, the US had tried to contain communism within the USSR. By doing this, US hoped to prevent world powers that
Pyle visits Fowler in Phat Diem to tell him that he loves Phuong and that he “wanted to protect her” (Greene 49). This shows the desire of the American perspective, that they do not want the Vietnamese to fall into communism. The allegory shows Phuong as Vietnam and Pyle as the US. He wanting to protect Phung symbolizes that the US wanted to protect Vietnam from communism. On the other hand, Fowler symbolizes the colonial view of the 3rd world and says “you can have her interests. I only want her body. I want her in bed with me. I’d rather ruin her and sleep with her than … look after her damn interests”(Greene 51). Pyle, who represents America, wanted to protect Phuong, who represents Vietnam. On the contrary, Fowler only wanted Phuong for his own self-interest, which conveys that he cares less about Vietnam. This illustrates the colonial perspective of Vietnam, which only uses Vietnam for their own interests and cares less about their interests. US President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the Domino theory during a news conference in 1954, where he said “... Asia, after all, has already lost some 450 million of its peoples to the communist dictatorship, and we simply can’t afford greater losses”(Domino). Eisenhower explained that the concept of the Domino theory, which means if one country fell to communism then other countries follow, like dominos falling. Eisenhower purpose in writing this was to justify the US’s reason for taking action in Vietnam which is shown by him saying that we can not let Vietnam fall into communism so other countries would not fall. This connects to The Quiet American because Pyle intentions in Vietnam were to protect it from falling to communism like a domino. In summary, He wanted to protect Vietnam whereas Fowler did not