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Innocence In The Quiet American

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Innocence is blindness. To be innocent is to be unaware of important parts of a situation. When someone is innocent to a problematic situation or crisis, they do not have enough knowledge to form an opinion that could help find a solution. As a result, that person becomes problematic if they attempt to help find a solution. People are always biased to the knowledge they have, whether it is true or false, a lot or a little. When innocent people look to solve a problem, they are biased to their innocence, which often causes more harm than good. In The Quiet American, by Graham Greene, Alden Pyle is an innocent, and therefore problematic, character. The novel is set in 1950s Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Pyle is representative of the American …show more content…

Trouin and Fowler dive over a village as Trouin drops sampan bombs, killing not only communist supporters but also a multitude of innocent villagers. Fowler narrates that after the raid was finished, the two of them “didn’t even wait to see [their] victims struggling to survive, but climbed and made for home” (Greene 142). Trouin later explains to Fowler that he feels sorry for all of the victims of the raids, but unlike those similar to Pyle and General Thé, he would rather be aware of the destruction he is causing. He explains, “What I detest is napalm bombing. From 3,000 feet, in safety…You see the forest catching fire. God knows what you would see from the ground. The poor devils are burnt alive, the flames go over them like water…We are fighting all of [the government’s] wars, but [they] leave us the guilt…But we are professionals: we have to go on fighting till the politicians tell us to stop” (Greene 143-144). He explains that even though he feels guilty, and wants to recognize the devastation and destruction he is causing, he has no choice but to be blind. If Trouin took this destruction to heart and let his emotions overcome him, he would not be able to drop the bombs and follow his orders. He and the other soldiers and pilots have to be able to walk away from the destruction in order to do their job and complete the task. …show more content…

It is necessary to justify the means of achieving their goal. Because they believe that it is their duty to stop the communist forces in Vietnam, they believe that it is okay to take any actions necessary to do so. The destruction is justified because they believe that they are “helping” the Vietnamese people, even though the number of deaths does not determine who wins the war. They cause excess damage that outweighs the “good” they are doing. They are trying to help Vietnam, but at the same time, they cannot recognize the destruction they are bringing to the nation. They believe that they are not causing any serious harm because they are different in their cause. That is what American exceptionalism encompasses. Pyle and those like him want to be the ones who save Vietnam: the heroes. They choose to ignore the costs in the hopes that they will benefit the nation in the end. As long as their forces eliminate communism and all traces of it, they will believe that have succeeded, despite the harm they caused along the

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