Abstract This paper discusses GrahamGreene's novel "The Quiet American" and director Philip Noyce's 2001 movie of the same name. The paper analyzes the themes and concepts that are presented as well as the moral and ethical issues associated with early American involvement in Vietnam and the lessons to be learned from that involvement.
From the Paper "The involvement of the Western powers, primarily the French and the United States, in Vietnam was based on an imperial ideology that saw the West as superior and the East as inferior. As events unfolded it became clear that the ideology of the West did not apply in Vietnam. The tragic results of nation-building in the Third World by the West are examined in the Graham Greene novel,"The Quiet American" and in director Philip Noyce's movie of the same name. By viewing the Vietnamese as inferior it..."
Abstract This paper is a character analysis of the anonymous lieutenant in GrahamGreene's ?The Power and the Glory.? It focuses primarily on his anti-religious views, the doubts and changes he goes through when the priest begins to speak and reason with him, and the roles that he plays throughout the novel.
From the paper:
"In order for a character to be truly effective, it is necessary for the character to play an important role, undergo change, and above all, be interesting. In GrahamGreene's novel "The Power and the Glory", there are two characters that fit this typecast best, the priest and the lieutenant. Both of these characters? destinies are intertwined, and it impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other; however, of the two, there is the one who changes (the lieutenant), and the one who does the changing (the priest). Therefore, the character that most fully matches the definition of an effective character outlined above would be the lieutenant."
Abstract This paper expounds upon the conversion of GrahamGreene to Catholicism. Based on an analysis of his writings and correspondence and biographical writings, the paper reflects the view that while Greene converted for the love of a woman, in fact he needed some sort of belief that made him stabilize his rebellious and hyperactive personality.
Abstract This paper examines how GrahamGreene's "The Quiet American" provides an account of the activities of a well-intentioned, but misguided and naive American government agent in Vietnam during the midst of the anti-French uprising there in the early 1950s. It discusses the book from an existentialist perspective to illustrate how U.S. foreign policy has been woefully inadequate over the years, being based on a fundamental lack of understanding about other cultures, and a disregard for how the world really works. A summary of the research is provided in the conclusion.
From the Paper "According to Greene, Fowler's own background and experience with colonialism and its impact on the nations involved helped him to better understand the importance of recognizing and respecting how things worked in other countries, and how the indigenous people actually lived and what they wanted in life: "The morning Pyle arrived in the square by the Continental, I had seen enough of my American colleagues of the press, big, noisy, boyish and middle-aged, full of sour cracks against the French, who were, when all was said, fighting this war" (1992:20). Pyle is an ardent follower of an American political theorist, York Harding, author of The Advance of Red China and other such works about Asia (Freely, 2001). Fowler says that he was to learn later than Pyle's respect and admiration for Harding was to the virtual total exclusion of "novelists, poets, and dramatists unless they had what he called a contemporary theme, and even then it was better to read the straight stuff as you got it from York" (21)."
Abstract This paper is a summary of the novel "The Power and the Glory" by GrahamGreene and looks at the ideas set forth in the novel and the means by which the narrative unfolds.
From the Paper "This research provides a summary of Graham Greene's novel The Power and the Glory. It will set forth the general pattern of ideas and events in the text and then discuss the means by which the narrative unfolds. Set in Mexico during the political revolution ..."
Abstract This paper reviews the novel "The Heart of the Matter" by GrahamGreene and outlines the plight of police commisioner Scobie from an upright life based on morals and rules to the hell of a tormented sinner. It examines how Scobie's life is defined by rules and obligation and as he begins to follow his heart, he is led to damnation of his soul followed by suicide. It shows how Greene strongly establishes the view that love leads to sin and how the novel illustrates the confusion of a Catholic man as he is torn between the obligation to his wife and the oath to a piteous young woman. The sympathy and responsibility he feels for every other person but himself leads him to commit sins and destroy himself.
From the Paper "The addition of love in Scobie's bland life complicated his situation. While Louise was away, Major Scobie falls into an affair with Helen Rolt, a young widow who Scobie met as a victim of a shipwreck. Scobie becomes enthralled in the relationship. Louise's decision to return home because of knowledge of the relationship and Scobie's obligation to keep both women happy forces Scobie to turn to God. He places their well being before his own, leading to self-damnation and a deeper plunge into the tangled string of emotions and duties he is now in."
Abstract This paper describes the characters, plot, and friendship of the two main characters in "The Quiet American". The paper also discusses the religious aspects of the novel that are revealed in the conversations between the two main characters, Fowler and Pyle.
From the Paper "These two men meet each other all at once and become friends because they like each other and because they are both foreign in a different land. They kind of stick together. The book is Fowler's thoughts about the friendship after Pyle turns up dead, so the book is kind of a look back at how events happened and what they meant that someone sees after things happen. He talks about the war, and how he met Phuong and Pyle and how he lives. It seems like a boring life but he does not want to go home, so he stays there and writes stories about the war. Some of them he makes up so he is not honest or a good reporter. He is a liar but he does not lie to himself. He likes Pyle but hates him too because he takes Phuong away from him. Fowler is bitter and that may be one reason that he is so sarcastic about God throughout the book. He sees other people taking solace in their religious beliefs, and wishes he could do that but he cannot. That may be one reason he is so sad."
Abstract In this paper the author considers the differences in the writing styles of Malraux and Greene. The study focuses on some of the better known books of both authors and dissects the writing skills of each. The author concludes with his personal opinion as to why Malraux is a better author even though Greene is more popular.
Thesis Statement
The World Between the Great Wars
The Leon Trotsky Papers
GrahamGreene and the Power and the Glory
Conclusions
From the Paper "The 1933 appearance of La Conditione Humaine wins for Malraux the coveted Goncourt Prize and establishes his reputation as an international author. The novel depicts a Communist uprising in Shanghai and the party's later annihilation in a massacre led by its former ally Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalists forces. Once again, Malraux has alienated revolutionary heroes - Chen, a young Chinese fighter, Kayo Gisors, an Eurasian organizer, Katow, a former student of medicine from Russia along with others - find a sense of dignity and solidarity in action and death."
Abstract GrahamGreene wrote the powerful and controversial work "The Power and the Glory" in which he explored his deepest spiritual self. This paper explores what it was in GrahamGreene's personal history that led to his writing the work.
Paper Outline:
Objective
Introduction
Henry GrahamGreene (1904 - 1991)
Awards and Works of Greene "The Power and the Glory"
Critique of "The Power and the Glory"
Summary and Conclusion
Works Cited
From the Paper "The work "The Power and the Glory" illustrates through the priest the capacity for redemption of even those who are corrupt through salvation. This was however, not the view held by the Catholic Church in their view of the novel. The view of the Catholic Church, was that "the latter element" -that is, human wretchedness--had appeared "to carry the day" in a way that did injury "to certain priestly characters and even to the priesthood itself." Moreover, the novel portrayed a state of affairs so "paradoxical" and "erroneous" that it would disconcert "unenlightened persons" who formed "the majority of the readers."
Abstract This paper discusses GrahamGreene's "The Power and the Glory", which is believed by some to be his finest work. The paper describes a variety of social, religious, and personal issues that lay close to the heart of the author. The paper presents Roman Catholicism in Mexico as a prominent issue addressed by the work. The paper considers the context and inner truths from which GrahamGreene created this literary work.
From the Paper "The plight of the priest was both political and personal. He is unable to forgive himself for a brief affair of his past, while his immediate problem entails leaving the Mexican state where all religion has been outlawed. As the only clergyman left, the priest is in the difficult position of conflict between caring for his parishioners and remaining physically out of prison to do so. Thus at the beginning of the novel he is waiting for a ship to transport him. Greene portrays the priest's devotion to his calling in the fact that, time and again, he gives attention to the needs of others above his own. The priest does this to his own mortal peril, as at the end he knowingly enters a trap in order to help a soul in need. In this unselfish quality, Greene demonstrates the ideal of Catholic priesthood."
This paper discusses GrahamGreene's "The Quiet American" and Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War", in which the authors demonstrate disillusionment with the Vietnam War, American policy and themselves.
1,720 words (approx. 6.9 pages), 0 sources, 2006, $ 55.95
Abstract This paper explains, in GrahamGreene's "The Quiet American" and Philip Caputo's "A Rumor of War", the desperate extremes men were forced to confront during the Vietnam War, which led to a clear transformation of their beliefs. The author points out that, in GrahamGreene's "The Quiet American", the protagonist Thomas Fowler, an aging British reporter with no particular moral, religious or political beliefs, encounters a man called Pyle, becomes involved in a political plot and changes from a reporter committed to neutrality to a man forced to make an irreversible moral decision. The paper relates that, faced with the atrocities of guerrilla warfare during his tour in Vietnam, Philip Caputo, as reported in his book, evolves from a young, enthusiastic idealist with romanticized views of war to a desensitized and dehumanized veteran.
From the Paper "Thomas Fowler meets Pyle unexpectedly and is immediately drawn to the American. To a morally weary colonialist like Fowler, Pyle's guileless decency is endearing, if somewhat ludicrous. However, Fowler is soon made uneasy by Pyle's clandestine activities, and while he never questions his intentions, Fowler realizes that Pyle's blind adherence to rigid ideological theories, sacrifices his ability to admit actual human consequences. Fowler at first sympathizes with Pyle's sweetness and real humility. He's not the ugly American of anti-colonial literature, and he is very likable (Greene 29). Fowler's sympathetic response to Pyle illustrates a tolerant, indulgent, almost avuncular concern for the rash and infuriatingly quiet American, which sits at odds with his professed impartiality. When Pyle stirs up trouble in Fowler's personal life by professing his love to Fowler's mistress, Fowler still sees Pyle as a man with good motives despite all the trouble he has caused (Greene 52). As the months pass, a sequence of events, including bombs and strange trails leading to General The (Greene 120), brings Pyle to a different light in Fowler's eyes."
Abstract Many short stories have been written in an effort to relay a moralistic message. While plot, characterization, and narrative style may be gripping, the end result is that the author is attempting to relay his views to the reader. This paper examines how such is the case in the two short stories "The Destructors" by GrahamGreene and "The Rocking Horse Winner" D.H. Lawrence. The paper examines how, in each case, authors GrahamGreene and D.H. Lawrence pose serious moral cases to their readers, with lessons and characters firmly rooted in Christian principles.
From the Paper ""The Destructors" by Graham Greene tells the story of a group of boys in the 1950s. Carrying on a gang mentality, these young people are highly destructive. What holds the reader's interest more than the level of destruction, however, is the lengths to which the boys are willing to go to in order to be destructive. Following World War II, Greene presents the youngsters within the story as deciding that they are going to destroy a house. This destruction is planned to be complete, nothing is to be left standing of the house and it matters not that the house is itself a historic piece. Here, the reader can see echoes of the lengths that the Romans were willing to go to in order to destroy the ministry of Christ."
Abstract This paper reviews the novel "Brighton Rock" by GrahamGreene, a novel about a teen-age criminal gang leader, named Pinkie. The book is part detective story, part psychiatric case study and part moral theology. According to this paper, out of all of Greene's body of work, "Brighton Rock" most reflects the author's ardent commitment to Catholicism. As a convert, Greene's new-found religious foundation in his life permeates this novel, published in 1938. This paper focuses on those elements, in particular the symbolic struggles between good and evil in the story.
From the Paper "Brighton, in this novel, is not the bright seaside resort fancied by many Englishmen before (and after) World War II. We see darkness at night, and even darkness in the morning. There is absolutely no humor in this book. With the characters as they are, humor would reduce them from the prototypes they represent. In fact, when you analyze the two main characters, both the sixteen year old girl and her seventeen year old lover are the most stupid and evil people possible."
A look at how the novels "The Destructors" by GrahamGreen and "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence can be considered allegories for the destructiveness of materialism.
995 words (approx. 4 pages), 0 sources, 2006, $ 35.95
Abstract This paper examines how although the two authors employ many different methods, GrahamGreen and D. H. Lawrence have both written stories that explore the significance and consequences of materialism. It looks at how many similarities, although subtle ones, can be found between Green's "The Destructors" and Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner" when examined closely. It attempts to show how although the characters and settings are quite different, both Greene and Lawrence express views on materialism through use of relationships between adults and youth, as well as through the emotions of greed, jealousy, and pride which are related to materialism.
From the Paper "In "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the setting is a home, that seems dreary, cheerless, and not at all fancy, with two adults and three children. It is one of these children, Paul, that is the main character of the story. Paul wishes to help his mother, although it is obvious that he does not fully comprehend the problems because he is a child. The subjects of money and finances are the only things his mother ever talks about in front of him, so he knows this is important to his mother. Paul tries to solve the family's problems by himself in the only way he knows how. Although he has been told that his family is without any good luck, he somehow knows that this is not true. "
Abstract This paper explores how writers GrahamGreene and D.H. Lawrence both connect sexuality with Christian sin and shame in their works, "The Second Death" and "The Virgin and the Gypsy". The paper describes the forbidden passion of a young couple and their parents' intervention. The author states that Lawrence's story is sensual and poetic, while Graham's theme is metaphysical.
From the Paper "D.H. Lawrence and Graham Greene have each written stories concerned with Christian mores and parental approval, or rather disapproval. The parent in each story is clearly convinced that others are influencing their adult child's character and leading them astray. Each has forbidden their child from associating with certain people whom the parent believes are not of good Christian standing. Moreover, each child is clearly filled with passion for life and sexual exploration. Lawrence's story is far more sensual and poetically lustful than Greene?s, as his female character's sexuality is awakened. However, Greene's story, sketches a young man's sexual exploits and his last moments before death, his second death. Each author sets his story in a small country village."
