Please respond to the following prompts in complete
sentences. Be specific and use
concrete examples from the text.
Part Two, Ch. 3, 2
Identify the following characters and explain their
connection to the plotline.
Mr. Chou
Dominguez
Mr. Heng
1. What, and
more importantly, does Mr. Heng show Fowler? What do you think it is?
2. To me,
Fowler seems a bit naïve here, not Pyle, why would you agree or disagree?
Part Two, Ch. 3, 3
1. Does
Fowler appreciate his own guilt or despise it? Where do you think it comes from? You might need to
look into Graham Greene for your answer.
2. Fowler
mutters to himself for Pyle to go away because “he doesn’t want to be
saved.” How might this be symbolic
of the larger political arena?
3. Fowler calls
love a “western word” used “to cover up an obsession with one woman.” How might Phuong look at love
differently? How about Pyle?
4. Sometimes I
find myself annoyed with Phuong and her utter passivity. Why has Green constructed her
thus? Does it leave him open to
criticism? Is it an accurate
albeit antiquated or unPC view of Asian women? Or is it simply symbolic of Vietnam itself?
5. Why does
Fowler wish Pyle had a few “bad motives”?
Why does he thinkt he same would be good for America?
Mr. Chou: He is the owner of an old metal shop in Cholon. Fowler is sent to him from Dominguez, because he was said to have more information about Pyle that he can tell Fowler.
ReplyDeleteDominguez: A Vietnamese man who works with Fowler. He knew a lot of information about Pyle, and Fowler finds out that Pyle is setting up a third force to win the war, just like Harding had said.
Mr. Heng: He is the manager that works at Mr. Chou's metal shop. We find out that drums/moulds were delivered to this store, and Mr. Heng also tells Fowler that Phan-van-moui phoned Pyle, so Mr. Heng knew that Pyle had imported the plastics, which he says is Diolacton. From this, we know that Pyle had built up his third army with General The's army; General The was a friend of Phan-van-moui's wife.
1. Although Mr. Heng shows Fowler how Pyle had imported the plastics, more importantly, Fowler now knows that Pyle is fighting for democracy.
2. He seems to be really naive, because he is kind of fooling around (but intentionally). The fact that he says that Pyle imports plastics to make "toys", means that he is mocking him. And he also keeps repeating to Mr. Heng what he asked Fowler not to say in public ( " 'Nor the mould?' I asked. 'Particularly not the mould'" (Greene 130). )
1. Thomas Fowler can remind readers of the author himself, Graham Greene, because he suffered from bipolar disorder. Fowler sometimes appreciates his own guilt, but can despise it later (He pushes/pulls Phuong away/to him very frequently).
2. I first thought that he says this because Fowler is an atheist. But since many of the characters in the book represent the same country as their nationality, it shows british-american animosity in this scene, like many other scenes in this book. But when Fowler says he "doesn't want to be saved", I think he means that he doesn't want the Americans helping him (Britain) with the situation in South Vietnam (Phuong). I think there are other ways to interpret this, but this is what I came up with.
3. Phuong would look at love differently to both men, probably because her first priority is to get married. Personality, for her, would be considered a "bonus". For Pyle, he loves Phuong because he feels the need to protect her. He shows his love for her by caring for her in such way.
4. I think that Greene intentionally made Phuong the way that she is in the book. It is open to criticism, because one could think that she acts like the stereotypical girl in a confusing love triangle, acting all ignorant yet innocent, or think that her character was intentionally sculpted this way. Phuong, for me, represents the country of south vietnam, because her country was basically "silenced" when other countries were debating for what they should do to the country. They didn't have a say in what they actually wanted. This reminds me of her relationship with Pyle and Fowler.
5. It would make him look bad like Fowler if he had a few "bad motives". America "protected" South Vietnam, but it seemed like they wanted more than that. If they had a "bad motive" that would make them seem dangerous, and people wouldn't be to comfortable with that.
Mr Chou- The man who works at the metal workshop. He is connected to the plot by his association with Fowler and how he gives him information about Pyle.
ReplyDeleteDominguez- an Vietnamese local informant who works with Thomas. Dominguez sends Fowler a message to go to the square, where he witnesses the 3rd force in power-the bicycle bomb.
Mr. Heng- Mr. Chou's manager. He is part of the third force. He is important in the novel as he deceives Fowler initially, when really he was one of the antagonists all along.
1.Mr. Heng shows Fowler the old machine with the white powder, which I think indicates that he knew that Pyle had imported the plastic.
2. I think so because he trusted Mr. Heng, however it is questionable how Mr. Heng got his information. How would he know so much about Pyle if he didn't talk to him first?
1. I think if Fowler can comprehend his own guilt and faults, he can appreciate the life he has.
2. I think there is some English/American antagonism going on here. Fowler's country used to own Pyle's so he feels ashamed that America has comer to save him rather than the other way around.
Mr. Chou- Dominguez sends Fowler to see Mr. Chou, the owner of a metal shop to get some more information about Pyle.
ReplyDeleteDominguez- Dominguez is a Vietnamese local informant for Fowler. Through him, Fowler finds out about Pyle and “the third force” that he is using as reason for his local bombings.
Mr. Heng- Mr. Heng is the manager at the metal shop that Mr. Chou works at. He is the one that Fowler is sent to, to be shown the molds and drums that were used to contain the plastics. Mr. Heng is the one that informed Fowler that Pyle was the one who was responsible for the plastics being sent in and is working with General The.
1. Mr. Heng shows Fowler the molds and the drums. The drums were used to contain the plastics that were being used for the bombs and the molds were used to contain the bombs on the bikes for Operation Bicyclette.
2. Fowler seems a bit naive because he does not seem to realize the extent of Pyle’s involvement and the seriousness of the plastics and molds. Pyle is importing plastics for bombs but Fowler refers to them as “toys”.
1. I think Fowler is irritated by his guilt. It seems as though he would much rather the difficult situation go away because it's a nuisance rather than something that’s eating away at him. It’s hard to tell because he does not show much emotion when it comes to difficulties with Phuong, he might get upset but never enraged or anything extreme like that even in the other direction, towards head over heels in love.
2. Fowler telling Pyle that he doesn’t want to be saved, I think is symbolic of Britain’s opinion of the American’s getting involved in Vietnam. Fowler is saying that the Vietnamese didn’t want to be “saved” by the Americans, they just wanted to live in peace not experience more war to possibly get to somewhere “peaceful” or communism-free as Pyle would interpret it.
3. Phuong sees love as a verb. A word of devotion that offers her security mostly by marriage, money and protection. For her, love is insurance. For Pyle, love is giving what he thinks the other wants, by providing everything the woman would need, protecting her because he feels that she needs to be protected from “certain evil”.
4. Phuong is looking out for herself, she wants to have a nice secure life and she might favor Fowler over Pyle but she ultimately only wants security not love. So I think she may come off as passive because she is not as intimately connected to Pyle or Fowler in the sense that she is in love with either of them. Phuong is Vietnam, she doesn’t care who fixes the situation, she just wants it to be fixed and for there to be peace and is the silent warrior.
5. If Pyle/America were to have a few “bad motives” then a flaw in their actions would not be so easily forgiven. They had expressed their good intentions to “protect and save” Vietnam so when casualties appeared it was only a mistake and were left alone to carry on. However, bad motives were cause for question but without them no one would bother their intentions.
6. Fowler tells Pyle to “go to your Third Force and York Harding and the Role of Democracy. Go away and play with plastics” (Greene 125). Fowler uses the word “play” to mock what Pyle does in his time, as though the things he spends his time on is childish obsession. Fowler’s diction shows what he thinks of Pyle’s religious beliefs, devotion to the idea of a Third Force and his bombs.
1. He is the owner of the metal shop, who also knows about Pyle. Which Fowler wanted to know more about. So he told him.
ReplyDelete2. Dominguez is an information messenger that told fowler that he witnessed the 3rd force. Which he also told fowler about Pyle and his suspicious acts.
3. He is the one who shows him the drums and molds. Which were also known as the bomb and plastic carriers? Soon this information all connects back to Pyle.
1. I think he is trying to show that although it looks bad in this situation, this is done for a cause, and that cause is democracy and ideology.
2. In a way he only finds these as “toys”, mean while they could have been formed into a killer bomb. Fowler seems to have not really gotten his fact straight because this matter is serious then what he thinks it is.
1. In a way Fowler should have been irritated by his guilt but at the same time he should have either. He is always on the either extremes. Although I have no clue how he really feels. As much a round character he is, he doesn’t seem to express what emotional changes he has through out the book.
2. Each character represents each country and I think that this is symbolic in a way. As you can see Phuong is portrayed as a woman who doesn’t want to be in a fight, but just wants to be fed and lead to a better living state then her is in right now. At the same time the two men keeps on fighting for the “best” for her (Vietnam). Both ways the quote probably is trying to tell that Britain doesn’t want to be saved by it own “son”.
3. Although these character a symbol of each country, it seems like that Phuong doesn’t really care who she really end up with. She has two open arms to fall into, and which ever can give her the food and security she would go to either. In Pyle’s eyes he wants her all by himself, and so as Britain.
4. Japanese people in general are known to be the quiet shy type; in general they are very secretive on what they feel and how they act. Even so, this may reflect the actions of Asian woman in general. I think that in this situation Vietnam has no voice; it has no power to rebel against the two powers fighting against them. Therefore Phuong ha no real voice on how she really feels about both men.
5. Because this would destroy their ideology and they could probably wake up from their own dreams for once. To see what “real damage” they have caused to create their own way of saving a country.
6. When he got mad with Pyle he told him to go play with his plastics and go to his third force, York Harding and democracy. I think play is used to show how ridiculous Pyle’s ideals have become. In a way telling him that he really doesn’t really care about his plans.