Where It All Goes Down
Vietnam
The Quiet American is set in Vietnam toward the end of the first Indochina War. Before U.S. troops entered the country in what Americans remember as the Vietnam War, French occupiers were fighting the communist Viet Minh in a war that spanned from 1946 to 1954.
A little history: during World War II, Vietnam was controlled mostly by the Japanese, much to the chagrin of the French, who wanted to maintain colonial administration over the region. During this time, Ho Chi Minh, a Communist leader in Vietnam, worked to empower a nationalist group called the Viet Minh. His aim: taking control of Vietnam from both the Japanese and the French.
After Japan's defeat at the end of World War II, the Viet Minh succeeded in taking power. The French weren't ready to let go of their hold, however, and fought back with help from Britain and, later, aid from America.
Thomas Fowler, the narrator, is a correspondent from England residing in Saigon and reporting on the war. Alden Pyle, the quiet American, is an undercover CIA operative working to arm "Third Force" that he hopes can bring an end to the conflict and stability to the region.
Locations
The action of the novel takes place mostly in Saigon, away from the bulk of the fighting, but a few scenes are set amidst the warfare. Fowler visits Tây Ninh, Nam Dinh, Phat Diem, and (from the air) Lai Chau—places away from Saigon where the fighting is heavier.
Geography
When we're away from the hotel bars, warehouses, offices and apartments of Saigon, Greene takes us to a cathedral overrun with refugees, a river teeming with dead bodies, a farm that's become a battlefield, and ditches and pools providing little shelter from assault—but surrounding the carnage is a beautiful country. If you've watched any Vietnam War movies, you know what we mean.
Meaning
Beauty aside, in a war-torn country, death is never far away. A city square away from the fighting becomes the target of a car bomb. Soldiers fight over terrain that's still the only home someone has. War is ever present and very close, not something that happens far away, over mountains or across the sea.
Fowler had left England for this place supposedly as a way of hastening his own demise, but being Mr. Uninvolved, he can't even commit to that action. He stays mostly where the war looks neat and tidy, rarely venturing into the full violence.