Pyle poses a two-pronged threat to Fowler: Pyle’s physical threatens to steal away his love and his ideals threaten to burn down his home. With his imperialistic idealism, Pyle assumes that Vietnam needs change. That it needs a paternalistic Third Force “free from Communism and the taint of colonialism-national democracy” (157) to protect the land. Fowler loves things the way they are. War has driven him to Vietnam. War has given him a new home. War has become the status quo. War has provided him his career as a correspondent. He is nostalgic for “the gold and the young green and the bright dresses of the south” (27) and longs for “a day punctuated by those quick reports that might be car-exhausts or might be grenades” (27). The day things
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However, as Phuong moves out and Pyle begins creating havoc, pressure starts to build up. A conversation that Fowler has with Captain Trouin proves prophetic: “One day something will happen. You will take a side” (192). When Pyle’s bombs are set off on a square in Saigon, Fowler is finally inspired to act. He leaves the scene with images of the “Third Force … all over [Pyle’s] right shoe” (208) and “the torso in the square, the baby on its mother’s lap” (209). The bombing elicits Fowler’s involvement in the conflict, and he approaches Mr. Heng to plan the final murderous deed. But the decision to get rid of Pyle was not a preventative measure, it was done out of fear of what Fowler might lose: Phuong and Vietnam had become his sanctuary. Fowler narrates, “I wanted him to go away quickly and die. Then I could start life again-at the point before he came in” (227). Fowler longs for a return to normalcy, and there is nothing noble about this desire. His interest is not the protection of Vietnam, it is the protection of his life. Pyle’s bombs are not Fowler’s primary motivator, they are his primary excuse. Fowler’s text is a long-form confession, all but admitting that it is Pyle’s affection for Phuong that gets him killed, not the bombs he sets off on
However, as Phuong moves out and Pyle begins creating havoc, pressure starts to build up. A conversation that Fowler has with Captain Trouin proves prophetic: “One day something will happen. You will take a side” (192). When Pyle’s bombs are set off on a square in Saigon, Fowler is finally inspired to act. He leaves the scene with images of the “Third Force … all over [Pyle’s] right shoe” (208) and “the torso in the square, the baby on its mother’s lap” (209). The bombing elicits Fowler’s involvement in the conflict, and he approaches Mr. Heng to plan the final murderous deed. But the decision to get rid of Pyle was not a preventative measure, it was done out of fear of what Fowler might lose: Phuong and Vietnam had become his sanctuary. Fowler narrates, “I wanted him to go away quickly and die. Then I could start life again-at the point before he came in” (227). Fowler longs for a return to normalcy, and there is nothing noble about this desire. His interest is not the protection of Vietnam, it is the protection of his life. Pyle’s bombs are not Fowler’s primary motivator, they are his primary excuse. Fowler’s text is a long-form confession, all but admitting that it is Pyle’s affection for Phuong that gets him killed, not the bombs he sets off on