The Quiet American and The Third Man

1. The Quiet American and The Third Man Books by Graham Greene Slide Show by Thea Daniel

2. Tone in the Quiet American • The tone is dark and depressing in the novel The Quiet American. There is the continuous feeling of death and conflict all throughout the book. The narrator keeps using flashbacks to show events leading up to a man’s death. Those flashbacks show bombs exploding, a lover stolen, friend pitted against friend, deception to hurt another, and the betrayal of one man that leads to his death. Only at the end is there a happy moment, the rest is depressing. The tone does not really have aesthetic purposes; the tone does not add anything or take anything from the actual story; it just tells you how the author wants you to feel about the novel.

3. Tone in The Third Man • The tone in The Third Man is very similar to that in The Quiet American, however, it has a feeling of mystery and suspense that the other does not have. The narrator tells how a man investigates the “death” of his friend. The man finds out certain things about his friend that are not good, and he believes things that he believes are true. The tone makes the reader wonder about what is going on in the storyline. It makes them think about what is going to happen next. Yet, it is depressing and dark at times as well.

4. Imagery in The Quiet American • The chilling images described in the book gives the reader a clear picture of how Vietnam was during the Indochina war. People missing body parts after a bomb goes off in the center of a market place, the sight of a boy and his mother in a ditch, dead; the way the narrator describes his ride in the bomber plane. All of these things give such vivid pictures that help to give the reader a better view of what is going on it the story.

5. Imagery in The Third Man • The imagery in this book is not as vivid as it is in The Quiet American, but it gives the reader enough of an image to be able to see the scenes in the book. Greene once said that the book was only meant to be viewed as a film, so the imagery is not as good as it normally would be. The only way a person can get the full extent of the imagery is if they see the film.

6. The Voice in The Quiet American • This novel is told from a first person point of view, and is told by a journalist named Thomas Fowler. It is told in flashbacks and present time segments throughout the story. The narrator gives his thoughts and comments in those segments, showing the reader how he feels and thinks about certain people and subjects being discussed or mentioned. • The author also used events from his life to write this novel, so his experiences add a great amount to the story.

7. The Voice in The Third Man • This film turned novel is told from the first person point of view as well. It is told from a detective’s perspective and is recounts of events lived by another person. It tells how the narrator feels and thinks, but it does not tell how the actual person living the events really feels unless the man told the man narrating the story. • Greene said at one point that he and another person, while writing the script for the film, would act out the scenes to each other to get the feel of the characters and the storyline.

8. Irony in The Quiet American • In The Quiet American some irony is that one character is naïve and forthright, almost innocent, and another is cynical and questioning, almost dangerously so. In the end though the innocence of the one proves to be more dangerous than the more cynical character. This causes the reader to realize that innocence is not always innocent.

9. Irony in The Third Man • The irony in the book is not as evident as it is in the film. In the film, there is jaunty happy tunes playing in the background when the scene is particularly dark and dreary. In the book you can not really tell when there is irony or not. This might cause the reader a little bit of confusion. So it might be good if one reads the book, they should watch the film.