The Quiet American | Teaching Key Figures

Character Descriptions

This section provides a short description of all the major characters in the book. This can be printed out as a study guide for students, used as a "key" for leading a class discussion, or you can jump to the quiz/homework section to find worksheets that incorporate these descriptions into a variety of question formats.

Characters

Alden Pyle - The "quiet American" of the title. He is the opposite of a stereotypical loud obnoxious American in a Hawaiian shirt with a camera.

Thomas Fowler - The narrator of the book, he is a British journalist in late middle age who has been in Vietnam for several years.

Phuong - A beautiful young Vietnamese girl who worked as a hired dancer at the Grande Monde before moving in with Fowler.

Miss Hei - Phuong's older sister who considers it her mission in life to get Phuong married to a Westerner...
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