Part 1 Chapter 2 Summary

This chapter is divided into two parts. Part 1 is a flashback to the first time Fowler met Pyle. Part 2 takes the reader back to the night of the murder. Fowler found his American colleagues in the press to be "big, noisy, boyish and middle-aged" types. In contrast the young Alden Pyle is modest, serious, quiet, and soft-spoken. The first time they meet, Pyle notices the Milk Fountain where Vietnamese people buy malted milks and such. It reminds him of soda fountains in America. Fowler wonders if Pyle is homesick.

Fowler muses to himself that after two years in Viet Nam, it is truly more his home than Britain. He has grown to love not just Phuong but also her country. Fowler finds himself in his usual role of explaining the way things are to another newcomer. He tells Pyle at what...