Taking Sides Is Human

When the story begins, Fowler prides himself on being an objective observer without opinions. He even uses opium to achieve a feeling of complete detachment to the point where he can embrace his own death as neither good nor bad. He tries not to place values or judgments on events or other people, but attempts to see things as they are. As a journalist, this point of view is valuable in his work.

However, Fowler has a change of heart by the end of the book. When Captain Trouin takes him up in an airplane and gives him an aerial view of what's really going on, Fowler understands the cost the Vietnamese people are paying for French intervention. Finally, the two-hundred pound bomb used in downtown Saigon particularly affects him. He realizes that Pyle does not understand war and its devastation but is willing to...