Vice Of Innocence

Soon after the publication of The Quiet American in 1955,Graham Greene is regarded as an “anti-American” writer by quite a few American readers,but later some critics come to defend him.Whether Greene is anti-American is controversial,and there is no systematic studies on Greene’s attitude towards America yet.This thesis aims to explore Greene’s complicated emotions for America by analyzing two of his most distinguished political novels and his relevant performance in real life,and tries to explain how these sentiments arise.The thesis consists of six parts.The introduction part gives an account of the current situation of the study of this subject and my argument.Chapter one analyzes the image of the American hero and narrator’s feelings for America in The Quiet America;Chapter two discusses the characteristics of the American couple and America in The Comedians;Chapter three focuses on the Greene’s anti-American expression in real life;Chapter four explains the reasons for these sentiments from Greene’s ex-colonist identity and his Catholic identity.The last part concludes that Greene,as an ex-colonist,mainly has jealousy and admiration to the new-rising colonist,America;and as a Catholic,the “pity” and “compassion” he holds make him speak for the underdog and condemn American’s hegemonism and power politics.