Suggestions
Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select.Please wait while we process your payment
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
If you don't see it, please check your spam folder. Sometimes it can end up there.
Please wait while we process your payment
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy.
Don’t have an account? Subscribe now
Create Your Account
Sign up for your FREE 7-day trial
Already have an account? Log in
Your Email
Choose Your Plan
Save over 50% with a SparkNotes PLUS Annual Plan!
Purchasing SparkNotes PLUS for a group?
Get Annual Plans at a discount when you buy 2 or more!
Price
$24.99 $18.74 /subscription + tax
Subtotal $37.48 + tax
Save 25% on 2-49 accounts
Save 30% on 50-99 accounts
Want 100 or more? Contact us for a customized plan.
Your Plan
Payment Details
Payment Summary
SparkNotes Plus
You'll be billed after your free trial ends.
7-Day Free Trial
Not Applicable
Renews April 7, 2023 March 31, 2023
Discounts (applied to next billing)
DUE NOW
US $0.00
SNPLUSROCKS20 | 20% Discount
This is not a valid promo code.
Discount Code (one code per order)
SparkNotes Plus subscription is $4.99/month or $24.99/year as selected above. The free trial period is the first 7 days of your subscription. TO CANCEL YOUR SUBSCRIPTION AND AVOID BEING CHARGED, YOU MUST CANCEL BEFORE THE END OF THE FREE TRIAL PERIOD. You may cancel your subscription on your Subscription and Billing page or contact Customer Support at custserv@bn.com. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Free trial is available to new customers only.
Choose Your Plan
For the next 7 days, you'll have access to awesome PLUS stuff like AP English test prep, No Fear Shakespeare translations and audio, a note-taking tool, personalized dashboard, & much more!
You’ve successfully purchased a group discount. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. You'll also receive an email with the link.
Members will be prompted to log in or create an account to redeem their group membership.
Thanks for creating a SparkNotes account! Continue to start your free trial.
Please wait while we process your payment
Your PLUS subscription has expired
Please wait while we process your payment
Please wait while we process your payment
Fowler goes to the American Legation in search of Pyle, but he is not there. Instead, Fowler finds Joe, the economic attaché, and Miss Hei, who recently started working in the office. Joe explains that Pyle must be at home. Fowler makes a scene, informing Joe that Pyle is sleeping with Phuong and that his typist, Miss Hei, had arranged it. Joe defends Pyle and cautions Fowler against making further trouble. After exchanging curt words, Fowler leaves the office. He locks himself in the Legation’s air-conditioned lavatory and cries.
Leaving his affairs in the hands of Dominguez, Fowler travels north to report on the fighting in Haiphong. Orders from Hanoi state that correspondents are only allowed to go on “horizontal” raids, which involve planes flying above the range of machine-gun fire. Fowler, however, is invited to join a “vertical” raid on a B-26 bomber piloted by Captain Trouin, though he is forbidden from writing about the experience.
From the cramped interior of the bomber, Fowler observes the jungle scenery below. Fowler does not notice when the dive-bombing first begins, since the bombs fall away from the plane silently. After releasing the bombs, though, the guns engage and the plane drops suddenly and quickly. During the first dive, Fowler feels his everyday anxieties slip away. However, as the dive-bombing continues, he grows irritated. On the final bombing, the pilot takes the plane down toward a sampan (a flat-bottomed paddle boat) in a stream and fires on it. The small boat explodes, and the plane ascends to return to base. Captain Trouin takes a detour to show Fowler a beautiful view of the sunset.
Later than night, Trouin brings Fowler to an opium house. Fowler asks if the sampan had been dangerous, and Trouin explains that he has orders to shoot anything in sight, since potential dangers are everywhere. Trouin tells Fowler that napalm bombing is worse than what they did on that day’s raid. He describes the horror of watching the forest and people catch fire after dropping a napalm bomb. Trouin suddenly becomes upset, declaring that this is not a mere colonial war. He tells Fowler that the French are fighting this war for all of Europe. Fowler claims not to be involved in the war, but Trouin insists that someday he will be.
Trouin relates a story about the first time he went on a napalm raid and imagined that he was bombing his home village. He explains that he experiences a similar kind of guilt whenever he drops napalm. Otherwise, when he witnesses the atrocities that the Viet Minh perpetrate against their own people, he feels as though he’s defending Europe. After hearing Trouin describe the violence he’s witnessed, Fowler insists that this violence is why he does not get involved. But Trouin retorts that involvement is not just about reason or justice
Trouin encourages Fowler to employ a he has admired all night. Fowler takes the to his room, but she is wearing the same perfume as Phuong, and he cannot consummate the sexual act. He apologizes, and the woman attributes his sexual failure to opium.
Please wait while we process your payment