49 pages • 1 hour read
William J. Lederer, Eugene BurdickThe Ugly American
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1958A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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The Threat of Communism
Russia and America are both struggling to maintain control of Sarkhan and other countries in Southeast Asia. America’s goal is to stop the spread of Communism and prevent Russia from gaining more allies. The threat of Communism presents through various viewpoints in the novel. Finian “knew that Communism was the face of the devil” (35). He views Communism as a literal evil, which is logical when faced with events like the famines and millions of deaths created by Joseph Stalin’s goal of a Communist state. Greedy Americans like Sears see Communism as a threat to their own enrichment, given its opposition to Capitalism. The eight men who work with Finian view Communism as an obstacle to religious freedom, given that the state could then mandate the common faith or abolish faith entirely.
America’s stance on Communism is that it is a tent of Russian politics, and Russia is their enemy during the Cold War. To fight against Communism, for the American military, is to fight against Russia, even though there are other Communist nations that do not provoke American ire. However, for most of the people in Sarkhan, Cambodia, and Vietnam, the reality of Communism is not as important as the daily struggle of finding food and work.
White Superiority and Colonization in Southeast Asia
People with brown and black skin are spoken of disparagingly and flippantly throughout the novel. Joe Bing’s speech to the prospective secretaries is filled with jingoisms and promises that they will never have to live among, or socialize with, the foreigners. There are echoes of Rudyard Kipling’s poem “White Man’s Burden,” which the British Empire used to justify its imperial expansion on behalf of its desire to elevate people of color to their level of education, manners, and status. When Joe Bing talks about the Sarkhanese, his words do not imply that he is interested in understanding them or empathizing with them. Tenets of Sarkhanese culture like astrology are mocked by men like Swift, who sees the treatment of the occult as a serious science to be a symptom of a simple-minded people.
When colonizers look down on the people they colonize—in this case, whites colonizing areas of Southeast Asia—all talk of equality is false. The villagers react to Atkins, Finian, the Martins, and Colonel Hillandale as well as they do because these people treat them as equals, regardless of the color of their skin.
Sarkhanese Mistrust of White Ideologies
The natives in the novel have little reason to trust the Americans, who pay lip service to the idea of helping the Sarkhanese but focus more on their own lifestyles and enrichment. When Finian’s eight helpers agree to trust him, it is a watershed moment for them. Never have they believed they could trust a white man because no white man ever treated them as if they had any importance. They trust Atkins because he works with his hands on their behalf and produces an invention that will help them. Knox’s knowledge of agriculture and poultry production helps the Cambodians trust him because he has nothing personal to gain from helping them.
Whites have also positioned the natives to believe that two opposing ideologies—Communism and Capitalism—are both working on their behalf. Even the staunchest Communists blanch when confronted with the anti-peasant writings of Stalin and Marx in Chapter 3. Soon, they have little reason to trust either system.
Experts such as Atkins go to Asia to consult on issues like infrastructure. MacWhite functions in a similar capacity, given his distinguished record of foreign affairs and diplomatic achievements. The bureaucrats who recruit them do not trust their expert opinions, if the opinions do not match the orders or outlook from Washington.
The military leaders in Asia must follow orders from Washington as if they trust that the bureaucrats know the realities of the war. When superiors berate Monet and Tex because they broke from traditional military tactics—achieving their lone victory in the process—they are disillusioned and have no further reason to trust their leaders’ opinions. This fact reaches its climax when Tex threatens to punch Senator Brown after he reminds Tex that there is a war happening.
Small Successes Leading to Great Changes
The characters whose actions have the most positive influences in the book do not perform grand, heroic actions. Even though he eventually becomes sidetracked by luxury, Knox sees that increasing egg production in Cambodia will be more useful than building roads for more military traffic. Emma shows the villagers that increasing the length of their broom handles will ease their back pain; this leads the villagers to erect a shrine in her honor. Atkins is interested in helping farmers move water up to the higher rice paddies more efficiently to improve the food stores and free up time for other work as well. Colonel Hillandale grows so popular that he is almost mythical in some villages, and he does most of his work by simply being friendly, respectful, understanding the culture, and connecting people through music.
These examples are all at odds with the American military bureaucracy. In the novel, small actions are scoffed at as being proposed by people who do not understand the gravity of the situation in Southeast Asia. For example, they dismiss talk of chickens when chickens will not end the threat of Communism. Playing a harmonica for villagers, or studying palmistry, is laughable to the officials, even though the results are obvious. When MacWhite makes his final list of recommendations, none of them are extravagant. They are practical, actionable, and, ultimately, ignorable by the officials in Washington, DC.
