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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BetaChapters 11-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 11 Summary: “The Iron of War”
Major James Wolchek—nicknamed “Tex” (100)—reports to the Frenchman Major Monet in Hanoi. He has been assigned to drop into Dien Bien Phu with the Foreign Legion unit. When he meets the other men, he notices a tall black man and correctly identifies him as an American. The man’s name is Jim Davis. Monet tells Tex that Davis is beloved by the Vietnamese soldiers.
Two days later, at the airfield, Monet arrives with MacWhite. The soldiers learn that Dien Bien Phu has fallen, and the battle is lost. MacWhite is there to ask why they believe the Communists won the fight. Tex asks to speak to him alone, and they discuss battle tactics. Tex believes they are losing because the Vietnamese use unconventional tactics. He believes they must do the same to win. MacWhite decides to stay for a few weeks to observe the fighting so that he can learn what tactics might be used against his forces in Sarkhan.
For weeks, the Legionnaires fight in dozens of conflicts and continue to lose. The attacks are always at night, and morale is low: They keep losing men and never see the enemy, who are adept at surprise attacks.
During a day off, MacWhite, Tex, and Monet drink and eat together. Tex recalls reading a book of Mao’s military writings. The tactics used against them are reminiscent of Mao’s strategy. MacWhite and Tex try to convince Monet to change tactics, but he says there is not enough time to adapt to new methods.
For the next three weeks, thousands of Communists attack Hanoi. The Legionnaires suffer more than 50% casualties. Tex and Monet are both wounded by gunfire. Monet agrees to change tactics in response to a horrific event. While on patrol, Davis and a Vietnamese man the Legionnaires call “Apache” return from a patrol. One of Davis’s eyes has been gouged out and hangs on his cheek. Apache’s vocal cords have been cut. They were released and sent back as a message to the Legionnaires. Monet says, “We’re going to fight tonight using Mao’s tactics against his own people. I’m convinced” (116).
Chapter 12 Summary: “The Lessons of War”
The next day, MacWhite buys Mao’s pamphlet and studies it with Tex and Monet. They find two tactics they can implement. The first idea is to use mobility and darkness. The second involves the use of small squads for guerilla warfare, which is what the Vietnamese have been doing to them. To be effective, Mao recommends that there be a central command post from which the guerillas can be directed, and it should be no farther than the distance a man can run in 30 minutes. They locate a grove of trees near a village that fits those requirements and believe that it must be headquarters for the men who have been attacking them.
That night, they attack the grove and achieve a victory. The next day, they appear before several senior Generals who scold them for using unapproved tactics. Monet says that if the French followed Mao’s strategies, they would win the war. The Generals dismiss them, and MacWhite assures Tex and Monet that there will not be any repercussions for them.
Shortly after, the French evacuate Hanoi and turn it over to the victorious Communists. As they leave, Monet and Tex see a large group of Communist soldiers arriving. They have makeshift equipment and look like peasants. Three of them have crude rifles made from pipes. Monet and Tex are stunned to see how unassuming and harmless they look; they know that they are seeing the men who have driven them from the city, despite their primitive equipment and unimpressive appearance. Tex says, “It’s the end of another round, and we’ve lost again” (128).
Chapter 13 Summary: “What Would You Do If You Were President?”
In 1954, U Maung Swe, the best-known journalist In Burma, is at a dinner party in Rangoon. He tells his dinner companion that America has lost its prestige in Asia in only 10 years. As the cause, he cites that “the Americans I meet in my country are not the same as the ones I knew in the United States” (130). The Americans he knows in Burma begin to live ostentatiously and lose their manners. As an example, he tells his companion that even American clerks act as if “they were chiefs of mission” (131). The lowest American soldier sometimes earned more than a Burmese General. In 1953, the Burmese began to refuse American aid money because the American presence “all added up to more than Burma was willing to swallow just to get dollars” (132).
His companion asks what he would do to improve America’s prestige if he were the President of the United States. U Maung Swe tells him about a married couple—the Martins—who came to Burma as short-term advisors. They grew a garden in a small village and taught the people how to can food. Now, “[t]his village is the canning center of the nation, and processes meat, vegetables, and many favorite Burmese foods” (135). In this village, the people are pro-American, and the Martins “came to Burma to help us, not to improve their own standard of living” (135). If he were president, U Maung Swe would bring more people like the Martins to Burma. The most important key would be that they “act like Americans. We love Americans—the kind we meet in America” (138).
After the dinner, U Maung Swe talks with MacWhite. MacWhite asks what course he should pursue in Sarkhan. U Maung Swe tells him that Colvin’s idea about the milk business was a good one. He says that the rape charges were false, and MacWhite says he will bring Colvin back to Sarkhan if he can get clearance for him.
Chapter 14 Summary: “How to Buy an American Junior Grade”
Thomas Elmer Knox is the best-known American in Cambodia one year after arriving. He visits every village he can get to and makes friends easily. Knox has two degrees in animal husbandry and can help villagers improve their farming techniques. His specialty is in the diet of chickens and what will help them grow bigger and healthier: “Word spread from village to village, until finally Tom’s appearance became the sign for a carnival” (143).
One evening, the leader of a village asks Knox why he left his country to come help them. Knox says that he likes people and chickens, and he wanted to get away from his own farm for a year. As a child, Knox had always dreamed of visiting an exotic country, and Cambodia was perfect for him. The leader says, “I and my people like a fellow like you very much” (145).
Two weeks later, Knox visits Phnom Penh for a conference that appraises the results of America’s aid efforts to Cambodia. He recommends that America imports several thousand chickens to increase egg production. The chairman says that “[w]hat our two governments want is something big, that really helps people right away” (147). Knox thinks of all the people he has met and how much the chickens have helped them. He shouts at the other American officials that they don’t know what they’re talking about. Knox threatens them with resigning and going to Washington to persuade agriculturally-minded congressmen that they are making a mistake in Cambodia by ignoring his recommendations. The chairman accepts his resignation.
A French diplomat visits Knox two weeks later. He has been impressed with Tom’s work and asks Knox to reroute his return trip so that he can visit India, France, and England. At each stop, he can both act as a tourist and give agricultural recommendations. Knox agrees.
Knox visits a small village on the outskirts of Jakarta. The village is beautiful, and as Knox watches a troop of dancing Indonesian girls, he begins to forget his anger about the situation in Cambodia. Knox then visits New Delhi, flown on a luxury jet. Everywhere he goes, he is pampered with food and beer. When Knox visits Paris, the French diplomat puts him in a fancy hotel next to a beach filled with women in swimsuits. A Cambodian with large agricultural holdings in Cambodia gives Knox a tour of the city. He disagrees with Knox about the poultry recommendations and says that Cambodia should instead focus on building roads and ports. He offers to book passage back to New York for Knox, in a luxury suite on a ship called the Liberté. By the time Knox is near America, “Cambodia seemed a long, long time away, and glazed over with wonderful memories” (156). Eight months later, he is on his farm in Iowa, and his anger over the Cambodia situation now feels childish to him.
Chapter 15 Summary: “The Six-Foot Swami from Savannah”
Colonel Hillandale, the Ragtime Kid, is in Haidho, where he is spending two months working for MacWhite. As he walks through the city, he notices that there is an abundance of both pawn shops and astrology parlors.
One evening, he is assigned to attend a dinner party for a Philippine Ambassador, Don Phillippe. Don is famous for his dinner parties and always hires a famous chef to cook. On the night of the party, there is a mix-up with ingredients and the chef has to leave for 30 minutes to find ginger. Don asks Colonel Hillandale if he “remembers the palm-reading stunt [he] pulled at [his] house at Baguio” (162). Colonel Hillandale says he will entertain the guests for the half-hour by reading their palms. Don introduces him as “a graduate of the Chungking School of Occult Sciences” (162). The Sarkhanese are interested, but the Americans scoff. A sneering man named George Swift—who is MacWhite’s Deputy Chief of Mission—dares him to read his palm first.
Colonel Hillandale tells Swift the date of his birth, lists various jobs that he has held, and says that his greatest talent is scanning reports and putting them in order. He says that when Swift is scolded, he takes it out on his wife. Swift cannot hide his surprise. The Prime Minister asks to have his palm read in private. They spend 30 minutes alone in a room. When they come out, “[t]he Prime Minister was gazing up at The Ragtime Kid with obvious awe” (165).
MacWhite returns three days later. He meets with Swift, who has a black eye. Swift tells him about the palmistry at the dinner, and MacWhite sends for Colonel Hillandale. He tells MacWhite, “Every person and every nation has a key which will open their hearts. If you use the right key, you can maneuver any person or any nation any way you want” (166). In Sarkhan, the key is astrology. Colonel Hillandale had studied palmistry and astrology in China after learning that the Sarkhanese consider them to be respected sciences. Sarkhanese officials do not make major decisions without consulting a doctor of the occult.
Colonel Hillandale always reads and memorizes the dossiers of everyone he works with. When he was with the Prime Minister, he predicted that he was about to take a six-month trip around the world. He knew this because he had seen servants at the Prime Minister’s residence putting cotton covers over furniture, which they would only do if the house would be unoccupied. The Prime Minister asked Colonel Hillandale to tell him why he was taking the trip. Colonel Hillandale knew that the Prime Minister had two friends who were fighting for power, and he did not know which to support, so he was delaying the decision with the trip. The Prime Minister asked him which of the two—General Saugh and General Bhakal—he should have killed. Colonel Hillandale recommended that he send them out of the country instead of taking the trip. The Prime Minister then asked if Colonel Hillandale would visit the King to read his palm, and he accepted.
The colonel knows that he will be able to influence the King to move Sarkhanese troops to the North, which would imply to the Russians that Sarkhan is pro-American and anti-Communist. The meeting must be arranged by Swift, who agrees to call Prince Moyang the following morning to arrange a visit to the palace, and then to call Colonel Hillandale when it is time to take him to the palace. Instead, Swift assigns his secretary to make the call, which insults the Prince. When Colonel Hillandale confronts Swift about it, Swift laughs and says that Colonel Hillandale doesn’t understand “big time diplomacy” (174). Colonel Hillandale punches him. MacWhite summons Swift that afternoon and tells him that he is transferring him. Swift knows that he can’t change his mind, but “he also knew that the last word was not in” (175).
Chapters 11-15 Analysis
Chapters 11 and 12 contain the entirety of the novel’s combat writing. Monet’s introduction reminds readers that America and Russia are not the only countries fighting for and with Sarkhan. Monet comes from the military tradition of Napoleon, France’s most famous commander and one of the most celebrated military tacticians in history. Monet symbolizes the usefulness—or uselessness, given the situation—of knowledge gleaned through books.
Monet is a student of military history. He can speak with expertise on famous campaigns across many wars. He is an obvious choice to lead the French Legion. However, his knowledge does not result in victories. Rather, when Tex and MacWhite arrive outside Bien Dien Phu, Monet’s men have been under siege for weeks and are losing every time the unseen enemy attacks them. The acts of savagery visited upon Davis and Apache at the end of Chapter 11 are symbolic of the nature of the Vietnam War. American and French soldiers would grow increasingly frustrated by their enemy’s vicious attacks by an enemy. This furtive enemy whom they rarely saw attacked at night and often in small, mobile bands that large groups of soldiers could not pursue.
MacWhite listens dispassionately to Tex’s assessment of why the city was lost. When Tex suggests that they read the military writings of Mao Tse-tung, Monet resists. However, unlike the American military officers who insist that the war can be won by traditional means, Monet is interested in results. He has lost too many men to keep trying the same thing. The tension between the fighters on the ground and the officers giving orders from a distance—often from America—is evident when the superiors scold Tex and Monet after waging a successful skirmish against the Vietnamese. Monet’s adaptability and willingness to learn, even from an enemy like Mao, give him his lone victory in the novel. Knowledge gained from a book proves essential for him, but only because he reads from the correct book for the correct situation.
Although they win the conflict, Chapter 12 ends on a pessimistic note. Tex and Monet see that they are relinquishing the city to men who look helpless. They have little reason for hope that their military apparatus will adapt in time to take control of the war. Later, when they meet Senator Brown and Tex threatens to punch him, Monet and Tex are drunk and refer to themselves as has-beens. The narrative never establishes whether they received punishment for their actions.
Chapter 13 switches to a question and answer format, with a dinner companion questioning the journalist U Maung Swe. His answers to most of the questions share the major theme of the book: He believes that to achieve victory in Southeast Asia, Americans should “act like Americans. We love Americans—the kind we meet in America” (138). His story about the Martins and their canning operation is another example of small, selfless acts that result in major successes. He says that if he were president, his strategy would be to send more Americans like the Martins to Vietnam. This statement is in stark contrast to the orders from the administration in Washington, which aimed solely at increasing the body count and using that metric as the most accurate indicator of progress.
Chapter 14 details the transformation of a good American into an ugly one. When Knox arrives in Cambodia, he is as interested in helping as the Martins, the Ragtime Kid, or Homer Atkins have demonstrated. Like them, he focuses on small changes that lead to quick results. In this case, it is in the improvement of the health and size of chickens. When he tells officials about his plans and recommendations, he is laughed at and accused of thinking too small to be effective. This is another motif in the book: Someone in power who has incomplete information about the reality in an Asian country mocks someone who is actually living and working among the people.
Knox will not retain his status as a helpful, selfless American. On his return trip to Washington, a French diplomat persuades him to first visit other countries. Knox is a passionate traveler and does not resist the invitation. At each stop, locals pamper and flatter him, and he rarely pays for food and beverages. The reader can see that the people who wish to delay his departure—and his report to Washington—are manipulating him. By the time Knox returns to America, he can’t remember why he was so angry about the situation in Cambodia. He begins to question his impressions about the problems in Cambodia. In fact, most of his memories of the trip are now happy. Knox’s eventual indifference to the plight of the Cambodians results from both distance from the country and the indulgences shown to be prized by most Americans in the novel. The officials knew that Knox would not be able to resist luxury and purchased the once adamant man’s forgetfulness. Now, the people of Cambodia cannot benefit from Knox’s expertise as a result.
Chapter 15 exemplifies the lengths to which an American might need to go to understand a foreign culture. Colonel Hillandale studies palmistry as a means to an end. He does not believe in it, but he knows that treating it with respect and learning to use it will aid him when he is among believers. He is inspired to study palmistry when he notices the abundance of divination shops in Asian cities. This level of observation requires him to walk through the cities and study what he sees, something most of the men in the novel would never do. Swift is Chapter 15’s version of the ugly American. He mocks Colonel Hillandale’s claims of palm reading, even when Colonel Hillandale tells Swift facts about himself that he should not have known. When Colonel Hillandale reads the palm of the Prime Minister and thereby gains the chance to read the King’s palm as well, Swift chooses to sabotage him rather than admit that the strategy is useful. His wounded pride takes precedence over the fight against Communism.
In Chapter 6, Joe Bing says that it makes more sense for Asians to learn English than for Americans to learn an Asian language. Swift and other Americans view Asian respect for palmistry in a similar, arrogant way: It is better that the Asians unlearn something they cherish rather than Americans finding a way to treat it with dignity and use it to better understand the people.
