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The Ugly American Essay

Decent Essays

The book, “The Ugly American,” by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick tells a fictional story of American relations in Asia during the 1950s. The book is based on true events, showing the harsh truth about American relations at the time. In this book, Lederer and Burdick accurately portray diplomats and their behaviors, identifying the good behaviors and the bad behaviors of different characters. A good diplomat is easily identified in the stories shared by Burdick and Lederer. People like John Colvin, the Atkins couple, Father Finian, Gilbert MacWhite, and others all share similar qualities that show their good diplomatic behavior. They are all considerate of the people and culture of Sarkhan, as well as being concerned with the well-being …show more content…

Ambassador Sears had only agreed to the job for the benefits, even making racist remarks when discussing the job description with the National Committee (Luderer 14). Sears had made no effort to study the language or culture of the country he was about to have a great influence in (Luderer 13). It is clear to the Sarkhanese people that the U.S. Ambassador Sears was rather ignorant and they had consistently mocked him with political cartoons in their newspapers (Luderer 11). In addition, in chapter four there is a woman, Ruth Jyoti, discussing her issues with Joe Bing, one of America’s information officers working in Setkya (Luderer 68-69). When discussing Bing’s ignorant habits she mentions, “There hasn’t been an Asian at one of his parties for two years. At his first party he only had liquor, when Buddhists and Moslems drink only fruit juice or water or milk” (Luderer 69). She goes on to state that Father Finian only asked to borrow ball-point pens from Joe Bing, and in return had gotten a rude letter of denial from the American information officer (Luderer 70). These diplomats clearly had other intentions in their missions other than the bettering of the Sarkhanese people and aiding the country of

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