Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ugly American, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Failure of the American Foreign Service
Communism vs. Capitalism
Grassroots Development
Self-Interested Philanthropy
Racism and Cultural Insensitivity
Summary
Analysis
The American government advertises jobs for young people working abroad in the Foreign Service. At a university in Washington, veteran Foreign Service workers Hamilton Upton and Joe Bing hold a seminar about working overseas. A young woman named Marie MacIntosh listens in the audience. Upton speaks studiously and professionally about helping America combat the “world-wide conspiracy” of Communism. Upton then introduces Bing as a skilled public information officer and “expert at meeting natives face to face as equals.”
Upton’s claim that Bing is an expert at meeting local people “as equals” is ironic, since Jyoti’s testimony implies that Bing sees himself as a superior American and above such people. The pairing of Upton, who seems professional and dedicated, with Bing, who is boorish and loud, reflects how the Foreign Service carries a façade of professionalism, even while its members act egoistic and crude.
Themes
Joe Bing jovially speaks about the social aspects of working abroad. He tells the potential recruits that even though they work with foreigners, they don’t have to like them and will spend most of their time with other Americans; housing is free and luxurious, they can find any American goods they want in the commissary, and they don’t need to learn the local language since “it’s better to make the Asians learn English.” After the seminar, 67 people apply, Marie MacIntosh among them. A wealthy engineer named Homer Atkins also applies, mentioning an interest in Sarkhan. Other than him, every other applicant would make more money working for the government than they do in their civilian occupations, causing Joe Bing to wonder if they are hiring “slobs.”
Joe Bing’s comments about Americans not liking foreigners suggests that not only is racism present in the American Foreign Service, it is expected. The luxurious homes and parties that Bing advertises, and the fact that most applicants would make more money abroad than at home, suggests that most people are drawn to the Foreign Service by desire for high living and good pay rather than a sincere desire to help people in other countries or to represent America well.
Themes
