The Ugly American

Sarkhan is a fictional country that represents Vietnam. The parallels between the relations of the Sarkhanese and Americans are nearly identical to those that existed between the Vietnamese and Americans during the Vietnam War. Like Vietnam, Sarkhan is a strategic piece in the power struggle between Russia and America—or, at an ideological level, the struggle between Communism and Capitalism. Both the Russians and Americans purport to have Sarkhan’s best interests at heart, but the truth is that they do not want the other power to gain hold of Sarkhan. In the Vietnam War, the American fear was that if North Vietnam—a Communist nation—conquered South Vietnam and transformed it into a Communist state, Vietnam’s allegiance with Communist Russia would make it an overpowering alliance. Sarkhan operates in the novel in similar fashion. Russia and America both want control of Sarkhan so that the other cannot exploit it for the efforts of the Cold War.

Atkins and Jeepo are the only two characters who are described as physically ugly, but their physical appearance is part of the bond they share. The use of the word “ugly” in the novel is reserved for a certain type of American, although war is always accompanied by the greatest imaginable ugliness.