The Ugly American Literary Elements

Fictional novel

The action takes place during the Cold War in the fictional country of Sarkhan.

The action in the novel is told from the perspective of a third-person objective point of view.

The tone used in the novel is an ironic one and at times satirical.

The protagonist is Father Finian and the antagonists are those who want to eliminate democracy completely from the country where the action takes place.

The major conflict is an ideological one between communism and democracy.

The novel reaches its climax when the American ambassador resigns.

The title of the novel foreshadows the way in which American politicians will be portrayed in a negative way throughout the novel.

When Louis Sears thinks the press is no longer writing negatively about him is an understatement because it is later proven the press never stopped mocking the American ambassador.

One of the main allusions found in the novel is the idea that countries which are less influential and maybe do not have a stellar economic situation will always be under attack by much more powerful countries. Those countries will try to gain power and influence by claiming they want to help when in reality they are generally following their own selfish means.

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A paradoxical element is the way in which characters like Father Finian refuse to give up trying to help the people even if their lives are put in danger by the government.

A parallel is drawn between Louis Sears and Louis Krupitzyn, two men who served as ambassadors in Sarkhan. The parallel is in fact between the communist states and the democratic states and it has the purpose of arguing while some political regimes had more success when trying to attract to their side foreign countries.

Te term "fields" is used as a general term to make reference to a country's ability to produce its own food.

We find a personification in the line "the fields grew for them".