Like one of its predecessors, The Quiet American, The Comedians is a story about the committed and the uncommitted. The Negro, Doctor Magiot, is committed. His last letter to Brown, who tells the story, is a statement and an appeal by the committed – by a man who has by his nature to share the terrible events of his time. But the Comedians have opted out. They play their parts – respectable or shady – in the foreground; they experience love-affairs rather than love; they have enthusiasms – like Mr Smith for his vegetarian centre – but not a faith; and if they die, they die, like Jones, by accident.