From The English Patient
The characters of The English Patient are introduced and developed through their belonging (or not belonging) to particular identity groups.
Michael Ondaatje uses the characters of women (Katharine and Hana) to explore the intense issues of sexual and love relationships and of belonging between men and women. The characters of men (Almasy, Caravaggio, Kip, Clifton, Madox) tend to gear more towards the issues of nationality, politics and culture. |
Hana's identity is that of a vulnerable woman breaking rules, taking risks, achieving personal growth by forming "impossible" relationships with unavailable men (Almasy, Kip, Caravaggio).
As a wartime nurse, Hana quickly transitions from a dependent girl to a tough, independent person. Surrounded by tragic events and losses, Hana develops a strong outer layer. Strictly professional, she refers to all her patients as "Buddy" (Ondaatje, Michael 12) to avoid personal attachments. This extends even to her attitude to herself. When, after a year of looking at herself only in her shadows, Hana chances upon a small mirror and examines her appearance, she refers to herself as "Buddy" as well. However, her shell is not impenetrable. Sometimes, secretly, Hana can travel back to her younger, childish, dependent self, the self she wants to deny. After the death of one of her patients, Hana steals his shoes and wears them. The shoes are too big for her but Hana feels comforted by them. In order to deny something, one has be somehow aware of what exists. Then, the choice appears, not necessarily conscious – to conform or to oppose. Denial is not random; it is often a mirror image of something that is not acceptable to the person. While assuming a strong, grown-up, in-control, persona, Hana is obviously torn and also wants others to assume control. She manifests this by exposing herself to danger. The very act of staying in the villa with the English patient was Hana's challenge to the war's reality. Hana seems to want to be both in and out of control, to hand control to another while withholding it at the same time. |
Almasy sees himself as without nationality, above state, above politics. He helps the Nazis, becomes an object of English intelligence, as he is thought to be a spy. His self-perception is that of a pure scientist, explorer, aloof and ambivalent about relationships. He is a Hungarian aristocrat. He is an educated English man. He is simultaneously friends and enemies with everyone in the villa. This elaborate attempt at creating an impossibly aloof and unattached identity is tested when he encounters Katharine. He is both fascinated to find himself involved in a triangulated relationship and frightened by the intensity of emotion it unleashes in him.
Almasy and Kip represent different aspects of the same identity. At first, one is sophisticated and the other one – naïve. They are drawn to each other. As the story develops, however, their relationship intensifies. Its contradictions ultimately lead to a murderous rage in Kip. |
Kip's journey depicts a naïve attempt to switch identities. His desire is to leave behind his native Sikh identity. Trained by Lord Suffolk, he idealizes and attempts to adopt what he sees as a "progressive" Western identity. These efforts appear to be mainly intellectual, not fully touching deeper, nonverbal, layers of Kip's psyche. He expects the Western world to be perfect. This might explain the intense, extreme, disillusionment he experiences when he learns about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Disappointed and horrified after the nuclear attacks, he briefly experiences a deranged mental state. He wants to kill Almasy who he sees as a representative of the Western imperialist culture that so disappointed him. Unable to pull the trigger (even though Almasy goads him), he drops the gun and leaves. Later in the story, he is described as living in India, a successful professional and a happy family man. His Western and war experiences are distant memories.
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