the goods

1. Inter-textuality:
Ondaatje’s uses books throughout the novel as a symbol to establish connections between people and the past. Ondaatje’s including of Herodotus’s Histories was extremely important in developing the character of the English Patient. Throughout his journey, it was the only thing he kept with him. We gain entry into the EP’s past through this book In it, he pasted pictures and notes that help the reader learn more about his unknown past. I didn’t bother looking up The Histories while I was reading the novel, but know that I am writing this, I learned that Herodotus wrote this as he traveled through the ancient world around 400 B.C. Ondaatje chose this specific work of ancient literature to compare Herodotus to the English Patient, both adventurous explorers. This book contains significant meaning to the English Patient because it is the only thing that survived the fire with him. Another example is of Hana’s constant reading to the EP from the collection in the library of the villa. To get closer to the English Patient, Hana reads books to him from the library to establish a connection with her mysterious patient. Ondaatje uses this symbol to bring his characters closer and allow us to enter their insights and pasts.

2. Key Motifs: Morphine
An interesting motif for me in this novel was the reoccurring symbol of morphine. Because of their injuries they suffered during the war, both Caravaggio and the EP rely on the constant consumption of morphine to ease their pain. Not only do the two use it to numb their pain, they have become dependent on it to slip away from their pasts that haunt them. Caravaggio grew dependent on the drug after enemy interrogators cut off his thumbs. Caravaggio longs to avenge those who betrayed him and his country during the war. The horrors of the war disturb him continually and he finds his escape in morphine, which numbs his perception of reality. The EP relies on the drugs to ease the pain of the burns he acquired in the plane crash. He is haunted by the thought of his love, Katherine, who he deserted in the cave to die. The guilt of Katherine’s death reigns over all of his days but the EP finds temporary refuge in the morphine that eases his mental woes. Ondaatje uses morphine to expose how the atrocities of the war have left these men and women in a deep depression and their only escape is through their addiction.

3. Favorite Line:
“Can’t wait to have me dead? You bitch!” (page 83)
Yikes. This passage gives me the willies. Poor Hana is in a position where she experiences death every day. The thought of interrupting one of the most crucial moments in a person’s life, right before the die, is horrifying.. Hana had become so accustomed to death and tragedy that it was natural for her to close the man’s eyes. We know that Hana would never intentionally violate this man in this moment as he approaches death, but she mistakenly took this man for dead. Throughout the war, she was exposed to tragic deaths, horrific injuries, and many other atrocities. All of these soldiers believed they were fighting for a cause and most went to their death with the slight comfort that they had made a difference. This soldier, on the other hand, died with rage in his heart. The guilt Hana must have felt after upsetting this man before he died must have been unbearable. This traumatic experience goes along with many other happenings of war that Hana went through. This buildup of tragedy and suffering is what most likely caused her to seek refuge away from the war in the villa.

4. Escape in the Villa San Girolamo:
This novel is centered on these four main characters, Hana, the EP, Caravaggio, and Kip, who all found a refuge from the war in this Italian villa. Hana was so distraught from all of the death that surrounded her in the war that she ran with her idea of escape in this villa alone with the English Patient. Here, she was able to immerse herself in caring for this one patient and get away from her daily encounters with death. In the villa, the English Patient is taken out of the rush of the hospital and place in this serene escape. When Caravaggio had caught word of Hana’s refuge in the villa, he quickly went to join with the hopes of escaping the atrocities he encounters and the rage that filled his heart. While he still worked to disable bombs, Kip took himself out of the front line of the war and immersed himself in new relationships that distracted him from what was going on outside of the villa. He found instant comradery with the English Patient developed a romantic relationship with Hana. The Villa San Girolamo provided an escape for these characters from the ravages of war where they could step out of reality and into a world away free of death and tragedy.

5. Excellent Drawing by Nora Coyne