Ondaatje's English Patient

1. Identity (or lack thereof)
Ondaatje plays with the idea of personal identity throughout the course of his novel. The “English patient” is nameless throughout much of the novel, and he proves to be the literally “blank canvas” onto which all of the other characters project their ideas of personal, cultural, and national identity. Because so little is known about Almasy’s nationality and identity throughout the course of the novel, he provides reason for Hana, Caravaggio, and Kip to forget the lives they led before coming to the villa. Since Almasy had to create an entirely new identity after he was burned, Hana leaves her company of nurses to care for her patient; Caravaggio, the thief, lives a relatively peaceful life in the villa; and Kip proves to be helpful at disarming bombs without the stigma of his nationality following his work. Because of the blank slate they are given to start with, the four unlikely companions are invited to live in a way that they would not be able to otherwise. In a time of war, national identity was often too important of a line for people to cross when forming relationships. But thanks to the English patient, who was burned beyond recognition, four very different people were able to do just that.


2. Favorite lines
A love story is not about those who lose their heart but about those who find that sullen inhabitant who, when it is stumbled upon, means the body can fool no one, can fool nothing – not the wisdom of sleep or the habit of social graces. It is consuming of oneself and the past. (97)
The above passage is taken from an early excerpt from Almasy’s diary and was happened upon by Hana. Though it describes Almasy’s love for Katherine, the context under which it was read also resonates strongly with Hana. At this point in the novel, Hana feels like she is in love with her English patient. For Hana, the English patient is quite literally a “sullen inhabitant” who she “stumbled upon” while serving as an army nurse. While living alone in their abandoned Italian villa, Hana and her English patient form a bond through their mutual sufferings. Almasy, with his body burned beyond all recognition, has lost what he feels to be his one true love, Katherine. And Hana, who has seen the horrors of war firsthand, has lost several of the people she was closest to. It is through the mutual respect that each has for the other, along with a shared understanding of profound personal loss, that Hana comes to feel that she loves her patient. The last line of the diary entry is especially poignant: because of the love that Hana feels for Almasy, she is entirely consumed by caring for him. She no longer cares for the people she left behind in Canada, nor does she think as much of the past as she once did.


3. Character Analysis
Hana, in many ways, is a symbol of strength in the novel. Though she is only twenty years old, Hana exhibits an unusual commitment to her work and is a realist in her views of the war. She displayed a detachment when dealing with dying soldiers. Hana determined that “caring was brief. There was a contract only until death” (51). Hana had grown so accustomed to being surrounded by death that she detached herself from the situation, mechanically caring for the wounded soldiers who were all too often on the brink of death. Caring for the English patient changes Hana, however. She sees something new, something different, in Almasy. Hana thinks that there is “something about him she wanted to learn, grow into, and hide in, where she could turn away from being and adult…she wanted to save him” (52). The English patient shows Hana a new way of living and thinking. Instead of living the unfeeling, monotone life she had adopted in the army, the English patient instilled in Hana a desire and a need to feel again.


4. Motif: Darkness
Darkness is a prevalent motif throughout Ondaathe’s novel. Ondaathe uses darkness primarily to highlight the similarities among his main characters. As is stated on page 62, “In darkness…you can slit a vein and the blood is black.” Much of the novel takes place either by candlelight or in complete darkness. Ondaathe consciously presents the reader with such a dark setting in order to showcase the solitary nature of his characters’ existence, as well as to prove that in darkness, identity does not matter. By placing his characters in a setting without light, Ondaathe is drawing the reader’s attention to the fact that they are living alone in the villa. If one cannot see what is beyond his surroundings, his surroundings might as well not exist. Furthermore, in darkness, race, religion, and occupation are insignificant. In light, these qualities are the cause of various unfair prejudices.