Analysis: The English Patient - Essay Example

Analysis: The English Patient Symbolism The English Patient is a narrative that captures the life of four people whose lives have forever changed by war. The narrative is set in an abandoned Italian villa that had been converted into a makeshift hospital during the war. The Villa was bombed out in many places so that it had craters in the walls and flooring. The countryside in which the villa was had also suffered the same fate of bombings and destructions. The villa though bombed out, filthy and in bad state still offered a shelter and refuge to the characters of the narrative. The villa and countryside that had been ravaged by war served as a symbol of rebirth as both began to bring forth newness. The countryside continued in its seasons and producing fruit such as plums and other produce despite the desperate state it was in with the bombing. The garden in the villa also produced fresh vegetables for the inhabitants of the villas. This symbolized life even as the fresh growth on the bombed out craters in the dilapidated house did. The water from the rains also provided a nourishing of plant life that brought about renewed life in a place filled with death and rot. The English patient after whom the book named after is a man who had been burnt beyond recognition and an invalid lying in bed. He was a symbol of the intersection of war in the life of individuals who had no interest in wars. The English patient had never had any interest in nations nor their quest for power and supremacy for he viewed their prowess negatively. Yet, the war affected his life for he was mistaken for a spy, which hindered him from saving Katherine the love of his life. The English patient himself without attempting to become the object of a mixture of compassion and religious self-sacrifice from a young twenty years old nurse called Hana. The English patient just happened to be one of the patients of the young nurse Hana at the time she received the news of her father’s death that had died in the war. Hana finally succumbs to shell shock and as a result becomes obsessed with caring for the English patient. Hana sees him as a suffering saint who is in dire need of her help so much so that she describes him as “a suffering Christ”. Hana’s description is a symbol of religion the narrative never once tells of her participation in any religious activity. Kip is an India in the British army who has been mentored by an English Lord to detonate bombs and mines set by the Germans who were at war with the Allied Nations. He is a symbol of colonial relations between England and India and a living demonstration of the worldview of the colonized masses at the time of the war. Characterization The English patient is portrayed as a very intelligent man who has no affiliation to any nation. He is a sick and dying man whose only true obsession was his dead lover Katherine. The English patient was a great lover of the desert of North Africa, ancient civilization, mapping, geography and history. He was not a wealthy man but had all he needed for his exploits. He mainly associated with the Bedouin since he spent most of his time in the deserts of North Africa as deed most of those in his profession. Hana the nurse was a young woman who had lost her mother very early in life but who had a close relationship with her father who later remarried. She was brought up by a lakeside and constantly remembered it and her stepmother who loved taking boat rides in the lake. She was still childish in many of her ways and spent many nights playing hopscotch to pass the time away. She was also very adult and was willing to put aside her comforts in order to tend to her charge the English patient. She planned her time very well balancing between playing, sleeping, tending the garden, cooking and nursing her patient. She never displayed her religious beliefs nut thought in terms of it when she thought of her patient. She was struggling with her past as a child and her present sate as a woman. She could also act very unemotionally such as in the abortion incidence in which she narrates her decision to terminate her pregnancy. This is in deep contrast to her obsession with nursing and caring for her complete stranger. Her father’s friend Caravaggio was a known thief who turned legit after his services were required and, used by the British in the war (p.117). He now considers himself as useless and somewhat of a cripple and half whole unlike other men due to the decapitation of his fingers at the hands of the Germans. He finds himself caught in between feelings of protection towards Hana who he had known as a child and jealousy over her fatal attraction to the English patient. Caravaggio is also attracted to Hana as a woman but finds that Hana views him as a surrogate father. Kip the Indian has feelings of inferiority and keeps a safe distance form others as he expects to be ill-treated due to his brown skin color. His work as a sapper has also taken a toll on him, as he is so keenly aware of his mortality and death that he decides o keep a distance from all human relationship. He meets Hana and they become lovers and he temporarily his insecurities until Japan is bombed and they all rise to the surface. He deserts those he had come to consider as family and goes back t his former life. He ends up married but still remembers Hana. Themes In line with the theme of war, the narrative is set in a villa and countryside that depicts the ravages of war. Hana uses books from the badly bombed out library to make two makeshift stairs by nailing books together in the villa(p.13) All the characters have lives that have been affected and forever marred by the war. Life in the early 1940’s with its politics, prejudices, geography, fashion, culture and world views are brought to interplay in the narrative. Nationality is a theme that is evident from the interactions in the narrative and despite Alm’asy, the English patients claim to non-nationality, it affected his life in major ways. Nationality in this time when nations were at war in the completely known world affected ever part of human life whether they liked it or not. Love also transcends all circumstances and is portrayed in the love of Katherine who though long dead is mourned and longed for by the English patient Alm’asy (p.167). Hana the nurse also mourns her dead father whom she loved dearly. Other forms of love such as those between Hana and Kip who got into a love affair for comfort and the English patient who was loved y Hana in a pitying and salvation style. The writer also goes into great lengths to describe the bodies of the characters in his work, which helps the reader to understand them more. The English patient in his much burnt out condition is a contrast to the daring and seasoned traveler that he was in his past. The description of his body helps the reader to appreciate the depth of sacrifice that it took for Hana to care for him. The English patient was for all intents and purposes a lost cause as far as medical opinion went off he was a dying man. Less dwelt on but important to the characters in the narrative is the deaths of their loved ones who had died in places considered as holy to the characters in the play. The fact that these deaths took place is seen as giving some levels of comfort to the characters in the narrative, which reveals their ideas about death and life. There is also a lot of reading from Hana who reads the work of her patient and his most loved work the Herodotus (p.96) Conflicts The action of Hana in preserving the life of the English patient is in deep contrast with the way she ended her unborn baby’s’ life for since the father had died. The English patient had lost the only thing he cared about yet she went to great lengths to help him live. The English patient hated all notions of nation hood yet helped a German spy in crossing the desert. The feelings of Caravaggio towards Hana were both honorable and dishonorable. He wished to take care of her and to make sure she was not taken advantage of by men but desired to take advantage of her as a woman despite his age and friendship with her father. Hana thought of the English patient in religious terms as a saint yet had romantic attractions to him. Kip felt feelings of loyalty to England but hated their treatment of his people and colonialism. Narrative Style The English patient as a narrative uses all the tenses in fluid succession. It moves from the distant past, past, present and continuous present with without distinction. The narration of different persons, third flashbacks into the past and the present activities all are narrated as one so that it makes up one flowing narrative. Works Cited Odjaatje, M., 2011. The English Patient. Reprint ed. Berlin: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Read More