The english patient

“THE ENGLISH PATIENT”
This essay corresponds to the fourth unit in our course: “Literature of authors with social concerns” and it is Michael Ondaatje’s book “The English Patient” the text theteacher has chosen to be analyzed. The Canadian author wrote this novel in 1992 and it has certain elements like love and national identity, which I think are the most relevant themes throughout thewhole story.
This novel’s genre is historical fiction, which means that it “tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often containsactual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional” (1). “The English Patient” mixes certain elements while the story unfolds. World War II, love, friendship, revenge andnational identity are some of the themes this story has to offer the reader.
I, for one, enjoyed the most the love story that disentangles along the pages of the book. Hanna became a very caringnurse due to the remorse she felt because she could not do anything for her father, who died having the same injuries her English patient had. So now, she was willing to do anything to save this man and,in some way, calm her conscience. Even though Hanna felt really guilty, she showed that the love she had for her father had not died, even though she was no longer next to him.
I loved how thestory starts to unfold, and slowly, while the patient started to recover his memory, all the pieces of the puzzle started to take their respective places. It was really touching how Almásy found lovein a married woman, and not caring about this, he was willing to give his life for her. No matter what. Even though Kip was an Anglo-Indian soldier, he fell in love with Hanna, who was a Canadiannurse. Kip still thought about her, even when the war was over and he was free to go home and go on with his life.
National identity is another aspect I found interesting about this story....