'The English Patient' Critical Analysis; Identity Crises in the novel. Literature Review of 'The English Patient' by Michael Ondaatje

 

Literature review

The novel “The English Patient”, written by Philip Michael Ondaatje, has been analysed largely by different critics since its publication and is acclaimed by many as the best literature of all time. This study has aimed at identifying the crises of identity in the novel “The English Patient”. The lens that has been used is that of Erikson’s psychosocial development of identity (McLeod, 2018), a closely related theory to psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. Different characters of the novel especially the protagonist Almasy, has been analysed in the light of this theory.

“The English Patient” written in 1992, tells the story of a badly burned man named Almasy, referred to as the English patient in the novel. His Canadian nurse Hana, Kip an Indian sapper in the British Army, Katherine, the married lady with whom Almasy developed an intimate relation of love, Katherine’s husband Geoffrey Clifton, and Caravaggio a Canadian thief enlisted as a spy in the British Royal Army. The novel’s setting is that of the end of the World War two. The four characters of the novel: Almasy, Hana, Kip, and Caravaggio are staying at a deserted Villa during the end of the war (WW2) in the novel. the novel is a gradually revealed story of the critically burned man, ‘The English Patient’ and his affair with Katherine.

The metaphysical aspects of body, history, and nation in the novel used by Ondaatje has been discussed by Christopher McVey (McVey, 2014), In which McVey has examined the connection between body, history, and nation in the novel. Where it has been shown that the novel, although dramatizes and answers to the questions concerning national belonging and community, still tries to escape the shackles of identity and nationality, as Almasy the English patient, says to Catherine, “Ownership. I hate being owned.” Or at another place he declares, “All I wanted was a world without map” (Ondaatje, 1992).

Almasy rejects the notion of ownership and identity and denies any attachment to any material thing or any place on Earth. His views about the desert are the same where he thinks of the desert as something that cannot be owned or controlled, “The desert should not be owned” (Ondaatje, 1992) he famously says in the novel.

The aspects of the treatment of memory have been analysed by Amy Noval and Mirja Lobnik (Novak, 2004) (Lobnik, 2007).  Memory, in their views, is the capacity of the mind by which any data or information is encrypted, saved, and recovered whenever needed. Almasy, after being burned badly, is unable to remember all the information and says quite frequently “I think so” in the novel. his memory is being washed away partly by the fire that burned him, and partly because he does not want to recall it, which he eventually does in the novel anyway. This notion makes a link with his refusal of identity and proves that identity is not something that is very clear in the course of “The English Patient”.  

In addition to this, Herodotus and his references have been explored lucidly by Thomas Harrison and Rachel Friedman in the novel (Harrison, 1998) (Friedman, 2008). Herodotus is the protagonist’s ideal and Almasy not only follows his teachings, but also reads him in the novel. Furthermore, Almasy fell in love with Katherine while she was reading Herodotus. This is the reason for the main conflict of the story and the identity crises that erupts afterwards in the novel.

Furthermore, the effects of World War two are being rampant on all the characters in the novel. Even the cause of anxiety for the characters of the story and their scepticism for identity. Almasy and Katherine met their eventual downfall because of war. Hana is being, time and again, traumatized and agonized by the cruelties of war done on her part, making her lose her father and lover. Caravaggio is being questioned and tortured. Hence in this sense, all the characters in the novel are one way or another, affected by the war up to great extent. Such and other similar aspects of the novel have been analysed by Madhumalati Adhikari (Madhumalati).

The psyche of the characters especially of Almasy is under observation in this particular study. A close psychoanalytical analysis of “The English Patient” discloses that no matter how different the outer appearances would be, as long as the inner sides of the people living in the same place resembles, it is quite possible for them to live with harmony with one another at one place (Mala, 2015) (Pesc, 1999). Just like all the four characters of the novel: Hana, Kip, Caravaggio, and the English Patient live in one place, at the reconstructed villa San Girolamo. Although they all are from different places, origins, cultures, and religions, still they are living at one place for some time and share their stories with one another. This shows that true cultural identity is not really needed for humans to live among one another. Humans can live with each other collectively no matter which race or culture do they belong to.

Identity is ‘the distinguished character or personality of an individual’. In the field of psychology, even more detailed and variable definitions of different kinds of identities are being given by Erikson. Perhaps he is the first one to coin the term ‘identity crisis’.

The researcher has tried to analyse the text and has searched for aspects of identity in the novels using Erikson’s model of identity crises. The researcher has analysed the text by applying a theory of Erikson’s psychosocial development theory (Cherry, 2020), closely related to Freud’s Psychoanalytic theory.

 Erikson was a theorist of ego psychology. Erikson was the one who introduced the famous theory of identity development. Although the theory was influenced by Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalyst theory, Erikson’s theory mostly focuses on psychosocial development unlike Freud’s psychosexual development.

 Erikson has defined and distinguished between ‘ego identity’, ‘idiosyncrasies’, and ‘social’ or ‘cultural identity’. ‘Ego identity’ simply refers to ‘the self’, ‘idiosyncrasies’ or the ‘personal identity’ is the identity that distinguishes one person from another, and ‘social identity’ is the identity that is being given to him by the society due to his role that he plays in the society (Erikson, 1968) (Erikson, Identity and The Life Cycle , 1959). In the views of Erikson, when ego identity is strongly inbuilt, in an established and firmly rooted society, it results in a powerful sense of identity. Similarly, a lack of such identity will result in the crisis of identity or perplexity (Cote & Levine, 2002).

 According to the “Neo-Eriksonian” identity paradigm, steered largely by James Marcia, the paradigm centres on the notions of ‘exploration’ and ‘commitment’. The focus of this is that any person’s sense of identity is decided by the explorations that he or she makes concerning certain personal and social qualities. A person might show either considerable weakness or considerable strength in terms of both exploration and commitments.  Marcia further gives the four types of identity namely: Foreclosure, Identity diffusion, moratorium, and Identity achievement (Clarke & Justice) (Marica).

 In Foreclosure, an obligation is made without any substitute. Like ideas and views that are being told by the ancestors and elders. In Marcia’s words, “the individual about to become a Methodist, Republican farmer like his Methodist, Republican farmer father, with little or no thought in the matter, certainly cannot be said to have “achieved” an identity, in spite of his commitment”. (Marcia). According to Marica, once an identity crisis takes place, it is almost Impossible to return to foreclosure status (Marcia).

 Identity diffusion is the state when one’s identity is not sure or formed and the individual does not care or try to find his identity, like the identity of a newly born baby or those diagnosed with schizophrenic, although, it can affect an individual’s status in the society resulting in his alienation in the society. This type of identity is something negative and can be fatal (Marcia) (Birch, 1997).

Moratorium is the identity condition of those who are in the middle of their identity crises.  Such individuals’ allegiances are either not totally present or if present, are not lucidly defined, but they are constantly trying to explore them. (Clarke & Justice). According to Marcia for such individuals the world is not something foreseeable place, hence they continuously try to make it so, resulting in more anxiety in their mental state (Marcia). This phenomenon was termed by Gail Sheehy as, “provisional Adulthood”.

Identity achievement is the stage where an individual reaches after experiencing his or her crises state starting from diffusion through moratorium, finally reaches to this stage of identity achievement (Marica). In other words, this is the stage where an individual gains his or her ego identity.

 In “The English Patient” we see all these aspects of identity and identity crises going on side by side in different characters. Almasy, the protagonist of the novel especially deals with all these aspects of identity. Almasy in the very first place, rejects the notion of identity and belonging, as he famously says that he does not like to be owned. His connection with Herodotus is also evident of this as both are from different time period but are still connected with each other, thus rejecting the importance of identity. Almsy, from the start of the novel, is of the view that identity is nothing else but a delusion and false hope, he does not like the notion of belonging to countries and the identities attached with them, as he says, “I came to hate nations” (Ondaatje, 1992).

Almasy, the protagonist of the novel, loves the desert for the reason that it “erases everything” in its sand storms and belongs to no one. Almasy tells Hana that he didn’t need his name and identity while living in the desert, “erase the family name”. He also said that, “Erase nations! I was taught such things in the desert” (Ondaatje, 1992). He sticks to these principles throughout the novel, finally erasing his own identity by burning in the fire.

Although, Almasy is having a distinguished personality and sometimes behaves in strange ways, but still he does not want to be attached with anything or any place. Thus, identity becomes nothing but a delusion in his books. Almasy’s affair with Katherine, in the first place, is the brazen evidence of his no concern for any one’s true identity. As Katherine is someone’s wife and is in a serious relationship of wedlock, but still, Almasy doesn’t care about that and develop an intimate and sexual relationship with her anyway.

 Similarly, other characters of the novel also display this lack of belongingness and the absence of any true identity. If they are attached with anything or anyone, that is just because they want some kind of escape from their present situation. Hana is devoted to her profession of nursing (an attachment), just because she wants to be busy in her life, not remembering her agonies of life and the people she lost. Her temporary connection with the English patient is because she wanted to escape into her little world of fantasy, where she wants to be with someone who will never leave her and will stay with her no matter what.

The most conflicting character of the novel Kip, although is from India, is serving in the British Army thus ignoring his true identity. Although he is still emotionally attached with his country, but we don’t find any passage where he openly expresses this desire. He is miles and miles away from his native country serving in the army of those who have colonized his motherland. Thus, kip actually doesn’t care for the attachment and identity.  His departure, back to India, at the end of the novel, simply shows his emotional withdrawal when he found out about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and leaves the British Army that gave him a sense of identity (temporarily), is another example of the notion that he doesn’t care for any fixed identity.

The desert itself, in the novel, is a lucid sign of uncontrollable identity and of something that cannot be tamed. The desert is being tried to explore by the scientists, including Almasy, but they are constantly in vain. The desert, in this sense, proves the notion of lack of belongingness and attachment. Also, the shape of the desert changes regularly with sand storms that occurs in the desert time by time. Only one of the hills has been termed as, ‘the shape of a woman’s back’. Thus, anyone who will try to map or control it, will ultimately find himself nowhere, and will be lost forever (Gultekin).

Similarly the novel did not directly talk about the Erikson’s ‘ego identity’, rather it tells us about the lost identities (the burned English Patient) or the delusional identities (the desert). About the idiosyncratic identity, the novel shows this in the form of all the characters living in the villa or the soldiers serving in the army. All the main characters of the novel belong to different cultures and nationalities but are living in the same place. Almasy is a Hungarian, Hana is a Canadian nurse serving for the allies as a nurse, Kip in Indian and is serving in the Royal army of the British, and Caravaggio actually an Italian, but serving as a spy for the British intelligence.

 So, in the light of above argument, the element of ‘idiosyncratic identity is there in disguise but in spite of that the characters live in one place, rejecting this type of identity. Even in the desert, all the scientists and the locals belong to different cultures and are having their own so-called identities but are bound to work together and side by side. We see in the novel that the ‘social identity’ of all the characters, is clearly defined and is there. Almasy is a Hungarian and is a member of Hungarian expedition society, serving as a cartographer. Later in the novel, after he is burnt in the plane crash, is referred as “The English Patient”. Hana is a 20 years old Canadian nurse and is the daughter of Patrick, who also has been burned but we know very little about him. She devotedly performs her duty as a nurse throughout the novel and enjoys it. Kip is an Indian Sikh, serving in the British Army as a Sapper who disposes bombs and explosives. He also does his job wholeheartedly in the novel, even risking his life for it. Caravaggio, being an Italian immigrant, but due to his qualities in deceiving and theft, is enrolled in the British intelligence and serves as a spy. He did his job w2ell in the novel too on the price of his thumbs that are being cut off by the Germans. Thus, making him a hero while reaching at a hospital in the Rome. Katherine and Geoffrey are husband and wife. Patrick, Hana’s father, is also enlisted in the Canadian Army and dies while fighting in World War two.

In this sense, the ‘social identity’ of all the characters is being given and is there in the novel. Almasy’s ego identity, in the sense of Erikson, when it is rooted firmly in the society is strongly inbuilt, is in a sense unmoved and is present there. Where he is defined although up to some extent, a Hungarian member of the expedition team who are mapping Libya or the dessert. But at the same time, his true identity, throughout the course of the novel, is vaguely and absurdly shown, in other words his identity is rather an identity crisis than true ‘ego identity’. As in the very start of the novel, when he is totally burned and is interrogated by an army officer about his identity, he is unable to answer to the questions as he cannot recall his past, so the officer writes in his form “English?” with a ‘sign of interrogation’. This shows that his identity is not clear and is yet to be found. similarly, his helping of the Germans, as the Germans were unable to sort out his identity, and then misrecognizing by the allied forces in the end of the novel shows the lack of his ego identity resulted by the crises of identity.

According to the Marcian paradigm of identity, a person is ought to find his ego identity by exploration and commitment. And hence the English Patient, in the novel, does not try to do such explorations, so his identity is left blanked and vague. He is now unable to go to his ‘Foreclosure’ state of identity rather he steps in the state of ‘identity diffusion’, leaving him on the mercy of others to give him any name or identity. As we know that in the case Almasy, they gave him the name “The English Patient” and the identity of being an English rather than a Hungarian which is his true identity. So, the researcher has tried to analyze the novel from these perspectives of identity and has pointed out the lack of identity and the crises of identity in the characters of the novel, especially the character of Almasy, ‘The English Patient’.

 

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