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
“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
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”
The aspects of the treatment of memory have been
analysed by Amy Noval and Mirja Lobnik
In addition to this, Herodotus and his references
have been explored lucidly by Thomas Harrison and Rachel Friedman 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
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
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
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
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
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”.
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
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.
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
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”
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”
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
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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