Text: Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient
Essence: A change in one’s values
forces a change in what he/she is willing to sacrifice.
Brief Summary of Text: The
book follows the stories of four unlike people living inside an Italian villa
towards the end of World War II. The book centers upon the story of an
unrecognizable burn victim who is assumed to be English. However, after slowly
revealing his past he turns out to be of Hungarian origin. His story is a
“blank page” at first, as Hana, Kip, and Caravaggio reflect their own thoughts
upon him. But the English Patient eventually recalls his memories and reveals
his real name to be Almásy, uncovering every detail of his past including how
he falls in love with Katherine, her husband’s death, her death, and his
enduring belief that nations are useless entities and that love can take people
to different times and places.
AP Prompt (2014): It has
often been said that what we value can be determined only by what we sacrifice.
Consider how this statement applies to a character from a novel or play. Select
a character that has deliberately sacrificed, surrendered, or forfeited
something in a way that highlights that character’s values. Then write a well-organized
essay in which you analyze how the particular sacrifice illuminates the
character’s values and provides a deeper understanding of the meaning of the
work as a whole.
Thesis which addresses the prompt: In
Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient,
László Almásy makes
significant sacrifices for his personal value for individualism as he favors
freedom by staying in the desert and holds no value for national identity; the
purity that he finds in the desert, however, is clouded by the entrance of
temptation in the form of Katherine Clifton, which ultimately forces him to
sacrifice his greatest personal value of breaching national ties.
Iceberg View of Culture: Literature
is the surface culture that is highlighted in The English Patient. Literature has the ability to connect the past
to the present. Hana reads to Almásy to keep him preoccupied in present-day
life, but literature also allows him to feel the love that he had for Katherine
and his memories of his work in the desert in Cairo. For the characters in this
novel, time and place play cannot inhibit the eternal love that they have for
their loved ones, and through the medium of literature, they are able to
transcend all obstacles: even death. For Almásy, The Histories by Herodotus is literature that allows him to connect
to people and feelings that are now dead or gone, things that can only be
reached through books.
One of
the most memorable moments in the novel is when Katherine tells the story of
the Lydian King Candaules showing off his wife’s beauty to his lieutenant
Gyges, and Gyges killing the king to take the throne and the queen for himself.
The telling of this story itself causes Almásy to be seduced by Katherine. This
story parallels the love triangle between Almásy, Katherine, and Mr. Clifton.
This scene reiterates the power that literature has to strengthen human
connections beyond the story that is being told. There is a lot of nonverbal
communication that occurs when it comes to the intimacy and the intensity that
builds between Almásy and Katherine. The silence and their everlasting gaze
exemplify their feelings for one another. Almásy reflects on this when he says,
“All these years I have been trying to unearth what she was handing me with
that look…I think she was studying me” (144). Of course, facial expression,
body language, and tone of voice also imply Katherine’s motives to be rather
seductive in nature. The details of nonverbal communication illustrate the
nuanced suggestions that Katherine makes while telling the story.
The
deeper implications of Katherine’s reading of the story are: preferences for
competition or cooperation, concept of past and future, and the concept of
self. As stated earlier, literature has
the ability to allow people to feel connected regardless of time and place.
Discernibly, Almásy’s response to Katherine’s story will either result in
competition or cooperation with Mr. Clifton. In this case the result is
definitely competition, as Mr. Clifton ultimately goes mad and attempts to
murder, but dies in the process. Self-concept is a psychological concept that
is especially unique for Almásy in this novel. He originally stays in the
desert to maintain lucidity, but this is changed dramatically by his lose of
rationality as he becomes so infatuated with Katherine that he cannot control
himself. Almásy addresses his feelings as she tells the story, he states, “That
night I fell in love with her voice. Only her voice. I wanted to hear nothing more" (145).
Creative Project & Explanation: In
Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient,
László Almásy, a man who is guilty of reprehensible betrayals, makes
significant sacrifices for his personal value for individualism as he favors
freedom by staying in the desert and holds no values for national identity; the
purity that he finds in the desert, however, is clouded by the entrance of
temptation in the form of Katherine Clifton, which ultimately forces him to
sacrifice his personal value of breaching national ties.
The
Left Side of the Mask: The image of the desert contains many symbolic meanings.
From a biblical point of view, the desert is
related to a place of cleansing. God took many occasions to send groups of Jews
and other religious groups into the desert for cleansing prior to sending them
to the "promised land". Most notably, the Jews (led by Moses) coming
out of exile in Egypt and sending Jesus into the desert for 40 days and 40
nights for the cleansing of his soul and temptation from the Devil. The general
significance of the arid landscape of the desert is that it represents
purity and a place free from temptation, with no distractions. The only thing that is on the image of the desert is
the silhouette of a single person, which represents Almásy’s clarity with only his
favorite book (Herodotus) by his side. All focus is on survival rather than
satisfying personal needs. For Almásy specifically, the desert is a place where
national identity is extraneous, allowing him to redefine himself
freely. The
irony in all this lays in Katherine, who embodies temptation, but travels to
the desert—a place of spiritual cleansing. The dove holding the olive branch in the sky (a general peace symbol) represents his freedom outside of his Hungarian origin.
The
Right side of the Mask: The circular image is one of King Candaules of Lydia
who is letting Gyges see his wife naked. Gyges is shot with Cupid’s arrow in
this image as he has fallen in love with the queen through the mere display of
her beauty. This image is associated with blindness and bewilderment through
the thick black swirls around the right temple of the mask. This detail
symbolizes Almásy being clouded by the temptation of Katherine. The two quotes
are words spoken by Candaules’ wife, which allude to the death and destruction
that Almásy and Katherine also cause through their relationship.
The backside
of the mask is divided into two halves like the front. Directly behind the left
side with the desert, the mask is blank because Almásy is not concealing
anything significant about himself when he is solely invested in his work in
the desert. Directly behind the right side with the black swirls, there is a
skull as well as a World War II map of Hungary, which represents the
repercussions of his relationship with Katherine. He must conceal the death and
destruction that his iniquitous relationship with Katherine causes and also his
Hungarian background that is eventually revealed. This is the sacrifice that Almásy makes for Katherine; he sacrifices
upholding his value of breaking national ties. Essentially, the left side of
the mask represents who Almásy was before he met Katherine and the right side
of the mask (as well as what is behind it) represents who he is after he meets
Katherine.
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