The English Patient Essay Research Paper The — страница 2

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alliances that were pulled into World War II, were topics that he concerned himself with. However, the desert changes that completely. The English patient says that “. . . after ten years in the desert, it was easy for me to slip across borders, not to belong to anyone, to any nation” (139; ch. 4). He also says directly, “I came to hate nations” (138; ch. 4). This shows that he indeed has been changed by nations: a complete reversal of his previous role. Not only the English patient, but also his friend Madox loses interest in nations and eventually kills himself because of it. The English patient comments that “Madox died because of nations” (138; ch. 4). He becomes enchanted by the desert: by both the exotic names of unusual land features and the variety of nomadic

groups that travel its seemingly endless expanse. He is also tired of the war and is beginning to see its futility. At one point, he exclaims “Erase the family name! Erase nations! I was taught such things by the desert” (139; ch. 4). This is what truly causes the English patient to lose his identity, not the plane crash or his extensive burns, but the change he undergoes through his stay in the desert. The motif of the desert appears numerous times and with different interpretations. Nevertheless, it is clear that the desert is seen as a place with the power to change men completely. The purpose of the desert was to emphasize the English patient’s difficult life experiences, to show how he was changed, and to help describe why he acts as he does in the present. Hana,

Caravaggio, and Kip believe that the English patient has amnesia or that his traumatic experience has caused his memory loss; however, as Caravaggio notes, why does he then remember his whole life story. The fact is, the English patient never forgets who he is: he just wishes he would.