Political criticism on the eng
Political criticism on the engFrom the war-torn wastelands of Europe to the exotic Cairo, The English Patient, is a reader's delight. This novel set in the twilight stages of the Second World War was created by Michael Ondaatje. Amongst Caravaggio, Hanna, Almasy and other minor characters, Kip is the only coloured character in the cast. Almasy, is the sick patient while Hana nurses him. Caravaggio is a thief who used to work for the Allies while Kip forages through the war torn regions of Europe, incapacitating unexploded bombs. The story revolves around a few individuals and reflects upon the metamorphosis of their lives, brought about by the war. However, while the story vitally revolves around Almasy and the fate of his love in face of the war, Ondaatje, an East Asian, glorifies Kip (an East Indian), as the ideal male while chastening the Caucasian race.
Born in a family of tradition and values, Kirpal was the second child. The family customs dictated the first son to join the army, while the second would become a doctor and the third, a businessman (Ondaatje,1992).
"He was the second son. The oldest son would go into the army, the next brother would be a doctor, a brother after that would become a businessman. An old tradition in his family"
(Ondaatje, 1992, #201)
The tradition however, was transgressed due to conflicting propensities of the eldest brother who chose to resist the indigenous British rule rather than fight on their side. In light of the resulting imprisonment of his brother, Kirpal chose to fill the void by enlisting in the army. Following his enlistment, Kip chose to join the bomb-squad whose duties were to nullify the unexploded hazards and eliminate booby traps, thus saving innocent lives. Fully cognizant of the fact that the field of bomb disposal was in its infancy, and that the average life expectancy of bomb experts was pegged at ten weeks, he still proffered himself for the cause. While the doctor's duties are to heal the sick and forestall the loss of lives; Kip indeed became the doctor in the view of the fact that he was indeed rejuvenating the afflicted land and saving innocent civilians from traumatic disfigurations and death. Kip, therefore, fulfilled the traditions of his family, first by enlisting in the army and then by preventing the loss of lives, in doing so displayed the qualities of thoughtfulness and intrepidity.
While the Germans brazenly acknowledged their goal of racial cleansing and exterminated innocent people of Jewish origins, the Allies asserted time and again that they...
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