"Katharine," "A Buried Plane," and "In Situ"

Hi again readers and welcome back. I want to say thank you again for following this blog, I've appreciated your comments and I'm finding this assignment to be very enjoyable. 

In this reading, I read the chapters "Katharine," "A Buried Plane," and "In Situ." "This post will be somewhat of a continuation of my last post in the sense that it focuses on both character developments and Ondaatje's stylistic choices.

"Katharine"

In this chapter, we learn of The English Patient's love for a woman named Katharine who he met during his time exploring the Libyan desert and in Cairo. Katharine and The English Patient's relationship is not typical; she's married to one of the other explorers in their party. Despite the fact their relationship is atypical, it is intensely passionate. 

"A postcard. Neat handwriting fills the rectangle.

Half my days I cannot bear not to touch you. The rest of the time I feel it doesn't matter if I ever see you again. It isn't the morality, it is how much you can bear.

No date, no name attached.

Sometimes when she is able to spend the night with him they are wakened by the three minarets of the city beginning their prayers before dawn. He walks with her through the indigo markets that lie between South Cairo and her home. The beautiful songs of faith enter the air like arrows, one minaret answering another, as if passing on a rumour of the two of them as they walk through the cold morning air, the smell of charcoal and hemp already making the air profound. Sinners in a holy city" (154).

In this passage, we can observe some of the complexities of the relationship between Katharine and The English Patient. From the postcard note, it's evident that they recognize the moral conflict of their relationship: Katharine's marital status. However, their love for each other overpowers this moral dilemma; "half of [their] days [they] cannot bear not to touch [each other]." But alas, their relationship is more complex than that. The second sentence of the notecard reveals that there is a rift between them.

I found this last paragraph of the passage to be very striking and vivid. Ondaatje's ability to place his reader into the story, filling their nose with "the smell of charcoal and hemp," continues to impress me. I thought his choice to compare the "beautiful songs of faith" to "arrows" was very interesting, as it likens these "songs of faith" to weapons, yet later in the passage Ondaatje suggests a collaboration between the minarets as if they were jointly spreading news of the affair.

(Minarets in Cairo)

I thought the last line of the passage was the most significant. It further emphasizes that Katharine and The English Patient understand their relationship presents a moral predicament, but they don't care. Additionally, it frames their affair in a religious context. 

"A Buried Plane"

In this next chapter we learn some information about The English Patient's past, most notably that he may not even be English. Caravaggio tells Hana of a man called "Almásy," a Hungarian man who worked with the Germans during the war, guiding them through the desert. The English Patient's knowledge of the desert leads Caravaggio to believe that The English Patient is Almásy. 

Caravaggio develops a sort of obsession with The English Patient; he wants to extract information from The English Patient using a mixture of painkillers and alcohol.

" ' No David. You're too obsessed. It doesn't matter who he is. the war's over' 

 'I will then. I'll cook up a Brompton cocktail. Morphine and alcohol. . . Don't worry, it won't kill him. It absorbs fast into the body. I can put it together with what we've got. Give him a drink of it. Then put him back on straight morphine' " (167).

This obsession is important to understanding Caravaggio's character development. He doesn't even seem to acknowledge Hana's opposition to his plan to drug The English Patient. I found this detail interesting because throughout the story Caravaggio has been very attentive of Hana, but it appears that his jealousy is festering and beginning to consume him. His fixation on The English Patient's questionable past further emphasizes his jealousy of the bond between Hana and her patient. 

In this chapter we also learn of what happened to The English Patient and Katharine's relationship. I'd like to fully discuss what becomes this relationship, but I also want each and every one of you to read this book and I feel that if I disclose what occurs I'll spoil a major part of the story. However, I can offer a significantly abbreviated synopsis. 

Katharine and The English Patient's affair eventually proved problematic for them. Katharine's husband learned of their relationship, and what followed left me in tears.

I am sorry of how vague that description was, but if you're at all curious, please read this novel it's incredible!

"In Situ"

This chapter focuses on Kip's backstory and character development. We learn of Kip's time in England training under Lord Suffolk, and his secretary Miss Morten, as a sapper. From the time that Kip first began training with Lord Suffolk he had a strong attachment to him. 

During Kip's application process for his position as a sapper, he was sure that he would never be selected because of his race. However, the results of his application are to his surprise, he's selected. 

"So he had won passage, free of the chaotic machinery of war. He stepped into a family, after a year abroad, as if he were the prodigal returned, offered a chair at the table, embraced with conversations. . . . He was beginning to love the English" (189-190).

Ondaatje's word choice in this passage is significant because it reveals Kip's association to England, where he is not originally from. Ondaatje chooses to include the phrase "after a year abroad" to emphasize the fact that, even though he's not retuning to India after a year spent in England, he's home. Kip has found his family in England, with Lord Suffolk and Miss Morten. 

Kip continues to train with Lord Suffolk, absorbing the ins and outs of german bombs, attempting to penetrate the minds of German bomb architects so that he can easily neutralize the dangers they create. Kip loves his position as a sapper and feels a sense of belonging with Suffolk. 

However, brought on by the war, tragedy finds its way into Kip's backstory. While Kip is in London, he learns that Lord Suffolk and Miss Morten have been killed by a German bomb that appears to be of a new design. This news is shattering to Kip, but he knows that he must persist and do whatever he can to mitigate the damage of these new bombs.

"Later he would need distractions. Later, when there was a whole personal history of events and moments in his mind, he would need something equivalent to white sound to burn or bury everything while he thought of the problems in front of him. The radio or crystal set and its loud band music would come later, a tarpaulin to hold the rain of real life away from him" (194).

Instead of succumbing to grief, Kip bottles up his emotions. This event speaks to the emotional consequences of war. Kip throws himself into his work to avoid engaging his feelings, and Ondaatje purposefully creates this scenario to exemplify how war can cause grief and pain that may not be external.

This section of the reading was definitely the hardest to get through, it was very emotional and deeply touching. That said, I'm simply amazed at Michael Ondaatje's mastery of writing. If my blog seems at all interesting to you, I hope that you decide to read The English Patient; it's well worth it.

Thank you for reading,

Colby 

Works Cited

Ondaatje, Michael. The English Patient. Vintage Books, 1998.

“Modern Muslim Prayer: Mosques' Minarets Fall Silent.” The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 Aug. 2010, www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0811/Modern-Muslim-prayer-mosques-minarets-fall-silent.