Redrawing the Boundariesof Identity: A Study in Michael Ondaatje’s NovelThe English Patient

Adhikari, Ram Prasad

Redrawing the Boundariesof Identity: A Study in Michael Ondaatje’s NovelThe English Patient

Publisher

Department of English

Abstract

Abstract The present researchreadsnovel of Michael Ondaatje-The English Patientwith a focus on its central character, Almasy, who istrying to redraw his identity in the alien land. It examines Almasy’sredrawingofhis identity through his character, work andhis interactions with others. He deliberately tries to negate his nationality by living in the desert where he creates for himself an alternate identity. He admits himself as an international‘bastard’, born in one place and choosing to live somewhere outside.The plane crash hasmade the “English” patient forget his national origins. It appears that this amnesia has brought his earlier wishto‘erase’ his name and place he had come from to full realization. The whole novel moves smoothly with the possibility of knowing who the ‘English’ patient really is by mentioning the name Almasy. The name appears without any direct reference to its bearer. Almasy is the only name without a clear referent and therefore designate the unnamed and unnamable character in the novel.He exists as the centre and focus of the action despite the fact that he is without name or identity for much part of the novel.