Elementals and the English Patient

In The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje brings to light the negative psychological effects of war. The lives of the four main characters intersect at an abandoned Italian villa at the end of World War II. Each of the characters suffered extreme losses and psychological hardships during the war. Hana, a nurse, has been exhausted by her constant association with death and mutilation. The thief, Caravaggio has been left with his hands horribly mutilated. Kip, an Indian sapper, has spent the war searching for hidden bombs. Finally, the English patient, Almásy has been burnt beyond recognition. In The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje uses elemental imagery to develop the personalities of the four main characters: Hana (water), Caravaggio (air), Kip (earth), and Almásy (fire). When joined together, these elementals form a sacred space or circle for mutual healing and rejuvenation.

Hana symbolizes the spirit of water. During the war, she remains in constant motion; she flows through the corridors of the hospital as if in a dream, propelled forward by necessity: "After three full days without rest, she finally lay down on the floor besides a mattress where someone lay dead, and slept for twelve hours, closing her eyes against the world around her" (49). She is like a river that unquestioningly follows paths prescribed by the contours of the earth. Furthermore, Hana's bath scene in the fountain connects her to the element of water. The narrator writes, "Then suddenly there is a crash as the water arrives bursting around her" (93). Like a water nymph, Hana emerges from the fountain, a symbol of flowing sensuality and the unconscious. Like the ocean, Hana is fearless and unpredictable. When the war ends, she refuses to leave the English patient: "In the hills north of Florence. Most of it torn apart by bombing. Unsafe. It had been a temporary field hospital. But the nurse and the patient had refused to leave" (28). Hana represents the element of water; she is restless, unconsciously moving, fearless, and unpredictable.

Kip, on the other hand, embodies the element of earth. Physically, he is described using earth symbolism: "He was the brownness of rock, the brownness of a muddy storm-fed river" (105). He is a man of the desert; therefore, he is connected to the earth elemental: "For some years I lived in the desert. I learned everything I knew there. Everything that ever happened to me that was important happened in the desert" (177). He has lived and worked in the desert for years; he is a man of dirt and metal, searching the sand for the metal demons of war. In addition, Ondaatje uses earth imagery to connect Kip to this elemental: "The boy's desire completed itself in his deepest sleep while in the arms of Hana, his orgasm something more to do with the pull of the moon, a tug of his body by the night" (225). In this passage, Ondaatje presents Kip as an Earth figure; Kip like the earth is affected by the pull of the moon. In addition, Kip is associated with stone throughout the novel:

Every night he had walked into the coldness of a captured church and found a statue for the night to be his sentinel. He had given his trust only to this race of stones, moving as close as possible against them in the darkness, a grieving angel whose thigh was a woman's thigh, whose thigh was a woman's perfect thigh, whose line and shadow appeared so soft (104).

In this passage, Kip's is associated with stone and, therefore, earth. He is a man who believes true peace is found in the earth. In a sense, Kip is driven to the earth (stone) because he is a child of the earth. Kip symbolizes the element of earth; he is solid, brown, sensual, and sensitive.

Caravaggio represents the element of air. Hana tells us that in his younger days before the war, Caravaggio was notorious for his short-lived relationships. Like wind, he flows in and out of relationships; like a breeze, he briefly caresses his lovers and disappears. In addition, his career as a thief connects him to the element of air. Like air, he lifts objects and carries them away. Furthermore, Caravaggio can be seen as a bird with its wings cut. Caravaggio's thumbs are cut off; like a bird who has had its wings cut, Caravaggio is forced to develop new methods for survival. Finally, Caravaggio is connected to wind through his desire to commune with it: "The man named Caravaggio pushes open all the windows in the room so he can hear the noises of the night" (31). In this passage, Caravaggio illustrates his relationship with the element of air; he is drawn to the sounds and life of the wind.

Finally, Almásy embodies the element of fire. His physical body and passionate personality tie him to this element. Physically, Almásy is connected to the element of fire because he is horribly burned in a plane crash:

Parts of his burned body and face had been sprayed with tannic acid that hardened into a protective shell over his raw skin. The area around his eyes was coated with a thick layer of gentian violet. There was nothing to recognize in him (48).

The obvious connection between Almásy and the element of fire is his physical persona. However, he is also connected to the element of fire because of his passionate sexuality. In the flashback, we learn that Almásy had fallen passionately in love with a friend's wife, Katherine. They have a fiery affair that results in her death and his burning. Almásy describes the disastrous events that result from the affair when he informs us that "She had been injured. In 1939. Her husband had crashed his plan. It had been planned as a suicide-murder by her husband that involved all three of us." Before he can get help for Katherine, he crashes a plane and is tragically burned. Almásy represents passion, pain, recklessness, and strength; he embodies the element of fire.

In nature, each of the elements is dependent on the others. Fire provides earth with the nutrients necessary for new growth. Water refreshes and revives earth. Air lifts and carries seeds, dropping them and replanting the earth. Combined, the elements represent unity and balance, a state of perfect peace. In Ondaatje's novel, humanity's need for unity and balance is revealed through the personal relationships among Hana, Caravaggio, Kip, and Almásy. Each of these characters discovers the will to survive as a result of the relationships with the others. Almásy teaches Hana, Kip, and Caravaggio about the passion and instinct of fire. Caravaggio reveals to the others the intellect and daringness of wind. Hana teaches Almásy, Kip, and Caravaggio about the fearlessness and life-energy of water. Kip enlightens Hana, Caravaggio, and Almásy; he teaches them the strength and protection of stone, of earth. Together, these elementals find peace and balance in a world of chaos.