The Consequences of War

“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers” (José Narosky). Narosky touches an important consequence of war that is viewed in the novel, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. The story takes place during World War II in an abandoned Italian Villa habited by only four characters of different nationality, two Canadians, an Indian and a Hungarian. These characters learn about each other, ultimately leading them to discover themselves and reveal issues that the war caused them. The dehumanizing effects of war, in The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, reveals uncomfortable and disturbing truths about how Hana, Kip and Caravaggio perceive the world around them as well as themselves.

Events from the war created dehumanizing effects on Hana, thus forcing her to dramatically change mentally and physically to become a new person; who is withdrawn from the world. Working as a nurse in World War II exposed Hana to unforgiving situations. She had experienced death everyday including the death of her loved ones. These harsh experiences lead Hana to detach herself from the world around her. This is demonstrated when Hana cut off her hair because she was disgusted at the fact that it had fallen in a pool of a patient’s blood the day before. The removal of her hair is described as, “When she woke, she picked up a pair of scissors out of the porcelain bowl, leaned over and began to cut her hair, not concerned with shape of length, just cutting it away” (49). This represents both the physical and symbolic changes in Hana. By removing her long hair, this changed the way Hana was perceived by the world. She no longer had her long beautiful hair; instead she then had short, uneven hair. In our world today, we see people with rough haircuts as und...

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...d the way they view the world and themselves. Hana’s experiences as a nurse constantly seeing death transformed her from an innocent young woman to a damaged, hopeless and detached woman. Kip’s experiences as an Indian in a white man’s world transformed the way he viewed the white race as well as his own, thus forcing him to leave his loved ones behind. He went from working and trusting the Europeans to hating them so much that he leaves Hana, the love of his life, behind. Caravaggio’s experiences the night he got caught by the Germans transformed him from a charismatic, confident thief to a coward with no confidence. In all, war causes large consequences on everyone who has an affiliation to it. “War does not determine who is right – only who is left” (Bertrand Russell).

Works Cited

Ondaatje, Michael. The English Patient. Toronto: Vintage Canada, 1993. Print.