Although the four main characters of The English Patient are extremely powerful and important to the reader's understanding of the story, they cannot not be alone without the imagery patterns, symbolism and metaphor that underpin the text and provide a complexity that goes beyond the literal level. These models reveal information about each character and provide meaningful connections between characters and ideas that lead to a better understanding of the novel. Likewise, the plot would have little impact on the reader if the novel were not so densely colored by these patterns of images, symbols, and metaphors; among which skin, hands, mapping and elements are particularly important. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get an original essay A metaphorical idea that resonates throughout the novel and is present in all the characters (especially the English patient and Caravaggio) is the concept of man as a kind of community book, in which all aspects of his life and his relationships with others are "mapped" onto him. It also operates literally, through the obvious marks of scarring on the English patient, and in Caravaggio's case, the loss of both thumbs... his black body, starting at his destroyed feet... above the shins, burns are the most serious. Beyond purple. Bone. This description of the English patient's body is horrific and confronting; it touches on the theme of pain, the construction of identity and of course the physical evidence of one's tortured past, which the reader learns more about as this imagery develops. It's almost as if his body is a landscape; a war zone on which all evidence of suffering is mapped. Hand imagery is used repeatedly in the novel to communicate the theme of the ambiguity of the past and experience, but also as being an important means of reflection and observation. Her father had taught her about hands. About a dog's paws, he would feel the base of his paw. It is, he said, the most beautiful smell in the world! A bouquet!?an allusion to all the paths taken by the animal during the day. While hands are explored as a means of recording history and experience, the idea of ​​past experience as ambiguous and subjective is very important to the text. Even though Hana's father recognizes the reflexive nature of the body and hands, he does not recognize the other side of the debate; the fact that experience and identity can be hidden through the physical nature of the body. This is manifested in the scarred state of the English patient; a man (despite his “label”) without a nation, without a name or a tangible and accessible past. The scars on his body allow him to live as a blank canvas, and any speculation as to his possible identities is just that; speculation, however credible it may be. Finding “truths” is an impossible task, because the nature of history and experience is subjective. However, the body is a canvas on which every experience is recorded, and this is evident in all of the characters in The English Patient. A love story is not about people who lose their hearts but about those who find that brooding inhabitant who, when encountered, means the body can't fool anyone, can't fool anything - not the wisdom of sleep or the habits of social graces. It is a consumption of oneself and of the past. This writing by the English patient refers to this metaphor of experience as being "mapped" onto an individual atthrough powerful emotions such as love with its love story. Katharine affects him so much that when the affair ends thanks to Katharine's insistence, Almasy is so damaged that he begins to display obvious behavior in public without realizing it. His love for Katharine possessed him, almost like a devouring or. predatory animal, such as the "jackal" to which he later compares himself, while it is unclear whether Clifton was directly informed of this animal's existence. simply knew it intuitively; the victims of this love story, Katharine and Almasy, were unable to hide their “scars”. The images describing the setting of the novel relate to the idea of ​​the villa as paradise and escape for the shocked survivors, while the desert an oasis; a calm but dynamic spiritual terrain, governed by the elements. Both settings are linked to the symbolism of the elements, and the desert especially contains numerous references to water, which never felt alone in the kilometers of longitude between the desert cities. A man in a desert can hold absence in his hands knowing that it is something that nourishes him more than water. The “unmarked” nature of the desert is something that Almasy loves, because in it he feels alive, free and nourished, without the restrictions imposed on him by nations and identity. The desert is linked to the element of water, as it refreshes and enlivens the soul, as well as to the imagery of the hands and their healing properties. He fell to his knees and approached the burned pilot and placed his cold hands on his neck and held him. over there. In the desert you celebrate nothing but water. The imagery of hands and skin, as well as the elements of fire, water, air and earth, are all linked together in the descriptions of the two settings and overlap in their explorations of themes . of the novel. The water element is particularly important in the desert context, as its rarity symbolizes the harshness and brutality of the environment, as well as the war which impacts both contexts; the Villa and the desert. Regarding the characters' connections to the elements, while the English patient is clearly linked to fire, Hana is also linked to water. The water represents her need to be purified and to cleanse others from the harshness of war. The purity of the water relieves and numbs her symptoms of shell shock, and she is able to escape to this "fantasy paradise" that is the Villa, which she has built for herself and the other characters. She wets her hands and combs the water through her hair until it is completely wet. It cools her and she loves it when she goes outside and the breezes hit her, blotting out the thunder. The ritual nature of Hana's connections with water speaks to her need for something to sustain her spiritually. Having lost everyone close to her due to the war, Hana escapes her own past suffering and that of others through her connection with the elements, particularly water. This is also reflected in the desert setting, where Katharine's preoccupation with the humidity of her environment in England prevents her from understanding and perceiving the beauty of the "nameless" desert, as Almasy does. This connects aptly to Katharine's need for tradition, a tangible connection to her ancestors, the family name and her identity. She would have hated to die without a name. Katharine's connection to water (in many ways the complete opposite of fire), and her need for a recognizable identity provide an interesting and necessary contrast to the English patient, who is linked to fire and construction. obvious identity. Fire and combustion are linked to the apocalyptic experiences that all the characters have throughout the story. novel, until theending, where Kip is betrayed by his paternal colonizer England and takes a journey through the ruins of European civilization, "redrawing" his life path. Fire is depicted as a destroyer, but also as a hidden healer; it marks an end, but also a new beginning for some. When the English patient fell burning in the desert, it was indeed his end; metaphorically if not physically. His body is incredibly destroyed by the fire, his burned skin is "eggplant color". For the English patient, fire is representative of anger, regret and sorrow, but it is also the elemental mediator of human actions. Clifton planned to kill Almasy, Katharine and himself in a murder-suicide that, while not going exactly as planned, has tragic circumstances. However, even if Almasy survives and lives for a few more years, it does not come without continued pain and suffering. No character survives without being “touched” in some way by the elements; either positive or negative. His lover having died in the Cave of Swimmers, among his chosen element of water, the fire then destroyed all traces of her existence. All that remains is his memories, which, blurred by increasing doses of morphine, are also, as the novel seriously questions, unreliable. Before that, when Katharine insists on their separation as lovers, Almasy meets another ending. His hunger wants to burn all social rules, all courtesy. The relationship between Katharine and Almasy is effectively destroyed by the expectations of European culture. He wants to “burn” these strict social codes to give priority to what really makes sense; love. The all-consuming nature of fire is also linked to the intense emotional and physical desire expressed in the relationship between these two lovers...the heart is an organ of fire. Once captured by love, the heart “burns and consumes”, it can never return to what it was. In this case, the fire is considered a new beginning; the consuming nature of fire is linked to love. What he gains through fire, however, is the ability to detach himself from his name, his race, and his past; his identity is stripped away, or burned, along with the skin from his body. What and who he was is of no importance to him, and he can finally renounce all labels, as he has wished for his entire life. Ironically, a few months before his death, while confined to a bed in a villa far from the desert he loved, he managed to gain psychological freedom. I fell on fire in the desert.. Then his legs are free of everything and he's in the air, glowing, not knowing why he's glowing until he realizes he's on fire. These intriguing comparisons, between destruction and fire, between fire and love, are summed up in the quote above which contains a painful beauty in its language. The air element is part of its journey through fire; another level or stage that he must endure in suffering. Both sides of the fire are revealed; enlightenment, light, a new beginning, against pain, death and apocalypse. The symbolism of fire in the novel is no different from other symbolisms and images, in that the themes explored through such references always have a complex and sometimes contradictory nature. When Kip hears about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, images of fire and destruction fill his mind. If he closes his eyes, he sees that the streets are full of fire. It rolls through the cities like a burnt map, the hurricane of heat withering the bodies it meets, the shadows of humans suddenly in the air. In this case, fire can be considered a conqueror of all other elements; its devouring nature..