Abstract

In Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, Almásy favors an anonymity of identity based in private experience, and to that end hides his personal history from view. Almásy shields his personal experiences from the eyes of the individuals he encounters, as well as from the reader. This conscious act indicates that Almásy believes that the choices he makes do not matter, because who he is in relation to the world and to the greater forces of time and history is insignificant. He attempts to escape from the world by acting on the presumption that one can live without being constrained by the consequences of one’s actions on the world if one is removed from it. Nevertheless, despite Almásy’s confidence in the..