The English Patient-7

 Today, I read about half of chapter 6 of <The English Patient>. Almasy, or the English patient, keeps telling others the story of his past. While listening to his story, Caravaggio becomes suspicious with the fact that the English patient is English. Instead, he begins to think that he is a spy who worked for Germans. His belief is strengthened when the patient brings up the name "Cicero" for the villa dog, which is a code name for German spies. Caravaggio is eager to know the truth related to the English patient, so he keeps asking questions, even though Hana disagrees with him and thinks it does not anymore even if he is German because the war is over.

English Patient-6

In chapter 5, Katharine Clifton dreams of a man who turns out to be the English patient. And later, she falls in love with the English patient, even though she knows she should not because she is already married to Geoffrey. And later, she is so nervous that their affair will be caught by Geoffrey and make him mad, so she declares that she cannot keep the relationship with him. I researched about the plot already, so I know that this forbidden love affair will bring disaster to both of them. Therefore, my opinion is that if she knew that the relationship was wrong and was going to break up with the him anyway, why didn't she even start it? Temporary inability to suppress her sexual desire and the English patient's wrong obsession with her ruin their lives completely.

Pecha Kucha plan-5

Our inquiry question is that can people be truly altruistic. To reflect the topic in the video pecha kucha, our group is planning to support Vancouver Sun Children Funds by donating items such as necessities (clothes, food, et cetera) and books. We are going to go from door to door asking for residents' donation. We will start collecting items this Saturday and actually start handing out our collection to the needy. To do this, thorough planning will be necessary. We will have to find out who and what school needs help, listen to their current situation and find out exactly what donations are most necessary to improve their lives. The influence of our charity activity might be very small, but as I said in the last pecha kucha, I think that as long as we do something to help others without expecting rewards, it is worth doing it, even if the action is very trivial. And then we can try bigger charity projects later.

The English Patient-4

  Relating to the pecha kucha presentation I had with my group members, I had time to think more deeply on the theme we chose. The question was "Can people be completely altruistic?" I think it is rare and difficult, but it is still possible. Hana in the novel is an easy example. Even after the war, she refuses to move to a bigger hospital but decides to stay in a destroyed nunnery to take care of a man who can barely move his body. She does not even hesitate to listen to Caravaggio when he also advises her to leave the place for the sake of her. Another example will be our parents. Ever since they gave us birth, they have taken care of us in all aspects without wanting compensation. It is parents who stay around us when we are sick and it is parents who give us wise advice when we are in trouble. Parents educate us and always wish us to become successful, but they never require us to pay back for what we have received.
  However, being completely altruistic is not easy. Only minority of people and parents care about people without expecting rewards. Also, if we think about those few people in different aspects, they are also gaining something from their actions, such as satisfaction and happiness. Probably these people help others because they can feel happy and proud by doing that. Hana, too, may be helping the English patient because she can feel needed by the presence of him. The patient cannot live even one day by himself. Therefore, I think there is not the right answer for this simple and also complex philosophical question.

The English Patient-3

 Because the villa, as the story clarified before, still has many bombs buried in the area even after Germans retreated, sappers, Kip and Hardy, come to the villa to defuse the bombs. Kip had a difficulty defusing a bomb one day, but he overcame the trouble with Hana's aid. However, Hardy is killed while defusing the other bomb alone.

 In Chapter 4, the English patient tells Hana his story when he was in the desert in fragments. He was one of other Europeans who mapped and explored the desert. He worked alone and usually accompanied the Bedouin people instead of other European soldiers. As he worked with the Bedouin people, he found out that the nationality and the feeling of belonging to a particular group only destroy people. He had wanted to disappear and never belong to anything since then. 

 The English patient did not want to belong to a particular nation because the only fact that people are from different countries makes them fight and destroy others. For example, whenever the British soldiers and the German soldiers meet by coincidence, they have to start shooting first to survive. However, in the desert, it doesn't simply work like that.

 The feeling that someone belongs to somewhere is usually a human instinct that everyone wants to have. People who do not belong feel that they are isolated and lose confidence. However, the war violates even the innate instinct of a human. The story of the English patient shows the extent the war can change people.

The Beginning of the Novel...-2

I just started reading the book and I have read only two chapters yet, so I barely know what is going on, but unlike what I thought before reading the book, the story starts off at the end of World War II. In a previous post, I said I chose this novel because I like reading stories that deal with the consequences of wars, but I thought it would briefly talk about what happened during the war and then move on, like other typical war novels that I have read so far. It does seem to describe about the war, but it is depicted only by people's recollection, especially by the Black injured man who is taken care of by a nurse called Hana. Caravaggio, Hana's father's friend, also indirectly shows how horrible the war was because all of his fingers except thumb were cut off by Germans while he was in captivity. I'm really not sure of what's going on yet, but the plot of the story seems interesting so far.

Why The English Patient??? -1

 My group members and I chose the book called The English Patient by a SriLankan-Canadian author Michael Ondaatje for the Inquiry Project. The main reason I voted for this book is that its historical background is World War ll. I like reading war novels, especially the ones that deal with the aftermath of the wars. Also, Ondaatje's ethnicity made me become interested in the book because I expected that I could learn about the points of view or culture of a Sri Lankan melted in the book, which are not familiar to me. I know that all authors put their culture-related opinions into their books, either on purpose or unconsciously. Lastly, I could be sure of my choice when I learned that this novel received many awards, the fact which proves that the book is worth reading it. One of my friends actually started reading it and says he loves the storyline, too, so I am expecting a lot from The English Patient. I will start reading it very soon.