Practical Criticism of the Novel

            
             "The English Patient" by Michael Ondaajte begins in the early 1930's, the year in which it comes to an end is unclear but it is after the end of the Second World War.
             The two passages which are to be critically assessed do not take place in the order in which the book is read. Passage two is likely to have taken place some time before passage one. The two passages do not have a direct effect on each other but are however both important to the book as a whole.
             The first passage to be critically assessed comes from the very beginning of the novel. It is a brief insight into what happened to the English patient directly after his accident. It begins with a description of what the room he is in is like, it mentions "spilling flowers, arms of great trees" this choice of words give the impression the painted walls are alive, which may be what he believes them to be. This first paragraph also sets a romantic tone to the passage. .
             The first few paragraphs are written in a third person narration. As the nurse begins to speak to him it changes to first person. The reason for this is so that it is more personal. This is where there is an analapses as he explains what happened when the tribe found him in the desert. There is a reference to how the tribes treated him "strapped me onto a cradle", this gives the reader the impression that the tribe is going to look after him and care for him as though he where a child.
             The focalizer throughout the passage is Almasy (the English patient). However to begin with it is written in an extra-diegetic style as the narrator is not Almasy himself but someone who is above the story, who can see his thoughts an almost god like figure. Once the passage has moved to a first person narration it changes to intra-diegetic as Almasy himself that is telling his story.
             The overall passage gives the impression that Almasy was once a romantic person "he remembers picnics, a woman who kissed parts of his body that are now burned".