Student Question
What does the desert symbolize in The English Patient?
Quick answer:
The symbol of the desert in The English Patient represents László Almásy's lack of national identity. Gilf Kebir, a desert plateau in North Africa where Almásy spends much of the 1930s, cannot be owned by anyone. As such, it cannot form the basis of a national identity.
The desert plateau of Gilf Kebir in North Africa is part of a recognizable territory; it forms part of a country's territorial possessions. But on a deeper level, as László Almásy observes, the desert can never really be said to belong to anyone. It is “a piece of cloth carried by winds.”
As such, it cannot truly form the basis of any recognizable national identity. And it is this lack of national identity from which Almásy suffers. Having spent the better part of a decade wandering through Gilf Kebir in search of the mythical city of Zerzura, Almásy has effectively become a stateless person, stripped of any national identity he may once have had.
For some people, this would be nothing less than a tragedy. Most of us have some attachment to the land in which we were born. But for Almásy, his statelessness, as symbolized by Gilf Kebir, is no cause for concern. On the contrary, he candidly admits that he “hate[s] nations” and claims that one is “deformed” by them.
Even so, as subsequent events will show, this is not a world in which it pays to be stateless. Statelessness creates all kinds of problems for Almásy as he makes strenuous efforts to conceal his national identity.
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