Abstract
This article studies Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient (1992) as a journey for self-discovery after thecharacters’ passive and failed assimilation in Europe. It tries to discuss the three following issues: Kirpal Singh’sprocess of assimilation, the side effects of assimilation, and finally the main reasons for the failure ofassimilation. This topic, “Assimilation/Self-discovery: A Study of Michael Ondaatje’s “The English Patient”, isinvestigated within the framework of the following: the concept of the ‘Other’, Third space, and Multiculturalism.This study also elucidates the main different definitions of assimilation, and how Western societies(European/American) have miscellaneous reactions to/applications of such an elusive concept. The researcherhas come to prefer integration to assimilation. The former enables us to participate without suppressing ouridentities. Finally, this study also comes to highlight the dignity of the East and to resist the spirit of mimicry,hegemony and rigidity.
Highlights
Michael Ondaatje (1943) is a prolific Canadian writer
Their life in a ruined villa in Italy at the end of WWII is a journey for self-discovery; they restore their original identities and harmony with their lives
There are poems written about Gyges in iambic trimeters. He was the first of the barbarians to dedicate objects to Delphi. He reigned as King of Lydia for twenty-eight years, but we still remember him as only a cog in an unusual love story. (The English Patient, 1992, p. 234)
Summary
Michael Ondaatje (1943) is a prolific Canadian writer. He is classified as a postcolonial novelist. There are poems written about Gyges in iambic trimeters He was the first of the barbarians to dedicate objects to Delphi. This paper aims to elucidate the three following issues: Kirpal Singh’s process of assimilation as a journey for self-discovery, the side effects of assimilation, and the main reasons for the failure of assimilation. This topic, “Assimilation/Self-discovery: A Study of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient”, is investigated within the framework of the following: the concept of the ‘Other’, Third space, and Multiculturalism. This study tries to shed more light on the main different definitions of assimilation, how Western societies (European/American) have miscellaneous reactions to/applications of such an elusive concept, and why integration is preferable to assimilation
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