The English Patient

The novel, The English Patient, by Michael Ondaajte constructs meaning through the use of tropes, images and symbolism, instead of merely portraying a linear set of events. There are many references within the text and tropes of covering, which serve to create and strengthen meaning. Bold imagery is also present, which erects another level of significance. Symbolism plays a vital role in the formation of meaning, with fire, religion, the English Patient's burned body and …

…attention to narratives, which inform people's lives. Stories that people live out, texts that people read and accept as normal, these are brought to attention by the acknowledgement that the novel The English Patient is a construction of the writer, Michael Ondaatje's imagination. It is through the use of symbolism, tropes, images and the lack of linearity, as opposed to conventional techniques that the author Michael Ondaatje constructs meaning in the novel The English Patient.