Response Journal #2: Comments on Character Identities Part I: What Is Comfort?

At pages 120 and 126 there were some very interesting points raised about character and the human condition, especially the former. I truly think Carravagio has cracked at this point, and Hana has started to come out of her insanity; a reversal of roles. In the passage at page 120, Carravagio starts talking argumentatively, and we are told that he has just taken a hit of morphine. He goes from exclaiming the futility of sex, to the importance of mental humility to others, to eloquence. Simply put, he says it's better to love someone smarter than you, because they will nurture and teach. I personally think it goes deeper than that. Being mentally submissive to someone you love is a way of incorporating something missing to you in your life. It will be the closest thing you come to of actually being more intelligent. I think the attraction lies not in learning more, but in gaining something you don't have. Ondaatje is successful in making this point, regardless of style, because he has initiated higher-level thinking. It is merely a part of the human condition to desire things we may never have.
On page 126, the author goes into the ways each character finds comfort. The reader-author relationship is evident here because the comforts are quite archetypal, and can all be found in a certain part of us as well, depending on where you look. Kip's strict regime of eating only his own food shows he finds comfort in home and religion. Hana, however, does not find comfort in these places because she has lived with and cared for a dying man for two months alone, allowing her values to be distorted. At this point, home and religion are all she has, and it tortures her. Going back to what was said about loving someone who is wiser: Hana loves Kip because theoretically she looks up to him for defeating and living by her very own fears. I believe that Hana finds comfort in Kip because she knows that the very things that disturbed her once, have left another man untouched. He seems strong, invincible even, and she wants to be a part of that to heal her. Carravagio finds his comfort in morphine, which is artificial, but all-too common. Lastly, Almasy, the English patient himself, finds comfort in "Ointments of desert invention", which plays well with supernatural beliefs that so many people respect to stay above the surface. The way Ondaatje unveils this is subtle, yet direct. His inquiry into the human condition is remarkable, yet it never strays from the story or theme. Nothing is bent out of proportion to display his ideas, which may point to the reason why they are all so subtle.