The English Patient: Chapter VII Summary & Analysis

Here, Kip’s culture is completely disregarded and disrupted by the war. As a British colony, Indian men were expected to fight for the British, and cultural expectations and traditions did not matter. Kip is expected to put his life on the line for people he doesn’t know and doesn’t interact with, and he is given few resources, which suggests the British military cares little if he is killed in the process. 

This reflects the abject violence and destruction of the war. Bombs were constructed to inflict the maximum amount damage and death, and the climbing number of unexploded bombs adds to the trauma of Kip’s experience. He diffuses multiple bombs each day, which as an isolated incident would be bad enough, but Kip is forced to do it time and time again.

Kip’s love of English tea reflects his assimilation to English ways, but it has a more ironic connection as well. In colonizing India, England became rich through “tea estates” where indentured servants—enslaved Indians—were forced to harvest tea for the English.

This, too, reflects the racism of colonialism. Miss Morden watches Kip move around the library with suspicion, which he assumes is because of his turban. Kip’s selection of Herman Melville’s Pierre; or The Ambiguities has subtle meaning here. Ambiguity means being open to more than one interpretation—Melville’s book, for instance, is at once a novel but is also autobiographical, depending on the interpretation. Similarly, Kip seems to suggest here that Miss Morden should be open to more than one interpretation, beyond the racist assumptions of colonialism, regarding his turban and Indian identity.  

While Lord Suffolk and Miss Morden seem to accept Kip easily enough, they still disregard his culture and identity. They are celebrating Kip’s accomplishment, yet they choose to celebrate in a way that excludes him. Had they really wanted to celebrate Kip and his accomplishment, they would actually focus on Kip and celebrate in a manner in which he can actually partake.

Kip looks to Lord Suffolk like a father figure, yet he has no time to mourn this profound loss. He must immediately go to Erith and diffuse the bomb—the same kind of bomb his mentor was unable to diffuse. The stress and trauma of such a situation is unimaginable, and it is more evidence of the hardships Kip is made to endure because of the war.

This is more evidence of the racism Kip must face in the British military. The men in Kip’s unit obviously do not respect him because of his Indian identity, yet he is the best bomb specialist among them. They should respect him for doing what the rest of them can’t, but instead they ignore him and treat him as if he is invisible. 

Kip’s brother also illustrates the blatant racism and injustice of colonialism. Kip and his brother are wholly oppressed by the British, as their country and culture have been completely taken over by colonialism. Kip’s brother thus refuses to fight, and possibly die, for his oppressors.