The English Patient Pages 107-203

In pages 107 through 203 of The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, the backgrounds of Kip and the English patient are revealed. Hana has started a romantic relationship with Kip, while still having feelings for the patient and Caravaggio. The English patient tells us of his time in South Cairo between 1930 and the present, where he was a map maker and how he fell in love with a married woman named Katherine Clifton. After their breakup, Katherine's husband tries to kill them all in a plane crash, but the patient drags Katherine out alive. She dies wounded, in a nearby cave, where he returns three years later. Caravaggio reveals the patient might be a spy from Hungary, instead of English, based on his time in Cairo. Kip reveals his past with destructing bombs and how he got recruited for his job. Kip also reveals his brother was a protester of anything dealing with the English and is in jail.

Caravaggio is the voice of reason in this novel. He talks to the other characters about war and society and doesn't sugar coat the history or the present. Although none of the characters are wealthy, they live in "like the filthy rich in their filthy villas" during a war, so they're pretty well off, in a difficult time, even though their villa is rigged with bombs and falling apart. He finds a gramophone and plays music as a distraction to the chaos they feel outside of their villa. Caravaggio is clearly frustrated with the events of the war, asking "What are we doing in Africa, in Italy?" He believes Kip, Hana, and himself are "free," with no obligations other than to live their own lives the way the choose. He wants to protect Hana and get her out of the country by killing the patient.