'Discuss the ways in which the setting is important to a novel you have studied this year' - English Patient
             Michael Ondaatje's fiction novel 'The English Patient' is set in two different places in a sense. Firstly, in reality, Hana, Caravaggio, Kip and Almasy himself are located within Tuscany in the Villa San Giralamo a transformed nunnery, post World War II 1945. They are also situated in the mind of Almasy (the English patient), mingling in South Cairo, The Desert, 1930-1938. This also shows that they are set in two alternate time periods but with the same tenses, flicking to and fro in Almasy's past experiences.
             The Desert, which is the most significant setting revealed in the novel, shows the amalgamation of the two parallel worlds in the English patient is depicted in reality, Tuscany and in the memories of Almasy. The English countryside which has been ripped apart by plane barrages, land mines and gun fire, portrays the desert in the way of lifelessness. The three of them are isolated in the field hospital away from civilization. Just like in the desert, where everything is secluded from the living. The author has purposely placed each character in blank, secluded places (e.g. the desert) so the reader is able to review each character under more intensity. The dryness of the desert, the sandstorms, and so much more that contributes to the desert's reputation as a hostile place to stay, forces man to adapt to the environment. The solitude of the English countryside also compels the three to adjust to their situation.
             The Italian villa the three are staying in is compared to the landscape and seen as one, by Hana. She reflects to herself that "there seemed little demarcation between house and landscape." There seems to be a thin line between earth and building and Hana is swaying both ways. The war has destroyed the villa making huge holes in the walls and ceilings and nature has filled
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