Comparison Of Death In Bright Lights, Big City And The English Patient

“When we meet those we fall in love with, there is an aspect of our spirit that is historian, a bit of a pedant, who imagines or remembers a meeting when the other had passed by innocently” (Ondaatje 259). In Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient the characters seem to go through similar trials to get over Death. Death is a serious topic in which the authors choose to discuss in their novels. In both novels, the protagonists’ withdrawal from society after the loss of their significant other results in their alienation that time cannot heal.
Both characters, after the loss of their significant other, go through denial as part of their never ending healing process. The fact that both characters are
in denial proves how significant these people were to their lives. Just after finding his lover in the cave he “kept waiting for her wavering eye or her broken wrist to bend, for her still mouth to speak” (Ondaatje 257). The main character in The English Patient could not believe that his lover had died and he was waiting to see signs of her return to life. In Bright Lights, Big City, the unnamed main character, tells his brother that his ex-wife Amanda is “shopping” (McInerney 157). The unnamed character was not able to discuss the fact that he and his wife were separated for many months and chose to lie to his brother by saying that she was shopping. Even though his lover died Almásy continues to display his denial, “I had been speaking to her for over an hour” (Ondaatje 260). In The English Patient, the main character, Almásy, denies the fact that his lover has died by continuing to talk to his lover The unnamed protagonist in Bright Lights, Big City, has been separated for many months however, he states that he hasn’t “told anyone at work” (McInerney 77). The protagonist expresses to the people at work that Amanda is fine. His father does not even know about the separation. Therefore, both characters showed denial that their loved ones had passed on. After the realization of death, regret follows both characters by the questioning of their own actions.
The protagonists face regret through the loss of their loved ones. Both Almásy and the other unnamed protagonist believe that if they did not fall in love in the first place, the significant other would be better off. Almásy questions if he is “a curse upon them? For her?” (Ondaatje 257). Almásy is having an affair with Katharine, the woman of his dreams. He felt guilt and regret that perhaps he was a curse upon them and her. In Bright Lights, Big City, the unnamed protagonist regrets marrying Amanda. Tad, his friend states “I don’t see why you felt like you had to marry her” the unnamed character replies “I’ve been wondering that myself” (McInerney 115). The unnamed character started to doubt why he had married Amanda. When Almásy is saving her“… the only name I should have yelled, dropped like a calling card into their hands, was Clifton’s” (Ondaatje 251). Almásy’s name sounds to be a German name preventing him from saving his loved one, so if he used his friend’s name during WW2, he could save his lover. The unnamed protagonist states “at first… I [cannot] believe she left me, now I [cannot] believe we got married in the first place” (McInerney 161). The unnamed character regrets marrying Amanda and discovers that perhaps he married her to make his mother happy before her death. The loss of their significant other also spirals the characters into a deep depression causing them to hit rock bottom.
The lowest point for these characters is at the end of the book when they decide their fate.
For both protagonists, time did not heal them. There is no reason to live because, “Everything [he] had loved or valued has been taken away from [him]” (Ondaatje 257). Almásy requests a lethal injection of morphine because he feels that he is dying. While the unnamed protagonist feels “It [is] funny, people are funny, everything’s so funny you could die laughing, you [cannot] breathe, you [cannot] even see” (McInerney 175). This character is supressing his emotions in laughter. It is one of the signs that the unnamed character in Bright Lights, Big City is losing his mind. The characters final fate leads them to being at their poorest and most vulnerable death. As a gun is pointed at him he says, “do it, Kip. I [do not] want to hear anymore” (Ondaatje 285). Almásy would rather die than live. There is nothing that can mend his broken heart so he would like to take a bullet to deal with his pain. The unnamed protagonist describes how he is feeling in his state of depression by saying “you consider violence and you consider reconciliation. But you are left with is a premonition of the way your life will fade behind you like a book you have read too quickly,” (McInerney 127). The character is feeling like his life is fading away and there is nothing that he can do about
it. The Main protagonists in both The English Patient and Bright Lights, Big City, face the .loss of their lover, leading to their final demise. They could not contain themselves through this loss and had to revaluate their lives. Denial and regret are dreadful emotions they throw upon themselves that they could not overcome, filling their lives with depression. Putting yourself down due to another’s life is not a way to live. It is true that time cannot heal deaths, but one must move on without the help of time, and that in itself is the challenge.