Introduction

Transnational Identities 335
(45). However, he claims to have forgotten his nationality because of his accident
(EP 6) and consequently cannot be named or identified (EP 102).
The patient nevertheless stresses the similarities between himself and Kip, and
there are certainly many. In addition to their shared migrant background, they are
both equally self-sufficient (EP 134, 252), they value their independence above all
(EP 135, 253) and are defined by the skill of their respective professions (EP 116,
255). Kip is furthermore enthralled by the patient’s encyclopaedic knowledge
which leads to their frequent discussions of a diverse range of topics, for example
the defusing of bombs (EP 95). Because of this Kip is repeatedly found sitting on
the patient’s bed, which leads the latter to liken this scene to a painting by
Caravaggio, David with the Head of Goliath. The painting shows David gazing at the
face of Goliath, in which David’s face is supposedly modelled after the young
Caravaggio and Goliath has the face of Caravaggio in his old age. The patient
concludes, “Kip is my David” (EP 123) and sees his younger self reflected in the
sapper (see also Kella 109), thereby stressing the similarities he sees between them.
Nevertheless, there are also striking differences between them which the patient
and Kip, too, initially fail to see. Kip clearly attempts to lead a transnational
life, which can be discerned in the description of his time in England. After initial
difficulties and alienation (EP 199), he joins Suffolk’s team and “stepped into a
family, after a year abroad, as if he were the prodigal returned, offered a chair at
the table, embraced with conversations” (EP 201-2). Even though other English
people do not recognize him as an equal and categorize him as ‘other’, thereby
stressing that for them he does not belong to their nation (EP 209, 225), the relationship
with Suffolk and his group is marked by respect and acceptance. Markedly,
throughout the chapter “In Situ” which recounts his experiences in England,
he is not called ‘Kip’ as in the rest of the novel, but by his real name ‘Singh’ which
consequently highlights his Indianness but does not thereby distance him from the
English around him. 41 On the contrary, this is the chapter in his life in which he is
most accepted into English society and actually feels he belongs there as part of
Suffolk’s family. 42 After Suffolk’s death and Kip’s departure from England his
identification with the country does not change: “Kirpal Singh had been befriended,
and he would never forget it” (EP 199). Nonetheless he is always aware
41 Towards the end of the chapter, Miss Morden calls him Kip once (EP 215) but as was stated
before, “Lord Suffolk and his demolition team took to calling him by his nickname, which he
preferred to the English habit of calling people by their surname” (EP 94). The narrator’s usage
of Kip’s real name clearly emphasizes a different, more accepting attitude towards Kip’s difference
without attempting to familiarize him by “translat[ing] [him] into a salty English fish” (EP
93-94). Likewise, he is also referred to as Kirpal Singh a few times towards the novel’s end after
he has rejected any idea of transnational belonging and has re-established his national identity
(EP 305, 307).
42 The emphasis on the respect for Kip’s difference expressed through the use of his real name is
strikingly absent in the transnational space of the villa.