Kip’s second-in-command. Hardy is fond of Kip, and while the other men in their sapper unit find it difficult to call Kip, an Indian, “sir,” Hardy uses this term of address without hesitation. Hardy teaches Kip Western songs, which Kip frequently sings and whistles around the villa. Hardy is killed when a bomb explodes the night Caravaggio finds a gramophone and throws a party in the English patient’s room.
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Hardy Character Timeline in The English Patient
The timeline below shows where the character Hardy appears in The English Patient. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter III. Sometime a Fire
...skin. Caravaggio is irritated by Kip’s constant humming of Western songs, which Kip learned from Hardy, the other sapper who accompanied Kip to the villa. Hardy, however, has been relocated to...
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Hours later, Kip returns from the mine explosion, which killed Hardy, Kip’s second-in-command. After passing Caravaggio asleep on the library couch with the stray dog, Kip...
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...stop talking, but he asks Kip the name of the sapper who was just killed. Hardy, Kip answers. Caravaggio receives Kip’s answer as if it proves his point. Caravaggio claims that...
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Chapter VII. In Situ
Holding back his emotions, Kip went to Erith with Hardy but insisted on diffusing the bomb alone. The bomb was a “trick,” Kip tells Hana....
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Chapter VIII. The Holy Forest
Not long after Kip was sent to Italy, he was lowered by Hardy into a pit with a large Esau bomb. In 1941, Esau bombs with a new...
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As Kip continued his work defusing the Esau bomb, he sang the song Hardy taught him out loud. Within five minutes, Kip had the fuse out of the bomb...
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