The English Patient

by

Michael Ondaatje

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The English Patient makes teaching easy.

Lord Suffolk Character Analysis

An “eccentric” bomb expert in the British army and Kip’s mentor. Lord Suffolk is a member of “the Holy Trinity” team along with his secretary, Miss Morden, and his chauffer, Mr. Harts, and they travel England diffusing bombs dropped by the Germans. Lord Suffolk accepts Kip into his elite unit, and the two quickly become close. To Kip, Lord Suffolk represents the absolute best of Britain, and Kip looks up to him as a sort of father figure. Lord Suffolk is killed in Erith with the rest of the Holy Trinity when a “trick” bomb explodes.

Lord Suffolk Quotes in The English Patient

The The English Patient quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Suffolk or refer to Lord Suffolk. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love Theme Icon
).
Chapter VII Quotes

He looked back at the others, peered around the room and caught the gaze of the middle-aged secretary. She watched him sternly. An Indian boy. He smiled and walked towards the bookshelves. Again he touched nothing. At one point he put his nose close to a volume called Raymond, or Life and Death by Sir Oliver Hodge. He found another, similar title. Pierre, or the Ambiguities. He turned and caught the woman’s eyes on him again. He felt as guilty as if he had put the book in his pocket. She had probably never seen a turban before. The English! They expect you to fight for them but won’t talk to you. Singh. And the ambiguities.

Related Characters: Kip/Kirpal Singh, Lord Suffolk, Miss Morden
Related Symbols: Books , Kip’s Turban
Page Number: 187-8
Explanation and Analysis:
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Lord Suffolk Quotes in The English Patient

The The English Patient quotes below are all either spoken by Lord Suffolk or refer to Lord Suffolk. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Love Theme Icon
).
Chapter VII Quotes

He looked back at the others, peered around the room and caught the gaze of the middle-aged secretary. She watched him sternly. An Indian boy. He smiled and walked towards the bookshelves. Again he touched nothing. At one point he put his nose close to a volume called Raymond, or Life and Death by Sir Oliver Hodge. He found another, similar title. Pierre, or the Ambiguities. He turned and caught the woman’s eyes on him again. He felt as guilty as if he had put the book in his pocket. She had probably never seen a turban before. The English! They expect you to fight for them but won’t talk to you. Singh. And the ambiguities.

Related Characters: Kip/Kirpal Singh, Lord Suffolk, Miss Morden
Related Symbols: Books , Kip’s Turban
Page Number: 187-8
Explanation and Analysis: