We have changed our privacy policy. In addition, we use cookies on our website for various purposes. By continuing on our website, you consent to our use of cookies. You can learn about our practices by reading our privacy policy.

The English Patient Scene 20 Summary

  • That night, it storms.
  • Caravaggio, Kip, Hardy, and Hana carry Almásy into the rain so he can feel it.
  • They play records and have a dance party.
  • In the town, Hardy climbs a ladder and poses with a statue.
  • Back at the monastery, Kip hears an explosion, and he runs to his motorbike.
  • When he arrives in town, he sees there was a booby trap. The statue had a bomb on it.
  • Sergeant Hardy is dead.
  • Back at the monastery, Kip shuts himself in the barn and mourns alone.
  • Hana talks to him through the door, saying she's sorry for what happened.
  • But Kip won't answer her.
  • Later, Hana listens in as Almásy and Caravaggio talk again.
  • Caravaggio is leaving soon, to be an interpreter.
  • He tells the story of how he found Hana and Almásy at the monastery.
  • Caravaggio says he saw Almásy writing in his book in Cairo, "When I had thumbs and you had a face… and a name."
  • Then he accuses him of leading the Germans into British headquarters.
  • Almásy says he did it because he "had to get back to the desert."
  • Nothing else meant a thing to him.
  • Caravaggio tells him his actions had results—and holds up his thumb stumps.
  • And he says that thousands of people died. Plus, Madox shot himself when he found out Almásy was a spy.
  • Almásy is upset. He says he was never a spy! Time for another flashback: what does he spy with his little eyes?