War has the ability to foster love while equalizing social status. The novels The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje and A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute demonstrate, through fiction, that in times of war, men and women who are not in the same situation in life can find each other with others an incomparable love. Each novel also bears witness to the love that ignited during war and survived the tests of time and distance. Hana and Kip from The English Patient and Jean and Joe both go through these trials and tribulations associated with love and war. Whether this love is doomed to failure or a future together forever… it never dies. The love between men and women from different stations during wartime is manifested in The English Patient between Kip and Hana. Kip and Hana have a cultural difference due to race. Their identities are diverse from each other. Kip was born in Punjab and raised in India while Hana is a young white woman from Canada and this difference in any other environment would have impacted the intimacy of their relationship. A relationship between the two in a normal environment would have been unusual. Although Kip's cultural heritage and skin color are different from Hana's, Kip considers himself more English than Indian after spending a lot of time identifying with other English people. Kip finds himself in a very perplexing situation. He begins to transform and accept English traditions into his life, while trying to maintain his own Indian traditions. Racial tensions were high in the 1940s and Indians in England were considered second-class citizens. “In England he was ignored in the various barracks and he came to prefer that” (196). Kip's self-sufficiency, “...was as much a result of... middle of paper... love and devotion to each other. “'Dear Joe. Of course I'm in love with you. Why do you think I came to Australia?' » (248). They had found in war a bond based on need, a need for companionship and understanding, and in that need they later discovered an enduring love that could never die. In war, love is cultivated and social statuses are eradicated. War erases all concerns about the little things in life while reinforcing the values ​​we hold so strongly in our hearts and souls. War reminds people of what is truly important in life and gives them purpose. Love and friendship are unbreakable bonds that we cherish as humans. All the trivial concerns of our civilized world often tend to make us temporarily forget this fact. Love makes us human, especially in war when people can seem so inhuman.