In the novel A Town Like Alice, lasting love has its foundations during World War II when Jean and Joe develop the beginning of their relationship as needed. Needs that arose during the horrific times they endured as prisoners of war. During a period of isolation and degradation, the barriers of social status were erased and they found comfort in each other as well as a momentary escape from the misery of being prisoners of war. The relationship that Jean and Joe formed in Malaya, during World War II, laid the foundation for an everlasting and enduring love that lasted a lifetime. Jean and Joe then crossed continents to find each other. “'Dear Joe. Of course I'm in love with you. Why do you think I came to Australia?' » (248). They had found a bond in war based on need, a need for companionship and understanding, and in that need they later discovered an enduring love that could never die. In the novel The English Patient, the war temporarily removed the stigma attached to dark skin and allowed another love based on mutual needs to flourish. “His only human and personal contact was this enemy who had made the bomb and left…” (105). Kip's connection with Hana allowed him to reconnect with humanity. The love he discovered with Hana fulfilled Kip's need to never be weak. “He refused to believe in his own weakness, and he had not found a weakness in her to oppose” (114). The English Patient also confirms the fact that love during war provides reason for hope in often desperate times. In the novel The Soldier's Return, rather than uniting the lovers, the war seemed to separate a love that was supposed to exist between Chris and Margaret. Chris and Margaret were truly in love but the war, even if temporary... middle of paper... could run down her cheeks, which to her was the most terrible thing of all, to see a man like Septimus. , who had fought, who was courageous, was crying” (137). His shell shock is exacerbated by the fact that the medical field did not fully understand or recognize the severity of shell impact during this time. Neither his family nor his doctors knew what he was facing or how to help him. The war and his mental illness caused Septimus to feel separated from life. Separate yourself mentally and emotionally. Septimus felt trapped, even though he didn't want to die, he felt there was no way to escape other than death. "'I'll give it to you!' he cried and threw himself vigorously, violently at Mrs. Filmer's gate” (146). Atonement and Mrs. Dalloway show that war is an unimaginable horror but it also shows that the human condition has unimaginable strengths..