War has the ability to foster love and equalize social status at the same time. The novels The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje and A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute demonstrate, through fiction, that during war men and women who are not of the same social status can find an incomparable love with each other. Each novel also testifies to the love that is ignited during the war and that survives 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 that love is destined for failure or a future together forever... it never dies. The love between men and women of different conditions during times of war manifests itself in The English Patient between Kip and Hana. Kip and Hana have a cultural difference due to race. Their identities are different from each other. Kip was born in Punjab and raised in India while Hana is a young white woman from Canada and that 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 so much time identifying with other Englishmen. Kip finds himself in a very puzzling situation. He begins to transform and accept English traditions into his life, while trying to maintain his own Indian traditions. Racial tensions were high during the 1940s, and Indians in England were seen as second-class citizens. “In England he was ignored in the various barracks, and came to prefer that one” (196). Kip's self-sufficiency, “...was also the result of... middle of paper... mutual love and devotion. « 'Dear Joe. Of course I'm in love with you. What do you think I came to Australia for?'” (248). They had found in the 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. During times of war, love is cultivated and social statuses are eradicated. War sweeps away all worries about the petty things in life, while elevating the values ​​we hold so strongly in our hearts and souls. War makes people remember what is truly important in life and gives individuals a sense of purpose. Love and friendship are unbreakable bonds that we human beings appreciate. All the trivial concerns of our civilized world often tend to make us temporarily forget this fact. Love makes us human, especially in times of war, when people can seem so inhuman.