In the Skin of a Lion
OCLC 16089069 | |
In the Skin of a Lion is a novel by
An important aspect of the novel is its depiction of Toronto in the 1930s. Ondaatje spent many months in the
In a minor section of the novel, Patrick Lewis visits Paris, Ontario in which Ondaatje describes various parts of the town including: Broadway Street, Wheelers Needleworks, Medusa, Paris Plains, just north of the town, the Arlington hotel, and Paris Public Library.
The novel's title is taken from a line in The Epic of Gilgamesh, following the death of Enkidu. It is located in the epigraph as "I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion," echoing the theme of converging voices re-telling history.
The book was nominated for the Governor General's Award for English Language Fiction in 1987. Ondaatje's more famous 1992 novel, The English Patient, is, in part, a sequel to In the Skin of a Lion, continuing the characters of Hana and Caravaggio as well as revealing the fate of this novel's main character, Patrick Lewis.
Plot summary
Book One
Little Seeds
The first chapter, "Little Seeds," describes the growing years of the main character, Patrick Lewis, providing causation for his subsequent actions in the novel. As a young boy in Depot Creek, Ontario, Patrick watches the loggers arrive in town in the winter, work in the mills in the other seasons, and skate on the frozen river. Patrick's father, Hazen Lewis, becomes a dynamiter and is meticulous when washing his clothes each evening to remove remnants of explosives on his apparel. These elements form the foundation of the subsequent narrative: Depot Creek, the loggers skating, learning about dynamite, etc.
The Bridge
"The Bridge" deals with the construction of the Bloor Street Viaduct, which will link eastern Toronto with the center of the city and will carry traffic, water and electricity across the Don Valley. R.C. Harris, the city's Commissioner of Public Works often visits the bridge at night. One night, five nuns wander onto the unfinished bridge and one falls off. Nicholas Temelcoff, a Macedonian immigrant worker on the bridge, saves the nun who fell off the bridge, dislocating his arm. The nun, already missing her veil, tears her habit to make him a sling. Later, at a bar, he offers her brandy, compliments, and a new lease on life. Temelcoff is a silent man who struggles with English yet they are able to transcend their social and language barriers through the commonality of their scars— his from work, hers from being "always unlucky." This moment is the beginning of the nun's eventual transformation into the character Alice. He eventually falls asleep and wakes to find a doctor treating his arm and the nun gone.
The Searcher
As a young man, Patrick leaves the profession that killed his father and sets out to find the vanished millionaire
Book Two
Palace of Purification
In 1930, Patrick is working as a dynamiter on a tunnel under Lake Ontario, a project of Commissioner Rowland Harris. Patrick rents an apartment in a Macedonian neighborhood. He is accepted into the neighborhood and is invited by Kosta, a fellow dynamiter, to a gathering at the Waterworks—a place where various nationalities gather for secret political discussions and entertainment. Patrick witnesses a performance in which an actor repeatedly smashes her hand against the stage and rushes forward to help her. He recognizes her as Alice Gull. His act of helping her turns out to be part of the show. Patrick visits Alice and learns about Hana, her nine-year-old daughter. Patrick and Alice become lovers. Patrick finds work in a leather company through Alice's friends and meets Nicholas Temelcoff, now a baker. On studying the bridge, Patrick learns about the nun that had fallen off, whose body was never found. He makes the connection after talking with Temelcoff and promises to look after Hana.
Remorse
Patrick travels by train, north of Huntsville, then takes a steamer to a Muskoka hotel frequented by the rich. He burns down the hotel, then escapes on a small boat, traveling to the next island, where he meets the blind Elizabeth. We learn that Alice has died suddenly and that Patrick committed the arson out of anger. Patrick swims out to a boat, knowing he will be caught by the authorities.
Book Three
Caravaggio
In the
Maritime Theatre
Four years later, Patrick is released from prison and meets Temelcoff at the Geranium Bakery. Hana, now sixteen, has been living with Temelcoff's family. Patrick takes responsibility for Hana. One night, she wakes him to say that Clara Dickens has called. She tells him that Small is dead and asks him to pick her up from Marmora.
Realizing that the water supply is vulnerable to being cut off or poisoned, Harris installs guards at the Waterworks, which he built. Caravaggio introduces Patrick to his wife. They fraternize at a party for the rich, then steal a multimillion-dollar yacht from a couple they chloroform. Patrick intends to blow up the Filtration Plant with dynamite and Caravaggio's help. Patrick enters the plant through the water intake. He places dynamite about the plant testing facility and carries the detonating box to Harris' office, where he accuses Harris of exploiting the workers and ignoring their plight. Patrick tells Harris how Alice Gull was killed and we learn that she accidentally picked up the wrong satchel, containing a bomb. Exhausted, Patrick falls asleep, and in the morning Harris asks the police to defuse the bombs and bring a nurse for Patrick.
Patrick awakes and goes with Hana to retrieve Clara. At Hana's urging, Patrick tells her about Clara. Patrick asks Hana to drive to Marmora. The book ends with "'Lights' he said."
Analysis
This novel is categorized thematically as
Watson and McLeod note the use of a "searcher-figure" in Patrick, and by extension the narrator of the story, who act as observers finding "'truths'" in order to construct a cohesive history representative of all the parts that created it.[6]
Devi draws on Ondaatje's use of converging narratives to uncover the vastly different experiences of immigrants in Canada, and symbolize the overarching issue of how their unofficial history is erased from the official histories.[2]
Themes and motifs
The novel's title is taken from a line in The Epic of Gilgamesh, following the death of Enkidu. It is located in the epigraph as "I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion," echoing the theme of converging voices re-telling history. Diogenes is quoted at the climax of the third act, "[i]n a rich man's house there is nowhere to spit except in his face."[7] Earlier in the third act, the character Caravaggio is described as keeping a dog to assist him in his burglaries because he does not trust anyone else.[8] Throughout the book, light (from a lantern, flaming cattails and other sources) and darkness plays heavily in the context of the main characters and development of the plot, i.e., illumination of the Finnish loggers, moonlight, when Caravaggio is learning to become a thief in total darkness, Patrick's removal of the lamp when breaking into the water plant, the lights being turned off during the final dialogue between Patrick and Harris. The color blue is also mentioned often, especially during Caravaggio's escape from prison to help him camouflage himself against the blue prison roof. The idea of demarcation is emphasized by Caravaggio to Patrick.
Awards and recognition
- Nominated for the 1987 Governor General's Award for English Language Fiction.
- In the Skin of a Lion championed by Steven Page, won the 2002 edition of Canada Reads.
- The City of Toronto Archives prepared a special tour of its collection of historic photos, taken by Arthur Goss, tailored for students reading In the Skin of a Lion, as Ondaatje's research for the novel was influenced by studying the photos.[9][10]
- In 2009, a passage from "The Bridge" was placed at the Bloor Street Viaduct in Toronto, becoming the inaugural "bookmark" for Project Bookmark Canada, and marking the beginning of Canada's literary trail .[11]
See also
Notes
- ^ Thesen, Sharon. "Michael Ondaatje". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
- ^ a b c Devi, S. Poorna Mala. "Immigrants' experience in Michael Ondaatje's novels in the skin of a lion and the English patient." Language In India, January 2015, 547+. Literature Resource Center (accessed December 1, 2016). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=ocul_carleton&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA404830601&asid=61174144a6b42fbc8556f9c27c32c1c3
- ^ "Michael Ondaatje – Literature". literature.britishcouncil.org. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
- ^ "Michael Ondaatje." In An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English, edited by Donna Bennett and Russell Brown, 928-30. 3rd ed. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press, 2010.
- ^ Kuitenbrouwer, Peter (April 24, 2009). "Bookmarking Ondaatje's viaduct story". National Post. Toronto. Retrieved 2018-07-25.
- ^ Watson, Diane, and John McLeod. "Michael Ondaatje: Overview." In Brown, Susan Windisch, Contemporary Novelists, 6th ed. New York: St. James Press, 1996. Literature Resource Center (accessed December 1, 2016). http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=ocul_carleton&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1420006128&asid=af249acf357d5393fe24bb62e97ca9b4
- ISBN 0679772669.
- ISBN 0679772669.
- ^
Dennis Duffy (Summer 2001). "Furnishing the Pictures: Arthur S. Goss, Michael Ondaatje and the Imag(in)ing of Toronto". Journal of Canadian Studies. Retrieved 2013-01-26.
In the tunnel under Lake Ontario two men shake hands on an incline of mud. Beside them a pickaxe and a lamp, their dirt-streaked faces pivoting to look towards the camera. For a moment, while the film receives the image, everything is still, the other tunnel workers silent. Then Arthur Goss, the city photographer, packs up his tripod and glass plates, unhooks the cord of lights that creates a vista of open tunnel behind the two men, walks with his equipment the fifty yards to the ladder, and climbs out into sunlight.
- ^
"In the Skin of a Lion". City of Toronto Archives. Retrieved 2013-01-26.
On a visit to the City of Toronto Archives, students will see archival photographs recording the construction of the Bloor Street Viaduct and the R. C. Harris filtration plant, the two major settings in In the Skin of a Lion.
- ^ "In the Skin of a Lion". Project Bookmark Canada: Exhibits. Retrieved 2016-12-01.
External links
- Mash Magazine (2000). Where Bakers are Heroes. mashmagazine.com.
- ISBN 9780307776631. Retrieved 2013-01-26.