In The Skin Of A Lion

Michael Ondaatje
Post-Modern (Structure)
Through In The Skin Of A Lion, Ondaatjes asserts that life is not orderly or structured,
and is without an easily discernible pattern, full of outrageous occurrences, fleeting
encounters with strangers and odd parallels and coincidences.
Alice once whispered to Patrick long before her accidental death, Let me now reemphasise the extreme looseness of the structure of all objects. Ondaatje carries this
extreme looseness into the themes, characters and nature of the novel itself. The novel
deals with chaos and order, has multi-layered interpretations, allows for a wide variety of
responses and reactions, while Ondaatjes non-linear, unconventional approach to story
telling and his preoccupation with the unofficial history and how cultures create their
own realities through language, lends the novel to a post-modernist reading. This postmodern style filters through to the loose structure intended to mirror the sequence of
memory and ultimately engage the readers in their own process of creating meaning from
the text finding patterns in the chaotic tumble of events.
There are liberties taken with the time structure of the narrative in that it does not follow
a chronological order, rather it is like a mural, [the] falling together of accomplices.
There is no single plot line or story, but rather life is presented as a series of relationships
between people and objects Patrick realises this, that his own life was no longer a
single story but part of a mural, which was a falling together of accomplices. The story
often slides from one character to the next and loses itself in the time it created, five
years earlier, or ten years in the future This movement in time and place, and
ultimately viewpoints means that in order to make sense of the meanings in the novel one
must read the book from first to last page, which travel languorously like messages in a
bottle. The novel is framed by a circular plot and thus the prologue and epigraphs only
fully make sense once the end of the novel has been reached and even when the book is
finished there is no distinct closure or finality of the narrative the story is still in the
process of being told, and then re-told in a new light with forgotten and added details, and
retold again and again.
The story is not told from different viewpoints, and its meaning does not come from one
source, therefore there a multitude of interpretations that can be made formed. Ondaatjes
use of the multitude of voices, including those of Patrick, Alice, Carravaggio, Nicholas
Temelcoff and Ondaatje himself demonstrates Ondaatjes rejection of the omniscient
authoritarian roles of authors. He is attempting to highlight the deficiencies and unhuman nature of conventional storytelling with its clear stories [and] authors
accompanying their heroes with clarified motives and which would conclude with all
wills rectified and romances solvent. Rather he opts for a non-conventional approach,
the first sentence of every novel should be trust me, this will take time but there is order
here, very faint, very human. example of authorial intrusion, a concept born out of
post-modern fiction where each character has his own time zone, his own lamp,

otherwise they were just men from nowhere. Each character has their story told, and
thus dons the skin of a lion, the most important of these is Patrick who lives out Alices
dreams and tells her story.
The fragmented structure of the novel is afforded continuity and relevance using
recurring images and motifs lunar moths, blood (reinforces common humanity),
blindness (moths, Garden of the Blind, Temelcoff cannot see but senses his way around
the bridge at night), darkness (represents the marginalised, those who exist in the shadow
of power), skin of animals.
Although Ondaatje wishes to show the extreme looseness of lifes structure the novel
constantly reminds the reader that it is a work of fiction, only the best art can order the
chaotic tumble of events. While there are constant references to art, music, drama film,
photography and literature as well as devices used you reach people through metaphor
Ondaatje is presenting his novel as a metaphor for the nature of the human condition.
The language used is highly poetic Taking an innocent step/He world fall through the air
and die and joined by a rope one on each rope. and Ondaatje has adopted poetic
devices such similes machine locked in habit, economic usage of words exhausted
statuary, repetition There. There. There and rich imagery He knows his position in
air as if he is mercury slipping across a map, are to create a vivid picture to the reader.
Figurative and emotive language are constantly employed when describing the workers
or rich, and thus when making his political tendencies clear.
The notion of the looseness of boundaries for individuals is dealt with in the novel,
particularly the boundaries of stereotype and class which Ondaatje aims to challenge.
Physical boundaries such as the bridge with the lanterns tracing outlines is
symbolically crossed when the nun falls off the bridge, and ultimately finds a new
existence becoming Alice Gull through stretching of the boundaries. Language is
presented as a large barrier which separates the rich and poor, however the language
boundary that Partick breaks with the Macedonians, ends his isolation and he gains new
friends and becomes a new person. Ondaatje shows that the stretching and breaking of
bourndaries can have a huge impact on peoples lives, and on a deeper level this breaking
of boundaries is an insinuation present throughout the novel of the superficiality of
constraints.
He loosens the boundaries of history by presenting the unofficial history of the people
who built Toronto.

Political Reading (Post-Colonial/Marxist)

In The Skin of a Lion is a novel that foregrounds the plight of the immigrant workers of
Toronto, the men and women who built the city and its official histrory. Ondaatje
wishes to tell the stories (though largely fictional) of these marginalised peoples. Here
writes from the margin to the centre, giving voice to the untold stories of the colonised,
letting each don the skin of a lion. The novel centres on the notion of the unofficial v.
official and attempts to highlight the use of language to disempower and marginalise
groups in society.
The migrant workers are often depicted as voiceless, existing in the shadow of the upper
class, The Holsteins pass the silent gauntlet of men. and During the eight hour shift
no-one speaks. While the powerful motif of the moth is used throughout the novel to
represents the voiceless migrants, People came in silenceEmerging from the darkness,
mothlike. Surprisingly it is Patrick, a native of his own country, who finds his own
identity, a voice among these migrants and he sets about telling their stories, particularly
that of Alice Gull.
Ondaatje furthermore shows how dominant political and legal structures serve to
maintain the power of dominant society and thus control the voice of the underclass,
imposed laws against public meetings by foreignersif they speak in any language
other than English they will be jailed. A rule of the city. This imposed language barrier
serves to disempower the migrants, seen in the puppet show, which acts out the migrants
inability to voice their concern to authorities, unable to speak their language. He stood
there assaulted by their insultsThe caricature of a culture.
The official history of Toronto depicts every detailbut the information on those who
actually built [the city] and has no place for any of their stories, Do you know how
many died in there? There was no record kept. Ondaatje however wishes to The
lives of the figures of the official histories are contrasted constantly throughout the novel
the smell of the tanning factories goes into their noses and lungs and stays there for
lifeIt brutalises while He knows Harrisby his expensive tweed coat that cost more
than the combined weeks salaries of five bridge workers. Ambrose Small, the caricature
of bare-knuckled capitalism, a jackal has no respect for the plight of the workers, In
the tenth century the price of a greyhound was the same as that of a man, and whose
blatant capitalism, clarified the gulf between the rich and poor. Nor does the official
history of Toronto hold a place for their stories, Do you know how many died in there?
There was no record kept.
Ondaatje celebrates the individual, and empowers the migrants through his literature,
giving them identity and their chance to don the skin of a lion. He foregrounds the stories
of the migrants who built the city, presenting them not just as extension of drill but as
real people, whom Partick is able to find his identity through, and who stimulate Patrick
enough to fight for their cause. He lives out Alices dream of political activism, finding a
voice amongst the powerful, by blowing up the Muskoka hotel and attempting to blow up
the Waterworks. In his final political attempt he gets his chance to speak to

Commissioner Harris and tell the stories of the workers and Alice, he dons the skin of a
lion.