Figurative Language In Running In The Family

In the novel, Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje, the author uses figurative language in Ceylon where which the story of his family unravels. He uses figurative language to connect Ceylon to the people who live there, particularly his family. As the story goes on, Ondaatje has the climate and earth of Ceylon form who people are, and how they act. At the beginning of the novel, Ondaatje is just starting to piece together his family’s past. He starts to realize how stubborn the whole family is, and how that stubbornness is blinding them all, “I see my own straining body which stands shaped like a star and realise gradually that I am part of a human pyramid… we are approaching the door which being twenty feet high we will be able to pass through only
Every conceivable thing was collected and shipped back to Europe: cardamons, pepper, silk, ginger, silk, ginger, sandalwood, mustard oil, palmyrah root, tamarind… A perfumed sea.” (81) Every type of beautiful thing imaginable and the Island has it. Ondaatje’s family is full of beautiful people and people who care. Every person is beautiful but like the island, “...it had a darker side. My ancestor knew of at least fifty-five species of poison easily available to his countrymen.” (81) His ancestors had many problems, and most of them are centered around his father. His father was the poison in the family full of worthy things. The use of figurative language in the novel, Running in the family by Michael Ondaatje, shows the story of his family. He uses figurative language to connect his family to Ceylon. He shows that his family and Ceylon are almost one and the same, and are easily comparable. Ceylon has a part in everyone’s life, and it has affected everyone who lives there. Ondaatje utilizes Ceylon and all that comes with it to describe his own family, and their