In the Skin of a Lion, Michael Ondaatje - Hsc Module B Critical Study
In The Skin of a Lion Essay Vanessa Kidson English Advanced Mark: 18/20
In your view, how have narrative techniques been used to reveal memorable ideas in Michael Ondaatje’s novel In The Skin of a Lion?
“The Bridge goes up in a dream.” Ondaatje’s fictionalised re-telling of the historical events circling the construction of the Bloor Street Viaduct reveal themes of Authority & Power, Rebellion & Freedom, and Love & Loss that continues to illuminate throughout his novel In The Skin of a Lion. Ondaatje’s use of 3rd-person omniscient narration, verbal cinema, and leitmotif of light & dark have allowed him to make these themes the most memorable for me personally.
Power & Authority is a resonating theme throughout the entire text for it is continuously present in the lives of every character mentioned. Ondaatje explores different situations of power & authority by introducing new characters. A rather obvious example is the character Rowland Harris – the Commissioner of Public Works. He is a figure of authority and power. Although the bridge was his dream, it is the migrants’ hard labour that gave birth to it. But it is worded clearly that the bridge is his “baby” – not the migrants’ – demonstrating the power his voice has over the immigrants.
In the chapter The Bridge Ondaatje invites us into the lives of the migrant workers. Throughout the entire novel he denies the collective migrants a voice, and by doing so he reveals how those who were in power had kept their stories silent.
“Soon there are twenty. Crowded and silent.”
At this point of the novel, Ondaatje has not yet introduced any particular immigrant. But the fact that he has introduced them collectively – like as they are one person – has created an image far stronger than just that of twenty crowded men sitting silently in a truck. This scene is a vignette, contributing to the bigger picture – the truth. That truth is that all the immigrants are trapped in the same stark
In your view, how have narrative techniques been used to reveal memorable ideas in Michael Ondaatje’s novel In The Skin of a Lion?
“The Bridge goes up in a dream.” Ondaatje’s fictionalised re-telling of the historical events circling the construction of the Bloor Street Viaduct reveal themes of Authority & Power, Rebellion & Freedom, and Love & Loss that continues to illuminate throughout his novel In The Skin of a Lion. Ondaatje’s use of 3rd-person omniscient narration, verbal cinema, and leitmotif of light & dark have allowed him to make these themes the most memorable for me personally.
Power & Authority is a resonating theme throughout the entire text for it is continuously present in the lives of every character mentioned. Ondaatje explores different situations of power & authority by introducing new characters. A rather obvious example is the character Rowland Harris – the Commissioner of Public Works. He is a figure of authority and power. Although the bridge was his dream, it is the migrants’ hard labour that gave birth to it. But it is worded clearly that the bridge is his “baby” – not the migrants’ – demonstrating the power his voice has over the immigrants.
In the chapter The Bridge Ondaatje invites us into the lives of the migrant workers. Throughout the entire novel he denies the collective migrants a voice, and by doing so he reveals how those who were in power had kept their stories silent.
“Soon there are twenty. Crowded and silent.”
At this point of the novel, Ondaatje has not yet introduced any particular immigrant. But the fact that he has introduced them collectively – like as they are one person – has created an image far stronger than just that of twenty crowded men sitting silently in a truck. This scene is a vignette, contributing to the bigger picture – the truth. That truth is that all the immigrants are trapped in the same stark