In the Skin of a Lion
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In the Skin of a Lion is a novel by Canadian/Sri Lankan writer Michael Ondaatje. It was first published in 1987 by McClelland and Stewart.
Set mainly in Toronto, Ontario, the novel tells the story of immigrants who built the city. Ondaatje's later and more famous 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.
An important aspect of the novel is its depiction of Toronto in the 1920s. Ondaatje spent many months in the archives of the City of Toronto and newspapers of the era. Prominence is given to the construction of Toronto landmarks, such as the Prince Edward Viaduct and the R.C. Harris Filtration Plant, and focuses on the lives of the immigrant workers. By doing so, he gives a voice to the blood, sweat and tears of these workers who have never been recognized by 'official' history. The plot incorporates a number of true stories of the time, examples being the falling of the nun, the disappearance of Ambrose Small and the murder of labour union organizers Rosvall and Voutilainen.
The structure of the novel may be described as cubist, and/or post-modern in that Ondaatje uses many voices, images, and re-organizes time to tell the stories. Thematically, the book may be categorized as post-colonial with its focus on immigrants and their native cultures and languages.
The novel's title is a line from The Epic of Gilgamesh.
Contents |
[edit] Character list
- Patrick Lewis
- Ambrose Small
- Alice Gull
- Hana Gull
- Clara Dickens
- David Caravaggio
- Nicholas Temelcoff
- Commissioner Rowland Harris
- Cato
- Giannetta
- Hazen Lewis
[edit] Plot summary
The book begins in a car with a man telling a story to a young girl.
[edit] Book One
[edit] Little Seeds
Little Seeds deals with the introduction of Patrick Lewis, a young boy who lives with his father, Hazen Lewis, on a farm. Hazen is a farm hand for various farms, and an incident with a runaway cow, in which he and Patrick had to work in a freezing river to retrieve it, leads him to seek another occupation. Hazen sends out for books on dynamiting and eventually secures a position at the Rathbun Timber Company as a dynamiter, with Patrick, who was fifteen at the time, helping him. Their job was to blow away logs that were jamming the river, at which Patrick was very efficient. The chapter ends with an eleven-year-old Patrick being led to the creek by a blue moth and witnessing loggers skating on the ice with lit cattails.
Little seeds designates the growing years of the main character, Patrick Lewis, whence the seeds were planted for his subsequent actions in the novel. For example, as a young boy in Depot Creek, Ontario, Patrick watches the loggers come to town in the winter, and work in the mills in the other seasons. He watches the loggers skating on the river. His father, a worker, works for two or three farms. When Patrick was 15, Hazen Lewis became a dynamiter who was meticulous in washing his clothes every evening in case there were remnants, little seeds of explosives on his apparel. All of these elements are the little seeds of the subsequent narrative: Depot Creek, the loggers skating, learning about dynamite, etc.
[edit] 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. Rowland Harris, the city's Commissioner of Public Works, and Pomphrey, an architect who would later go on to design the city's water filtration plant, would come visit the bridge at night. One night, four nuns accidentally wander onto the unfinished bridge and one falls off. Nicholas Temelcoff, a worker on the bridge, saves the Nun, dislocating his shoulder and injuring his wrist in the process. He guides the nun to the 'Ohrida Lake' restaurant, during which time the nun relocates his shoulder and removes her veil to create a makeshift sling to keep his arm straight. There he offers her brandy, compliments, and a new lease on life.
Temelcoff is famous on the bridge since he does the most dangerous jobs. He earns $1 a day and $1.25 at night, more than twice the wage of the other workers. He emigrated from Macedonia to Canada, working at a bakery and learning English with children at a local school before taking a job at the bridge. Nicholas confides in the nun and tells her about his scars when he sees the one on her nose. Both start to like each other. Alicia was the parrot in the restaurant. He falls asleep eventually and wakes to find a doctor treating his arm and the nun gone.
[edit] The Searcher
At the age of 21, Patrick arrives at Union Station, leaving the profession in which his father died, killed by a falling shelf of feldspar in a mine. He becomes a Searcher of the vanished millionaire Ambrose Small, which leads him to meet Small's mistress Clara Dickens. Patrick becomes infatuated with Clara immediately and tries to seduce her. In the end, it is Clara who seduces him. The next day, Clara takes Patrick to Paris Plains, to a farmhouse that belongs to her friend Alice. Patrick and Clara spend much of their time making love and discussing their history. Eventually, Patrick loses interest in finding Small, hoping only to remove Clara from Small.
Clara tells Patrick that she will leave him eventually to go after Small, and after the arrival of Alice, a stage actress, Patrick leaves the farmhouse. Later, Clara leaves on a train, warning him not to follow her and leaving him a blind iguana. For three years, Patrick's life degenerates to a condition in which he does not care about the state of his life, leaving only a bed and a table in his apartment. After the unexpected arrival of Alice one day, who makes love to Patrick and tells him that Clara's mother might know where Clara is, Patrick picks up the pieces of his life and searches for Clara.
Patrick has dinner with Clara's mother, who tells him of Stump Jones, Clara's first husband. Patrick find out that Clara and Small are living in his old hometown, a place that he said he would not return to. Patrick finds Small living in a house owned by the Rathburn Timber Company and Small attempts to set him on fire, once by dropping kerosene on him and again by throwing a Molotov cocktail. Patrick manages to escape to his hotel room and is visited by Clara, who dresses his wounds, shaves his face, and makes love to him before returning to Small.
[edit] Book Two
[edit] Palace of Purification
It is 1930, Patrick, is working on a tunnel under Lake Ontario, a scheme by Commissioner Rowland Harris. Patrick is again a dynamiter, dynamiting the rocks by using his father's skills. Patrick stays in an apartment in a Macedonian neighborhood with the iguana. He is able to befriend the Macedonian when he manages to explain why he buys so much vetch after he shows them the iguana. Patrick is accepted into the neighborhood, and Patrick is invited by Kosta, who was also a dynamiter, to a gathering at the Waterworks. A place where various nationalities meet illegaly to discuss politics and entertain each other. Patrick witnesses a performance in which an actor repeatedly smashes her hand against the stage, and rushes forward to help her. He discovers that the actor is Alice Gull, and Patrick rushing forward to help her was part of the show.
Patrick visits Alice in her apartment and learns about Hana, her 9 year old daughter. He learns about Cato, Alice's husband, who was killed in the northern union battles. He falls in love with Alice, and was able to find a new job through Alice's friends. Patrick also meets Nicholas Temelcoff, a baker and a friend of Alice. Patrick, studying the bridge, soon learns about the nun that had fallen off before its completion, whose body was never found. He soon makes the connection after talking with Temelcoff and promises to look after Hana.
[edit] Remorse
Patrick gets onto a train and is traveling somewhere past Huntsville, he then boards the Algonquin steamer carrying nothing but a black suitcase. He arrives at a gathering of the rich at the Muskoka hotel and ignites the hotel with paraffin before leaving on a small boat. He makes his way to small, botanical island where he meets the blind Elizabeth. We learn that Alice has died and Patrick has committed this crime out of anger. Soon Patrick leaves Elizabeth and swims out to a boat, he knows he will be caught by the authorities so he takes his time to recuperate and dry out his clothes.
[edit] Book Three
[edit] Caravaggio
Three prisoners, Buck, Lewis and Caravaggio are painting the roof of the jail at Kingston Penitentiary. Patrick and Buck paint Caravaggio blue so that he can blend into the roof allowing him to escape. He breaks into a clothing store at night and changes there. Later, he hops onto a milk-train. Caravaggio survives on bits of chocolate a boy called Alfred gives him, while he makes his way north toward the cottage countries. Caravaggio was cut across the neck a few months ago and still scarred, managing to survive through the help of Patrick, who warned him of the attack by yelling out a Square-dance call. Caravaggio recalls his first robbery, in which he cracked his ankle retrieving a painting. He hides in a mushroom factory and a young woman named Giannetta helps him recover. She and her friends help him escape by dressing him as a woman. Caravaggio enters a cottage of a woman whom he met on the lake near the cottages and calls his wife to let her know he's all right. He talks with Anne, the owner of the cottage for a while before going to his brother-in-law's house and reuniting with Giannetta.
[edit] Maritime Theatre
Five years later, Patrick is released from prison He goes to the Geranium Bakery and embraces Nicholas Temelcoff. He meets the now sixteen-year-old Hana who had been living with Temelcoff's family, he takes responsibility for the care of Hana from then on. One night, Hana wakes him up and tells him that Clara Dickens has called. He finds out that Small is dead, and Clara asks him to pick her up from Marmora.
A flashback to six months after he was released from prison, Harris has tight security on the Waterworks, anyone can poison the city or cut the supply of water by tampering with it, so he takes up residence in one of its offices with a gun at his side. Caravaggio introduces Patrick to his wife, and they fraternize at a party for the rich, eventually obtaining a yacht from a couple they chloroform. They sail on the stolen yacht called 'The Annalisa,' and we learn Patrick is going to dynamite the Filtration Plant with the help of Caravaggio. Patrick swims through the suction tubes and enters the heart of the plant. He places detonation on different areas and carries the detonating box to Harris' office. Patrick explains to Harris the details of the death of Alice Gull, was killed by an 'anarchist' when she picked up a time bomb that was meant to detonate the plant. Patrick falls asleep eventually, and in the morning Harris asks the police officer to diffuse the bombs and retrieve a nurse for Patrick.
Patrick awakes and goes with Hana to retrieve Clara, Hana asks him to tell him about Clara and Patrick decides to tell the whole story. The book ends with him saying 'Lights'.
[edit] Awards and recognition
- Nominated for the 1987 Governor General's Award for English Language Fiction.
- In the Skin of a Lion was one of the selected books in the 2002 edition of Canada Reads, championed by Steven Page.
