Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion has been described as ‘the search for dignity in a disturbing

world’.
To what extent does this perspective align with your understanding of the text? In your
response, make detailed reference to your prescribed text.

Through a deconstruction of official histories and the grand narratives that have shaped our
view of the world, Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion offers dignity to the
marginalised, the individuals often forgotten in history and fiction. Following the “wondrous
night web” of stories connecting to the life of Patrick Lewis, Lion explores his experiences
with relationships and language, as he and the migrants he finds comfort in strive to attain
‘dignity in a disturbing world’, ruled by “laughing” rich who fail to give them any importance
in their public records. Influenced by both post-colonial and post-modern concerns, Ondaatje
critiques the official histories that are as “soft as rhetoric”, revealing the importance of the
private, the insignificant memories, in the process granting dignity to the forgotten. Lion also
delves into an exploration of language and memory, upon which human relationships are
formed, Patrick and migrants such as Temelcoff gradually overcoming barriers to gain
greater cultural acceptance. Ondaatje’s Lion reveals a search for dignity to be inseparable
from an appreciation of one’s own self importance and value, and reveals an insight into the
importance of appreciating often hidden aspects of the human experience.

Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion breaks down the conventions of official history, the
presentation of often ignored narratives lent more importance than traditional stories of the
rich and privileged, fulfilling the search for dignity of the marginalised. Published in 1987,
Ondaatje’s novel responds to the concerns of post-colonial movement. Through the inclusion
of characters like Commissioner Harris and Ambrose Small, real figures of 1920s and 30s
Toronto, Ondaatje writes his novel against a historical backdrop. Inclusions of newspaper
clippings, and the referencing of the photography of Lewis Hine places his novel within a
historical context, only to show that the concerns of the privileged pale in comparison with
the working class, the migrants. In writing that Harris, representing the rich, “had not entered
the tunnels himself”, contradicting the following line that “he was a man who understood the
city”, Lion draws attention to the belief of Gordon Gamlin that “conventional history has
deliberately shut out the majority”. What these official historical accounts have recorded are
the monuments like the Bloor Street Viaduct, in “over 4,000 photographs from various
angles”, not the lives of the struggling migrants, of which Harris is unaware of as “no records
were kept.” While the rich aren’t unanimously portrayed as cruel, with “the dark tentacle of
his dream”, clinging to Harris like a nightmare, showing his remorse, Ondaatje focuses on the
minor stories and avoids the limitations of an ideology which “hates the private”.

The fragmented nature of the book, lingering on small, private moments, and his distaste for
overarching ideology continues to undermine traditional grand narratives. Characters such as
Clara and Temelcoff, both insignificant, although factual, presences in Toronto history are
lent much more attention than the character of Small for example. Large sections of ‘’the
Searcher’ focus on the details of Clara and Patrick’s relationship, and are perhaps the most
personal and exciting sections of the novel. Patrick’s desire to linger in the memories, shown
through Ondaatje’s continual blurring of past and present, reflect the author’s desire, as he
writes “let me stay in this field with Alice Gull…”, and it is in these that Patrick finds the
most pleasure. This represents his belief in the post-modern concern that a linear narrative,
present in the ‘grand narratives’ that he derides, fails to illuminate the details of the human
experience, and passes over those outside the historical spotlight. Temelcoff, along with the
other migrants, revels in “disappearing into the darkness”, moving about with dignity and
grace amongst the shadows, away from the grand “dream” of Harris. Through exposing
limitations of conventional history, Ondaatje shows that dignity is to be found amongst the
seemingly insignificant, and in the comfort of darkness or memory, dignity found in the
private moments.

The deconstruction of the linear narrative structure allows for a greater focus on human
relationships, with memory, language and storytelling fulfilling one’s search for dignity. The
characters of Patrick and Temelcoff both struggle to form strong relationships, constrained by
their pasts and lack of linguistic confidence, but ultimately gain power and dignity through an
acceptance of such factors, gained by human connection. Patrick, growing up with the sole
company of his father, “an abashed man, withdrawn from the world around him”, learnt only
“abrupt lessons” from his father. The influence of this harsh childhood on Patrick continually
impacts his ability to communicate stories of himself and his past, as if it were “a tiny stone
he had swallowed years back”, a “wall within him no one reached.” Similarly, Temelcoff’s
status as a migrant, with few friends in his new country, “became a vault of secrets and
memories”, his past locked up inside him and hindering any chance of a human connection.

Gordin Gamlin’s assertion that “Ondaatje allots less narrative space to the functionaries and
their visions and concentrates on those who built the city and their stories instead” reveals a
postcolonial attitude to storytelling, in which multiple narratives all perspectives are
celebrated. As such, Patrick and Temelcoff, the forgotten, are able discover personal dignity,
sharing their stories and forming relationships. Patrick is able to discover a sense of closure in
his past when Alice reveals her own pain, as she describes the father of her daughter, Cato. In
their sharing of experience, Patricks learns of the Finns, now finally having “a name for that
group of men he witnessed as a child”, revealing how past and present both contribute to
one’s understanding and acceptance of themselves. Similarly, “Patrick’s gift” to Temelcoff,
“that arrow into the past” that “shows him the wealth in himself, how he has been sewn into
history”, reveals how shared experience helps one to gain greater self-dignity and
understanding. The puppet scene, symbolic of Ondaatje’s concept of the migrant experience,
mirrors this concern, whereby an outsider gains greater acceptance through storytelling and a
communal concept of culture. This celebration of language and storytelling in Lion allows
marginalised characters to succeed in their search for self-dignity in a world disturbed by the
singular view taken by official histories.

Ondaatje’s Lion reveals that meaning, human connections and by extension dignity are found
when oppressive meta-narratives are shattered, replaced by an appreciation of multiple,
seemingly insignificant stories. While his desire to deconstruct is founded in post-modernism,
as he reveals the centre, signified by Harris, to be ignorant of the majority, he believes in a
struggle for purpose, a clearer world view only to be found in a wider appreciation of the
whole. The fragmented novel revels in the private moments, the memories which form one’s
present, and shows that generalising ideologies cannot be ultimately fulfilling. As he writes
that “only the best art can order the chaotic tumble of events”, Ondaatje’s Lion “realigns
chaos” to reveal the struggle of humanity to find dignity, and one’s purpose within a complex
world.