Nat's Analysis
Good morning!
The passage I have chosen to discuss begins at the top of page 53 and ends on the bottom of page 54. Ondaatje separates this section from the rest of the text, not by giving it status as a chapter exactly, but starting on another page to begin discussion of Ambrose Small. It is a passage which vividly describes the feeling of otherness. Ondaatje not only explores Patrick's new environment, but constantly relates back to his memories of childhood in the "small village of Bellrock". This, for me, highlights the importance of past experience, juxtaposed with the harsh reality of modernity, when a sudden transportation can mean your identity is lost among strangers.
This passage stood out as interesting for many reasons. Ondaatje is approaching the issue of immigration, but in an unconventional way. Patrick is not an immigrant to Canada, but "an immigrant to the city". Therefore it allows the exploration of the idea of a required distinction between "natives". I feel that it is often supposed that a native of a country is familiar to all that country offers, and the immigrants from other lands are the only ones alien to its form. Ondaatje describes Toronto for Patrick "as if it were land after years at sea". This reference to the long, dangerous journeys immigrants embarked on to reach Canada directly relates Patrick's individual experience to this. The use of the sea, and water, as imagery and metaphor is prevalent throughout the novel. The uncertainty and changeability of its state encompasses the idea of movement vs the static, resistance vs succumbing. In this case Patrick has been "drawn out of the small town like a piece of metal...to begin his life once more". Ondaatje's choice of simile here seems to have the role of reminding the reader of the modernity Toronto is currently embracing. However, the fact that Patrick is "drawn out" suggests a power beyond his control, or perhaps merely an inevitable choice, an inescapable choice, as Ondaatje parenthesises "at twenty one", subtly directing the reader to reach a similar conclusion.
The description of Patrick's childhood memories is reliant on colour, smells, and the weather, creating constant pathetic fallacy. Ondaatje often employs bizarre juxtapositions resulting in an almost uncomfortable unawareness of whether or not the memories are positive for Patrick. "the breath and steam of cattle rolling out" summons up images of the countryside, and a warmth of life and bodily heat escaping into the frosty surroundings. However, a mere comma separates this from the "acrid smell of shit and urine", and how this smell "paraded grandly over his first seduction in a hay bed". It is a strange concept that an acrid smell is able to parade grandly. Ondaate is playing with language to resist convention. Patricks memories of chihldhood in the country do not exist in the form of playing outside in the spring sunshine among the newly born creatures. Instead, "what remained in Patrick from his childhood were letters frozen inside mailboxes after ice storms". This is a much more realistic representation of the way the mind works, selecting unconventional images from the past as they stand out from the mundane, and create an identity that cannot be replicated. The importance of individuality and identity is no more dormant in "In The Skin Of A Lion" than it is in "No Great Mischief" or "Green Grass, Running Water". But the difference here is that Ondaatje makes the most of the rich language and literary techniques available to him to create something slightly more unexpected and pushes the boundaries of the presupposed idea of the experience of immigration.
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2 comments:
I think this passage contrasts well with what we were discussing regarding No Great Mischief and the horrible modernity. Here, Patrick does not seem to think that the modern world (although obviously very different to the modern world the Macleod was referring to)is a place of opportunity, a place to 'begin his life once more'. This is also reflected in the simile that you mentioned at the start of the passage, 'as if it were land after years at sea'. This conveys to me a sense of hope and new beginnings, and also, as you said, links him to the immigrants who are coming from other counties.
The description of Patrick's childhood memories that you mentioned contrast with the new image of the city, but unlike No Great Mischief, there doesn't seem to be a favouring of one time over the other, just an accepting that his childhood has been and gone, something that can be 'locked away', and it is time to move on. This is in contrast to the man with the suitcases, who doesn't seem to be able to 'move from his safe zone'. Perhaps this is saying that we must accept change to move on with our lives, and in doing so, alter our identity. The man is clearly clinging onto his personal identity, and his national identity, as he is speaking in a foreign language, whereas Patrick is more able to adapt himself and let his sense of self go, shown at the end of the passage when he speaks his name and lets it float off into the crowd. This could also be seen, however, as a representation of history. As Patrick is a marginalised person, he is subsumed into a mass and loses his individuality. when he lets his name go, he becomes another nameless peson in the city. The man, although nameless, is at least remembered, so has a place in history.
On a final point, to echo Lucy P's note about Biblical languague, the image at the very end of being 'in the belly of a whale' suggested to me a link with the Jonah story from the Bible, especially as it followed the preaching man and the angels and demons. I thought that Ondaatje was trying to suggest that these were all lost soul swallowed up, or that these were al people who had been saved from the rough seas, whether it were the hardship of another country (literally from the sea in some cases), or even from their past.
Great points here about how Ondaatje uses Patrick to explore the idea of being a foreigner in one’s own country – this relates back to Nikki’s reading too. We have talked a little in class about how differences between regions, and regional identities themselves, can be more strongly felt than national identities (eg. Newfoundlanders I have talked to identify themselves firstly as Newfoundlanders and secondly as Canadians).
I also liked the way you pointed out how the images Patrick has from childhood are very different from the images of arcadian bliss that a rural childhood narrative might set us up to expect. I have read discussions by Canadian poets from the 1970s (& Ondaatje is also a poet, though he wasn’t one of the people involved in this particular discussion) about the problem of representing the Canadian winter/cold/ice etc. It’s such a substantial part of living in the country, and as such furnishes a useful set of metaphorical resources for Canadian writers to draw on, but at the same time it is difficult to write about it without falling into cliché. So having read that discussion, I now look at Ondaatje’s image of the letters frozen inside mailboxes after ice storms as something of an achievement: he’s produced a beautiful, poignant image that evokes Canadian winter, isolation and so forth but which doesn’t, to my mind, cross the line to cliché.
Danni – these are evocative suggestions about possible significances of the ‘belly of the whale’ reference. Ondaatje’s not being as obvious as Thomas King in his Biblical references! but they’re still there.
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