Nat's Analysis

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.