In the Skin of a Lion

Let me now re-emphasise the extreme looseness of the structure of all objects" How Ondaatje makes use of "loosness" in the novel. In "In The Skin Of A Lion" by Michael Ondaatje, "the extreme looseness of the structure of all objects" is carried into the themes, characters and into the nature of the novel itself. Ondaatje uses a "looseness" in the style of the novel - post modernism, and "looseness of structure" in the way that people are able to stretch and expand their boundaries: transform or mask themselves into someone not typical of their social group. This novel was written in the late 1980s and is classified as a post-modern work. Essentially, "In The Skin Of A Lion" has many traits of a post-modern novel, it deals with chaos and order, has multi-layered interpretations, provokes an ambiguous and mixed reaction from the reader, and has varied approaches to the conventional storyline; beginning, exposition, and closure. There are liberties taken with the time structure of the narrative. The story itself is like a "mural, [the] falling together of accomplices." Ondaatje tells of ordinary people who's stories interlock and intersect, with many "fragments of human order". Ondaatje does not tell the stories loosely and scattere

1. Eight Characters and why they are important: The Skin Of A Lion
Nicholas Temelcoff
Temelcoff is a means through which Patrick realises the nature of history. Temelcoff
realises that he will have to pass down his own story, and that official history will not
remember him.
Alice Gull
Alice is the one who gives Patrick a purpose. Patrick is a “searcher” after Clara leaves
but he finds security with Alice.
Hazen Lewis
Hazen is the person who has shaped Patrick. Hazen acts as the context for Patrick in
the novel.
Patrick Lewis
The central character in the novel who is symbolic of the struggles faced by the workers
of the time.
Ambrose Small
Small is the man who is representational of the rich people of the society who care...