Skin of a Lion

Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion effectively explores the notion of migrant experience and development of an individual but also the successful integration of the text to create textual integrity, allowing the text to be commended for the values that it holds. This is explored through the protagonist and the use of post-modern features, allowing for the further realisation of history as a construct.
The migrant experience is a feature that is collective and applicable to individuals despite passing of time. The voicelessness and powerlessness of migrants portrayed in “In the Skin of a Lion” is a clear example of migrant experience and their many struggles. The accumulation of negative images depicting the workplace of the migrants, “grunt into hard clay” and “brown slippery darkness” also incorporating the symbolic reference to darkness, being that of negativity and hardship, reflects the experience of the migrant workers. Furthermore the utilisation of hyperbole, “feels the whole continent in front of him”, indicates helplessness and the work effort being futile but also highlighting the difficulties of the work. However it is also the voicelessness of the migrants that is also explored in the novel. The puppet scene is a significant section as it shows the inability of migrants to express their voice and speak their language of origin. The imagery, “emerging from darkness” is representative of the migrant’s actions in that it asserts that migrants are only able to come out in the dark, highlighting their powerlessness but also marginalisation from society. The helpless tone in, “the puppet…could say nothing”, where the puppet depicts the migrants, signifies their lack of voice and consequently absence of any possibility for power. The metaphor, “stamped a foot to try and bring out a language” clearly indicates the migrant’s efforts to express themselves but also illustrates the unfortunate realisation that they do not have the capacity to do so. The...