blog




  • Essay / The importance of setting in communicating ideas in The Skin of a Lion

    The setting is an important part of Michael Ondaatje's novel In the Skin of a Lion, symbolically supporting the conceptual concerns of the novel. This narrative can be understood as a broad contemporary myth in which the setting functions ironically and movingly, humorously and poignantly, to reflect and reinforce the ideas presented by the text. Throughout the novel, the setting provides an essential backdrop to the development and exploration of Ondaatje's complex ideas, as well as the vast web of interconnectivity connecting each character in the plot. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get an original essayThe Canadian context in its broadest sense is a powerful and important aspect of the novel. The “new world” of North America is a notable aspect of Ondaatje's exploration of migrant narratives. “The view was Upper America, a New World. » The “New World” is the symbol of the American dream, evocative of a future full of hope, a setting that attracts migrants towards its light. Migrants are repeatedly associated with the motif of insects, and moths in particular, illustrating the power that the setting exerts over them. “Coming out of the darkness, like a moth.” However, as with butterflies' attraction to light, the attraction of the "New World" is a dangerous illusion. Ondaatje uses the setting with irony, contrasting the ideal sought by the newcomers and the dark reality of their lives. “The feet tested the air before each step on this dangerous new land of the stage.” The staging is symbolic of the broader context, of Canadian society in its microcosm, since the puppet play illustrates the harsh repression of migrants. This “dangerous” landscape is a much more accurate representation of North America than the illusory but hopeful “view” seen from afar. Their stories unfold in tunnels and slaughterhouses, grim settings that illustrate the flaws of an official story focused on the big “view.” Ondaatje brings Patrick into this harsher setting, making him a migrant entering a “new world” not only for Patrick Lewis, but also for the reader. He “arrived in Toronto as if on land after years at sea.” Patrick's characterization emphasizes the importance of context and context perspective, while Ondaatje establishes through his main character the migrant's point of view and thus explores a story denied by official history. Through the narrative device of its storyteller, Ondaatje illuminates the fate of migrants, themselves “colonized” by the context into which they enter. “They had taken on different colors, as if they had entered different countries.” Ondaatje's image explicitly recalls the setting, the harsh reality of the new world being a constant undercurrent to his revelation of the bias of official history. Ondaatje uses the setting to challenge conventional notions of demarcation and compartmentalization. Lucretia's quote: "Let me now emphasize the extreme flexibility of the structure of all objects" is of fundamental importance to Ondaatje's novel, reflected in the interactions of each character and in the settings beneath. underlying elements of the novel. Patrick Lewis is “a researcher looking into the darkness of his own country”, an image of scenery which forms a striking contrast with the “light” which attracts the migrants. Beyond this illusory “perspective,” Patrick’s characterization traces his evolution toward true light, an understanding of the complex web of connections that form society.This canvas is reflected in the settings of his life, tracing a progressive disillusionment with the official demarcation. In "this farm where the day was work and the night was rest", Patrick's conventional Anglo-Canadian upbringing becomes part of the setting itself, but by reversing this setting, Ondaatje begins his journey through the novel by rejecting this narrow perspective. "Skating on the river at night... moving like a wedge in the darkness revealing as if by magic the gray bushes of the shore, of its shore, of its river. The transformation of the setting calls into question the compartmentalization of his education, and Throughout the novel, Ondaatje uses setting in this way. Caravaggio's meeting with Al illustrates this use of setting. “I just like being here. All the doors are placed outside. not their place – things where they should not be” As in “the other place, where the engines hung on the trees”, the inversion of normality greatly adds to the appeal of the setting. the difficulty of the artificiality of the compartmentalization, of the anomalies which defy classification Ondaatje creates these specific settings throughout the novel to demonstrate the need to escape the conventional demarcation The settings of Ondaatje's novel illustrate the fluidity of borders. once again calling into question the official delimitation. Migrant stories in particular unfold in contexts that remove boundaries and certainties. Migrants are often associated with fire motifs and the ability to transcend boundaries, "their lanterns being replaced by new rushes that allow them to go further beyond borders". The fire motif reflects the role of migrants as agents of change in society, as Ondaatje questions their place in official history as oppressed workers. Instead, he elevates them to the role of heroes in his novel, and their stories unfold in settings symbolic of that position. The bridge is a very important setting in the novel, with the second part of the first book being titled "The Bridge". It is a setting that is both beautiful and dangerous, symbolic of the loosening of the structures of human constructions, even the most solid. “On winter mornings, the men disperse, nervous because of the whiteness. Where does the earth end? The rhetorical question disrupts the certainties of official compartmentalization, making the land itself immaterial and uncertain. The setting of the bridge is used several times to highlight the untold stories of the migrants. The official history "describes all the details regarding the soil, the wood, the weight of the concrete, everything except information on who actually built the bridge." In Ondaatje's novel, the workers are as much a part of the setting as the materials from which they are constructed, and the setting is just as important to their stories. Temelcoff “is a spinner. It connects everyone. In his role on the bridge, Temelcoff creates and moves within the "wonderful nocturnal web" connecting every character and moment in Ondaatje's novel. This metaphorical setting is reflected in the physical settings throughout the novel, from the bridge to the blue-painted prison roof. “They couldn’t move without thinking twice about where a surface stopped.” As with the bridge, the setting ironically subverts notions of demarcation, as the physical embodiment of society's most deliberate effort to demarcate and separate loses even the certainties of physical boundaries. The settings of Patrick's near-mythical journey are of great symbolic importance to the development. of his character. The imagery of light and darkness illustrates his journey towards a.