The immigrants and working class of In the Skin of a Lion - Essay Example

The immigrants and working of In the Skin of a Lion.. In the Skin of a Lion was written by Michael Ondaatje to present various viewpoints on the working class immigrants who labored to build Toronto, Ontario and other parts of Canada. The novel was written in the cubist fashion. Although there were multiple parallel narratives, they were running parallel to one another and explored the various experiences of the different working class and immigrant communities. The protagonist, Patrick Lewis, was born into the working class of society. He witnessed how his father, Hazen, struggled to earn a living by working as a logger and farm hand. These workers were too poor to afford warm winter clothing and; 'Sometimes the men put their hands on the warm flanks of these animals (passing cows) and receive their heat as they pass.' (Ondaatje 4). He helped his father to overcome a particularly life threatening situation while saving a cow and this became the turning point of Hazen's life; "Patrick's hand clutches his father's other arm on top of the cow, holding it tightly.' (Ondaatje 7). Both Patrick and Hazen realized how dangerous it was if Hazen were to get trapped underwater in the ice. Hazen decided to better himself with self-education on dynamite logging and then succeeded in looking for a job with better prospects. Hazen knew the dangers of unexploded falling firepower and was meticulous in washing his clothes after work in his attempt to take precaution safeguarding his life. Hazen had worked in this dangerous job for about six years before he succumbed to a piece of falling dynamite himself. We read how the desperate working class dice with death while at work on life threatening jobs. Hazen thought that he could beat the odds by taking precautions but he could not avert death forever. In Book One's The Searcher, after his father's death, Patrick temporarily left the honest but dangerous profession of being a dynamiter and went to Ontario. He became an immigrant transplanted into the big city. He changed his profession to become a Searcher of missing persons, namely, the vanished millionaire called Ambrose Small. This is the turning point of his life as he forgot himself and fell in love with his subject's mistress, Clara Dickens. Patrick gradually degenerated. He became disillusioned when the woman he thought he loved, seduced and yet jilted him in favor of the wealthy millionaire Small. He realized that Clara was only looking out for herself since she was also from the poor working class and needed the dependency of her rich benefactor. There was no room for love in the tough struggle for survival. He saw the hypocrisy of Clara and the hopelessness of the poor working class. Clara ran away from Patrick, in order to seek out her benefactor again. She left him her pet iguana. Although she has been heartless with Patrick, she could not abandon her pet and left it in Patrick's care. Patrick was heartbroken and lost his will to live life meaningfully. A mutual friend of Clara and Patrick, Alice, who was a struggling working class stage actor, visited him and got him to pull himself together. This was an instance where a working class person has helped another from their own kind. Alice had liked Patrick but decided to sacrifice her affections when she realized that he needed Clara to regain his foothold on his life again. Of the two working class women who loved Patrick, Alice was the better one. Slowly, Patrick did learn to love Alice. However, Patrick's love life has been destined for tragedies. For the second time in his life, he lost the woman he loved when Alice died. Patrick committed arson to vent his anger and frustration. Although Patrick and Alice were lovers, Alice did not confide in him her origins. It was only after his conversation with Temelcoff and Patrick realized that Alice was the nun who fell off the uncompleted bridge. She was rescued by Temelcoff but disappeared while he was being attended to by medical personnel. Alice escaped from her professional vows because she changed after her amazing rescue from near certain death. She rejected the secluded life of the poor, working class religious and exchanged it for the poor, working life of a laity. In Book One's The Bridge, we read that Temecoff was a blue collar, working class construction worker on a bridge in Ontario who rose among his ranks by his sheer hard work and will power. He was an immigrant from Macedonia. He had a safe but lowly paid job at a bakery and managed to learn English to upgrade himself in order to take on the dangerous builder's job for higher pay. Ondaatje has shown how one immigrant and working class man has managed to upgrade himself. Temelcoff succeeded where Hazen failed. Ondaatje showed us that the immigrant who worked hard can climb up the social ladder slowly whereas the laborer (like Hazen) who stayed in the rural region simply could not pull himself out of the cycle of poverty. On the other hand, Hazen led a fairly uneventful life until his death whereas Patrick, who immigrated into the city, led a life full of adventures, misadventures and romance. The working class were responsible for building the physical infrastructure of the city. They also contributed to the culture scene. Alice Gull was one such actor. She was another example of the vulnerable working class who died young. Her death was accidental because she unwittingly held a bomb meant to destroy a building. It was ironic that Alice's husband, Cato, also died a violent death, in the Northern Union battles. Alice's daughter, Hana, reminded Patrick of himself when he was young because he too, had only one parent. Patrick could understand the hardships of single parenting and he promised Alice that he would take care of Hana. Although the people of the working class had a hard life trying to make ends meet, they could still love and share their love in their mutual care for one another. In Book Two's Palace of Purification, we learn that the immigrants in the working class society had a secret rendezvous to voice and discuss their opinions of politics. From this, Ondaatje has told us that the poor have no say in the society and politics. They could only do so in secret and among their own working class compatriots. In Book Three's Caravaggio, when Patrick was imprisoned for committing arson, he helped a fellow prisoner, Caravaggio, escape by painting him blue to camouflage him. He was not ready to leave Kingston Penitentiary so he remained behind. We see another instance of the magnanimous behavior of Patrick. No matter how bad he was, he had redeeming qualities. Although the working class were trapped in their own quagmire, they helped one another. Patrick could have preferred to stay in prison because he wanted time away from the harsh society to mourn for Alice. In Book Three's Maritime Theater, Clara sent word that Small had died and she would like to be with Patrick. Clara tried to redeem herself and save her relationship with Patrick by offering to return to him. Although we may condemn the working class women's vice of becoming a rich man's mistress, we tend to look at Clara in a different way now because she has proven her love for Patrick. Ondaatje has presented the immigrants and working class characters in a very realistic way. They may seem helpless in their situations but they possess true grit and mettle in trying to deal with their assigned lots in life. The End. Works Cited. Ondaatje, Michael. In the Skin of a Lion. USA: Amazon.com Read More