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In the Skin of a Lion
by Michael Ondaatje
This unit was prepared by Marilyn Pretorius,
Brigidine College, St Ives.
Applying two approaches to the study of the
text:
The cultural analysis approachThe cultural heritage approach
The following approaches will help you to
identify a range of possible responses to the text.
The cultural analysis approach
Apply a cultural analysis approach to this text by answering
the following questions (which have been adapted from Greer
Johnson (1999), 'Multiple Readings of a Picture Book' in
The Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, Vol 22 No
3 October)
- Whose experiences and what kinds of experience seem to
dominate in the text?
- Are stereotypes reinforced or challenged? (Think of nuns, thieves, workers)
- Is there any evidence of opposing or conflicting ideas or images (good/evil, past/present, poor/wealthy, living/dying, men/women, light/dark) in the text?
- Are women positioned differently from men in the narrative?
- What are the main contrasts and tensions through which the text seems to operate?
- What alternative cultural and ideological assumptions or viewpoints have been left out or silenced in the text?
(Tip: consider pages 112-119 of the novel and
how these people of different nationalities have gathered
together in harmony with a common purpose)
- Can the text be categorized as fiction, fact, story or history?
- Does the text comment on itself? (eg Consider the quote on page 146 "The first sentence of every novel should be: 'Trust me ...")
- What relevance to your own times and society does the work seem to have?
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You may like to discuss the following with
others in your class: analyse how race, gender, class, ethnicity,
religion and place are represented in the novel. Cite specific
examples from the text to support your analysis.
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The cultural heritage approach
Apply a cultural heritage approach to this text by answering
the following questions:
- What universal themes are evident in the text? (life, death, love, loss, transience of life, pain of grief)
- What does the text tell us about the human condition?
- What language is used in the text to support the themes or point of view? (eg figurative language, sentence length, rhythm, mood)
- What are the images, paradoxes, ambiguities and ironies which contribute to the localised texture and overall variety of the text?
- Explore the text's history and place in culture.
Which approach, cultural analysis or cultural
heritage, do you find better suited to an analysis of In the
Skin of a Lion? Give reasons for your answer.
You can find out how to do this by consulting
texts such as:
Stephen Bonnycastle: In Search of
Authority, An Introductory Guide to Literary Theory, second
edition
Rob Pope: The English Studies
Book
Brian Moon: Literary terms, a practical
glossary
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