Conflict Between the Power of Possession and Self Constructed Identity Noah Richler analysis of Canadian literature allowed him to develop his theory that Canadian literature is built on the myth of disappointment. Richler believes that “Canadians depend on the centre but expect little from it” (Richler 281). With Canada being a country built on the hard work from labour workers who had to overcome difficult adversities. With Canada being a multicultural nation with a high number of immigrants coming to Canada to contribute to the image of a country made in the image of others. In Michael Ondaatje’s novel In the Skin of a Lion, Richler’s criteria of disappointment is evident with the recurring references to the struggle of being a labour worker with some having to deal with the language barrier. Their struggles in dealing with the higher authority force these workers to realize that they are on their own. In the end as long as the higher authority continues to create this conflict then workers like Patrick Lewis have to rely on this homegrown identity that workers like him have worked hard to create. Ondaatje uses many historical references which is a key criterion to Richler’s theory because these events illustrate how the higher power can continually let down those that sacrifice everything to survive while they enjoy the benefits. Commissioner Harris is seen as the operators with a presentable image while the people who are responsibility for his success are seen as animals. No matter how poor the conditions are and what trauma these workers suffer Harris only sees the profits, when confronted by Patrick about the people dying for his project Harris responds, “there was no record kept” (Ondaatje 123). This attitude that the higher authority have towards those who risked their lives to make a living were like replaceable pawns.
Richler discussed this theory of the proletarian person and their myths as they express “a distrust of whatever the prevailing power…as they extol the virtues of the ordinary and racially sensitive Canadian who has been let down in some way” (Richler 276). The major disappointment comes when Patrick goes for his moment of retribution by placing the dynamite bomb at the Filtration Plant he uses a line that Alice Gull told him which was, “in a rich man's house there is nowhere to spit except in his face” (Ondaatje 125). In the end even Harris realizes that, “he was one of the few in power who had something tangible around him. But those with real power had nothing to show for themselves. They had paper. They didn't carry a cent. Harris was an amateur in their midst. He had to sell himself every time” (Ondaatje 126). It takes a drastic move by Patrick to get Harris to realize that he will have to live with the continuing memory of the sacrifice that these workers made in order to support themselves and their families, while Harris reaps the highest reward that would be seen as inheriting from the work of others. In the end this theory draws on the major disappointment of letting the higher authority inherit all the reward from another person’s sacrifice which has been a major relation of Canada.
WORKS CITED
Ondaatje, Michael. In the Skin of a Lion, Toronto: Vintage Canada. 1987. Print
Richler, Noah. “Our Myths of Disappointment.” This Is My Country, What’s Yours? Toronto:
McClelland & Stewart, 2006. Print.