Michael Ondaatje brings to life the hard and unrecognized work of immigrants who helped build Toronto’s Harris Water Treatment Plant and the Bloor Street/Prince Edward Viaduct. It has become a record of the men's experiences and a salute to their sacrifices, including several deaths. Without his research and fleshed out characters, their efforts may have been unknown, taken for granted or obliterated.
In the Skin of a Lion follows Patrick as he gets to know immigrant labourers from his childhood in Bellrock to his adulthood in Toronto. The time span is from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Patrick’s father was a dynamiter for loggers and taught him everything he knew. This is how he happened to land the dangerous job of dynamiting in tunnels for the Harris Water Treatment Plant in Toronto. The descriptions of the disgusting working conditions make the men's experiences more real and will transport readers back in time towards the beginning of the rise of Toronto.
Patrick Searches for Ambrose Small
Patrick became a searcher and one of his assignments was to track down the famous millionaire Ambrose Small. Ambrose was portrayed as being an extremely ruthless man who didn’t care about the working-class. Patrick became sidetracked by Ambrose’s mistress Clara, which put him in danger because he wasn’t about to step aside.
He overcame many other obstacles thanks to Clara or her best friend Alice. Alice had a crush on Patrick, but he was blind to this because he was obsessed with only Clara. Eventually, he grew up and sought stability with Alice who could return his love.
Nicholas Temelcoff Remembered in The Skin of a Lion
The story then bounces over to the Macedonian bridge builder Nicholas Temelcoff, a solitary daredevil who “knows his position in the air as if he is mercury slipping across a map”. He swings high from pulleys while helping build the Bloor Street/Prince Edward Viaduct in Toronto. A mystery develops after he saves a falling nun’s life when she makes an unlikely appearance on the unfinished bridge. She then mysteriously disappears before Nicholas can catch her name.
Many of these immigrant men risked their lives with their unappreciated labour that helped build Toronto so that others could live in comfort or admire the landscape. Michael Ondaatje spent months researching Toronto archives and wrote In the Skin of a Lion (McClelland & Stewart, 1987) with empathy towards immigrant labourers. The fact that he's an immigrant who was born in Sri Lanka certainly may have helped.
Project Bookmark Canada Quotes Skin of a Lion for Toronto Plaque
The real Nicholas Temelcoff has finally been given some credit because Project Bookmark Canada selected the following passage from In the Skin of a Lion for a plaque that includes his name: “He saw it was a black-garbed bird, a girl’s white face. He saw this in the light that sprayed down inconsistently from a flare fifteen yards above them. They hung in the halter, pivoting over the valley, his broken arm loose on one side of him, holding the woman with the other. Her body was in shock, her huge eyes staring into the face of Nicholas Temelcoff.”
Also by Michael Ondaatje:
Sandra Williams - Sandra's a book addict and writer from Ontario, Canada. Her interests include cooking, health and personal development, so many of her ...
