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Someone please help with In the Skin of a Lion!!! (1 Viewer)

Apathetic

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Just as we all know that teachers never describe anthing really simply, I'm still having trouble getting to the bottom of the whole idea of this text (Skin of a Lion). I f possible, can somebody please just explain the text to me really simply. Thanks guys, I hate this text!
xoxo
 

cakes

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Hahaha yeah i was just about to start a thread about in the skin of a lion- i haven't seen one!!!

Ok.. which readings are you wanting to do? I might be able to help you out a little
 

Apathetic

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hehe, yeah, it seems as though noone has done it, and that everyone is doing King Lear.
Well, off the topic, but I have a history tutor, and yesterday he gave me an outline of one of the things I'm studying, and after doing it for ages in class, I finally understood it. I wanted someone to do this for Skin of a lion. I just want like an outline, or short summary of the text, cause it confuses me SO much!!
 

cakes

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It's quite confusing because it's written in a non-linear form - it's not all in order, like he refers to the future and that, and the end can be seen as the beginning sorta thing.

Each section is basically a story (told by Patrick to Hana as we find out right at the end) about different people... eg Nicholas Temelcoff, Clara, Alice (who was the nun that flew off the bridge), Ambrose Small.. etc. There isn't really a "plot" in the traditional sense

Yeah, what you have to do is different readings of the novel...
 

bails

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Yeah i reallly hate this novel! Why dont they pick things that we'd b interested in? makes sense to me!

My readings are that Patrick, the main character finds a voice in his experiences and relationships throught the journey of the novel.
My other reading is that Ondatjee wishes to make sure the marganalised characters, that being the migrant workers are accounted for in the history books, as the novel portrays that they were people that were not recorded in the history of the making of the city.

Does that help? What else is gettin u?
 
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Bails, as far as I know you should place the readings under 'theories'.

Eg. I think your first reading would be humanist of sorts (but don't quote me on that, I've never learnt much on humanism)

And your second reading is post-colonial. Its helpful to find out about the actual theory behind these methods of thought, which should help you 'dissect' the novel and analyze it from a post-colonial point of view, etc.
 

Apathetic

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Too true regarding the boring texts 'bails'.

In response to 'cakes' comment about the post-colonial theory, I believe that the book itself presents both post-colonial and post-modern views. In my opinion, the exam is likely to ask us to examine these two aspects of the novel, or these two readings. Even if they don't, I think that we should have these two readings down, or at least have defined the two aspects in terms of the story.
I see it a little differently though. I definately agree that Patrick finds a voice through his relationships and experiences throughout the book, but just as each 'section' or 'part' of the book introduces us to a different character, and different stories, I think that, as Patrick is telling all these stories to Hana, that what we as a reader are presented with is the completed, more detailed stories as put together in Hana's imagination as she listens to them. As the beginning of the novel states "the man who is driving could say, "In that field is a castle", and it would be possible for her to believe him", the intimate details as told through the text could simply be a figment of Hana's imagination, therefore bringing forward a new theme of imagination to the novel.
Obviously this theory is more post-modern, but I havn't really come up with a post-colonial 'reading' that I can agree with.

Sorry to babble, just thought I'd put forward a new 'theory', or 'reading'.
Thanks guys. = )
 

bails

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Yeah I dunno, we were told to choose at least two different "readings" of the text and if those two can get me 95+ marks than i dont giv a rats arse bout gettin technical, coz honestly it just confuses me! I dont care if i dont state whether they are humanist or post-colonial it dont matter really as long as i can explain myself, its all good!
 

sar567

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One of my reading comes from the quote "never again shall a single story be told as if it were the only one" does anyone have any idea what technical name i could give it caus i dont know

Any ideas??
 
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Originally posted by sar567
One of my reading comes from the quote "never again shall a single story be told as if it were the only one" does anyone have any idea what technical name i could give it caus i dont know

Any ideas??
Postmodern reading, by highlighting of the use of viewing a story from a variety of perspectives --> multiplicity of narratives.

If you are doing a postmodern reading, there are other aspects of postmodernism you should focus on, eg:

-the non-linear nature of the book

-the fluidity of identity (Eg. Alice turning from a nun to a whole new, different person, after taking on a new name, Caravaggio being literally painted out of the story...)

-self-reflexivity (explicit recognition of story as construct, author's presence and audience's role).


If you are not too sure about postmodern theory, this site should help you:

http://www.colorado.edu/English/ENGL2012Klages/pomo.html

Hope that helps!
 

MindFunk

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*sighs with relief*

I have covered all that I need to in order to get through comfortably. I actually really enjoyed "In the Skin of a Lion". Weird but true.

Like most other peeps I have gone for the Post-Colonial slant on the story of the migrants, and another (less well thought out but just as effective reading) being an aspect of the postmodern reading expanded to satisfy on its own.

Ondaatje makes a lot of subtle hints to the human condition and comments on how often the best heard stories are rarely told perfectly or in exact chronological order.

Textual examples:

- "Trust me, there is order here. Very faint, very human. Meander if you want to get to town"

- ... part of a mural, which was a falling together of accomplices"

- "this is the story a young girl gathers in the early hours ... as he picks up and brings together various corners of the story"

I thought I didn't know what I was tlkaing about. According to my teachers I do. I won't argue (hey bails - we gotta party after the hsc eh? cya on monday in the hall... if you need help just msg me)
 

sar567

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Originally posted by Apathetic
sar, have you got a page refference for that quote??
yup i do, its the quote on the first page of the book its actually a quote from John Berger
 

cakes

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I have a question...

How do you do a reading of a character??
 

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