Please read the novel by Michael Ondaatje: In the Skin of a Lion,and answer the following question. Kwasi Hoffman and Jodi Lundgren argue that Ondaatje’s novel focuses on European migrants so as to demonstrate to the reader the exploitation and degradation they encountered despite their white skin and European ancestry. In the Skin of a Lion points towards a period when the notion of racial identity in Canada was born, highlighting the fact that racism was not solely concerned with people of colour and First Nations, but was, rather, a social construct that was executed within labour and social values.
How does Ondaatje inform readers of the complexities and the multi-stranded discourses that underpin Canada’s multiculturalism today? Does the novel suffer from its focus on European immigrants? How does he symbolically tie notions of skin colour to his characters, and what impact does this connection between color, nationality, language, and race have? You are required to use a minimum of three peer-reviewed critical academic sources on the authors/texts chosen for your final paper, so the best way to proceed is to choose an author and topic, go to the library or databases such as JSTOR, ProjectMUSE, Academic Search Premier, etc., and see how critics are engaging with the author. This will show you what general consensus or debates are considered relevant, and if what approach your own argument might take. In the limited amount of time and space we have, it is important that you be aware of available critical material before committing yourself to a thesis for which no academic sources can be found. Your argument must be original, but if it does not build on, refine, or engage with existing critical work, you will be unable to use your academic sources in a meaningful fashion. You MUST have a clear argumentative thesis, and not just answers to the various questions posed in the topic prompts below. Give your paper a title! Please provide a work cited. Scholarly sources must be used for your evidence. E
