Ondaatje's novel, In the Skin of a Lion, reflects the situation of immigrants and the political power structure in Canada earlier in the century. The writer argues that those at the top of society's power hierarchy during that period, from both a political and financial standpoint, were disregarding the welfare of this workforce. The novel reveals the worker's viewpoint and their duties requiring ultimate effort under unsafe conditions for limited pay. In the Skin of a Lion presents the life of the immigrant as it spotlights the complicated mixture of elements that characterized the conflict between majority and minority culture that are inherent to a population that is multi-ethnic in its composition. A lot of the events in the novel are based on true facts from the Canadian history. The particular references that Ondaatje makes to people, events and monuments, existing in Canada during the 1920's and 1930's make the novel specifically North American. However, the cultural contrast between immigrants and Canadians, the particular images of Toronto and their interweaving with characters' faiths makes In the Skin of a Lion a unique fiction novel that reveals the secrets of real history and opens eyes for today's reality in Canada.
             Patrick's life story is one of the many we, the readers follow throughout the novel. He is born in a small town in Ontario and Ondaatje focuses on the influence of his early life and his reaction to the life in the big city, when he eventually moves to Toronto. Patrick is revealed as a lonely man that is isolated from the world around him. "Clara and Ambrose and Alice and Temelcoff and Cato- this cluster made up a drama without him. And he himself was noting but a prism that refracted their lives. He searched out things, he collected things. He was an abashed man, an inheritance from his father. Born in Abashed, Ontario. What did the word mean? Something that suggested...