The Skin of a Lion Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Skin of a Lion - Assignment Example The main character in the novel is one Patrick Lewis and it extends to reveal his fate and his role in the development of a concise plot. Patrick gains recognition as a searcher in the novel and thus it is important to identify the essence of this role. In understanding the role of Patrick in the novel, it is important to appreciate the background from which he grew up to become the strong young man that he was as his role as a searcher not only began later in life but was a dormant characteristic that was not clearly revealed prior to his independence. This is clearly revealed from the fact that Patrick used to live with his father alone in a small town in Ontario (Ondaatje 47). The economic and social conditions in that area were very low as it was the first phase of the 20th century. Patrick witnessed the few developments that people had at the time and wished that he could live in a place with much better conditions. He wished for a better lifestyle after witnessing the amount of hard work that he saw his father putting and the little income that he got. Deep inside, Patrick had the searcher attitude, this is witnessed from the manner in which he consistently asked his father to move, and they go to a better place with better economic conditions. The attitude developed in this aspect showed the symbolic significance of change from him. He was tired of always seeing his mother come at home late in the evening exhausted from his daily job of a dynamiter. This job description involved the crushing and explosion of huge stones to smaller ones in an effort to produce smaller bricks for application in building and involved the construction of bridges. The tedious activity had very many risks that included injuries from the exploding stones. Change was one of the major needs that people in the society required. The government did not prove any significant in the implementation of this because the amount of corruption was rather alarming (Ahrens 26). However, the people did not have the financial power or the unity to make the necessary change that they required. Patrick deeply believed that by uniting people, nothing was too large to accomplish. Patrick in his role as a searcher looked for job opportunities that he could get into in an effort to get a better career and thus assist his father in the payment of the vast amount of bills that they had. However, his efforts to search for a job in order to generate income were rather fruitless from the high amount of corruption that only ensured a select few number of people to obtain valuable jobs in society. After this, he had no option but to enter into the job description that he mu ch loathed. In his beginning years, he had a lot of trouble adapting but from his father’s training, he was able to develop the required traits for professionalism. Later, on, his father died while on the job and this was occasion deeply traumatized the young Patrick. He went on for many days wondering why he had to lose his father but could not achieve any convincing answer. After this, he made a personal decision of quitting the job description that had led to him losing the father and decided to engage in the search of a more professional and less tedious job (Ondaatje 83). Patrick gains the idea of moving to a different town in search of renowned billionaire Ambrose Small. His basis for setting off on this search