The Skin Of A Lion Symbolism

Everyone is blind until they experience something or meet someone that changes the way they see things. For some, meeting someone is enough to change their perspective on life. However for others, it may take an experience like falling in love or experiencing a death of a loved one in order for the individual to be enlightened to a new way of looking at things. In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje shows Patrick as he goes from being blind to the realities of life to being enlightened to many things after he finds unconditional love. In many ways Patrick was like the blind iguana given to him by Clara. An iguana is best known for their excellent vision but ironically the iguana mentioned in the novel is blind. This parallels the fact
Everything that Alice teaches him he will take with him for the rest of his life. The mature and unconditional love that he has for Alice is a much different love than the impulsive, childish love that he shared with Clara. Patrick is able to look further into the future and he wants to be there for long term. He is seeing the bigger picture and he seeing that there is more that meets the eye with Alice and with Alice comes Hana. However, he is willing to accept the complete Alice including all the baggage that she comes with. Though he constantly asks about Cato, her ex lover, he does not try to change her mind like he once did with Clara. Not only that but he is also willing to care for Hana, Alice’s daughter, as a father. “‘Don’t talk like that, Hana, you’re ten years old, and he’s your father.’” (139). Patrick is making an effort to raise Hana and be the father figure that he never had as a child growing up. The reader is also able to see that Patrick is not trying to take the place of Cato. In fact he is defending Cato. This takes a lot of maturity and respect for the people he cares about. With his willingness to be responsible for Hana, he starts to care about her and he also spends more time with her as he spends more time with Alice as well. As he falls in an unconditional love for Alice, he is also falling in love with Hana as well in a fatherly manner. “She was totally unlike Patrick, always practical. When he returned from the steambaths on the first Saturday she had inquired about the price and he saw her trying to work out of it was worth it. ‘I would have paid anything,’ he muttered …” (139). Not only is he learning things from Alice he is also learning things from Hana as well. His perspective is opening wider as Hana is giving a different kind of insight of the world, a different way to