What is the point of In the Skin of a Lion, and what does it teach?

Michael Ondaatje’s novel emphasizes the important role of immigrants in building the city of Toronto, Canada, literally and figuratively. By highlighting the contributions of people from diverse backgrounds, Ondaatje destabilizes a dominant view of Canada as primarily a white, British-heritage city. The author uses the physical infrastructure, especially a massive bridge, to focus the reader’s attention to these contributions; one of the main characters is Macedonian. At the same time, he shows the social and political activism associated with those diverse sectors. These two lines come together in the story of the radicalization of Patrick. His personal motivations lead him to class-based antagonism that develops into a subversive plot to blow up that bridge. The novel is also a prequel to The English Patient, which prominently features Hana and Caravaggio, two characters from this novel.