In The Skin Of A Lion - Question Responses

What passage did you find the most beautiful in this novel and why?
The passage I found most beautiful is where Patrick walks into the woods at night and sees the loggers skating on ice holding cattails that are on fire. When Patrick stood on the edge of the lake and watched, it transfixed me as much as it did Patrick because his longing to be on the ice with the men transferred to me and it was such an image that I wanted to see it just as much. It looked like a scene out of a movie where “the ice shone with light” and they glowed through the deep dark forest around them as they danced. The description of the loggers as they exit his view and “go further past boundaries, speed! romance! one man waltzing with his fire….” caught my attention because it is the diction of the exclamation marks of the words speed and romance that gives emphasis to them. Part of the beauty is also the mystery of the scene that I felt the first time that I read the passage. Why are the loggers skating on ice with cattails on fire? Just for a game or a “druidic ritual”?
It states that Patrick is twelve years and he is on the brink of puberty, and that this scene is so different from his normal life that it changes him and gives him a picture of the real world. The setting serves to create a beautiful and surreal image that contrast his everyday life, and even the blue moth in the winter is an anomaly to him.

What character do you most identify with in this novel and why? Is pathos an element of your response to this character?
I identified with Alice because I felt the most pathos for her throughout the novel. The scene with the puppets at the waterworks when she was acting out a play of an immigrant worker evoked the most pathos from me. The first time I read it I was confused as to what and outraged at the play. After learning that it was Alice who played that part, and that the death of her husband enflamed her desire to be active about immigrant workers, I connected with her. The appalling immigrant situation described so vividly causes me to want to help them and Alice stands up for them because this is part of her identity that she has “compassion in [her] desire for truth,” (124) and she finds truth for herself by fighting against the powers of the rich for the power of the immigrant worker. I can connect with her passions because I am interest in those issues as well. Also compared to Clara, Alice is the calmer and more pallid person whose personality is not as outgoing that I can relate too. I love the quote by her; “I don’t think I’m big enough to put someone in a position where they will hurt another,” (160).

Is tragic flaw an issue in this novel? Choose one character and explore how their tragic flaw resulted in disaster.
Patrick’s tragic flaw, that he is very vulnerable to emotion, causes him to great grief and he falls into disaster. Clara “should have understood his breakable quality sooner” (99) because Patrick clings onto both Alice and Clara when he falls in love with them. When Clara leaves Patrick twice for Ambrose it shatters his world because he “himself was nothing but a prism that refracted their lives,” (135). After Clara leaves him for the first time he spends two years in anguish over her because he can’t let go of those emotions. Then Patrick finally meets Clara again and he opens himself up and becomes vulnerable through the act of letting Clara shave his face; however this only hurts him again when Clara leaves. Another example of Patrick being emotionally vulnerable is when he is watching the play about the immigrant worker, he is so overwhelmed by this that out of the entire crowd he goes up and saves Alice. Thus, he builds an even greater emotional connection with Alice and when she tragically dies in an explosion it brings Patrick to disaster because he is destroyed and he can’t fathom how to move on. This causes him to commit the act of terrorism at the Water Works which is the climax where he purges all of his emotions out and through that he gains a glimmer of hope.