#3)
Even though I have already talked about Patrick a lot, I think it is worth it to mention him again.
Patrick definitely has a tragic flaw that is an issue to his downfall. Evidently, Patrick’s tragic flaw is his incapability of grabbling with his grief. It seems Patrick cannot handle losses. I hypothesized that Patrick would later on get used to so much loss and grief in his life that he would eventually feel indifferent towards it, but as he lives life with more losses, I think it gets harder because of stronger attachment. For example, when Clara left, it was devastating for Patrick; however, Alice Gull came along and helped him eventually escape from his grief for Clara which was hard. Therefore, when Patrick lost Alice, it was even harder because Alice was the one who helped him get rid of his pains. If I were Patrick, it would feel as if there was no one left to help me out of my grief for Alice now.
Patrick’s inability to cope with the grief of Clara caused him to be utterly destroyed as evident from the smell and condition of his room: “the room smells like a clean butcher shop.” His reminiscence of memories with Clara show that he is unable to let Clara go: “Pieces of Clara float around him.” Due to this, maybe Clara left him once again after seeing him when Ambrose almost killed him. Then his inability to cope with Alice’s death led to his firing of the Muskoka Hotel. The burning of his sleeve and his imprisonment symbolizes his disaster. In these portrayals of downfall, Ondaatje uses lots of repetition of emptiness, lost, and blindness. Even in the midst of grief, one must learn to cope with it or search of hope, or otherwise it will lead to disaster.
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As the reader will realize that Patrick has a tragic flaw which leads to disaster, Ondaatje used a variety of ways to show this. I agree with you in that his tragic flaw "is his incapability of grappling with his grief". As a major theme in this novel, it is the idea that with grief comes the loss of identity. However, there is also the other side where with that there is also hope and transformation (all of which you've mentioned). However, the encounters or tragedies that Patrick faces help him on the journey of finding such identity. It is true that when Clara leaves Patrick he becomes a bit 'crazy'. He has to obsessively clean his room and this shows that he is unable to erase her presence. The fact that the author incorporates these characters such as Clara and Alice all tie in with Patrick finding, searching and peeling off their skins to make his identity come anew.
Good post, Gee Hee. Although I find myself wondering how I can "grabble" my way through life. :) (You might want to check out the spelling of this word.)
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