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The Passions of Lalla
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Running in the Family, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, History, and Story
Alcoholism
Ancestry, Homeland, and Identity
Irresponsibility in the 1920s
Colonialism
Summary
Analysis
Ondaatje reflects on his love for the harbor and the way the waters from a million different seas intermingle there. He takes a boat out into the dark harbor and weaves around the flotsam while a memory involving a harbor tugs at his brain. He finds the harbor to be “sincere.”
Ondaatje’s weaving through the harbor and its various seas reflects the way he weaves through stories and memories of the past, exploring the various characters and eras of his family’s history.
Themes
