Ancestry, Homeland, and Identity Theme Analysis

Although Ondaatje was born in Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) and his ancestors lived and died there, he himself left family and country behind when he was 11. As a Sri Lankan adult who now lives in Canada, Ondaatje’s alienation from his native culture leaves him feeling that he does not understand who he truly is, especially since he also knows nothing about his father, Mervyn. This “uncertainty […] regarding my own identity” inspires two investigative journeys back to his homeland and extended family to rediscover his own sense of identity and determine his place in the world, eventually providing the subject matter for his memoir. Ondaatje’s quest to know his ancestry and his homeland suggests that one’s personal identity develops from understanding their place both amidst their family legacy and in the world at large.

Ondaatje’s lack of knowledge about his own family or the country he left behind leaves him unsure of his own identity, suggesting that it is difficult for an individual to know who they are without the context of their family’s past. While staying at a friend’s house in Canada, Ondaatje has a nightmare about Mervyn surrounded by vicious dogs. As Ondaatje wakes, he realizes that he does not know who his father truly was or what the dream means, but only that Ondaatje has long felt a sense of “malice towards him due to the scarce, negative information I knew about him.” This epiphany makes Ondaatje further realize he knows little about his family history at all: “In my mid-thirties I realized that I had slipped past a childhood I had ignored and not understood.” He states that this lack of knowledge leaves him with “uncertainty […] regarding my own identity.” Ondaatje’s feeling of not knowing himself due to not knowing his family suggests that one’s sense of identity is deeply tied to the family legacy into which they are born. Ondaatje confirms this when he writes, “At certain years in our lives, we see ourselves as remnants from the earlier generations that were destroyed. […] So our job becomes to […] with ‘the mercy of distance’ write the histories.” His statement suggests that his family history, and particularly the absence of his father, influences his own life as an adult in significant but unseen ways, and thus understanding that history is key to understanding himself.

Ondaatje dwells heavily on the sensory details of Ceylon and the ways they recall his childhood, which suggests that along with family, the environment one is born into shapes one’s identity as well. The first environment that Ondaatje describes is Canada’s brutal winter,—during which he wraps himself in a quilt to keep warm—in contrast with Ceylon’s “delicious heat,” indicating that despite living in Canada, Ondaatje’s body is not suited to the cold climate. He notes, “It was a new winter and I was already dreaming of Asia,” indicating that the environment Ondaatje currently lives in is not the one that he naturally belongs to, adding to his conflicted sense of identity. In Ceylon, Ondaatje meticulously records sensory details and describes them at length in the narrative. He makes long audio recordings of the jungle sounds and bird calls. He lists the smells. In his last morning in Ceylon, Ondaatje says, “My body must remember everything, this brief insect bite, the smell of wet fruit, the slow snail light, rain, rain.” The sensory details remind him of his childhood, of the land from which he came from and in which his mother and father lived their lives. Ondaatje’s meticulous focus on the sensory details of his homeland suggests that, like family history, the environment one is born in plays a significant role in shaping their identity.

By uncovering and recording stories about his family and home country, Ondaatje is able to see himself as a part of a long and complex family legacy rather than a lone Sri Lankan living in Canada. This ultimately suggests that knowing one’s place in the context of one’s family and homeland is central to understanding one’s own identity. After days of conversations, memories, and stories about his family members in Ceylon, Ondaatje sees a recurring vision in his mind: “I see my own straining body which stands shaped like a star and realize gradually I am part of a human pyramid. Below me are other bodies that I am standing on and above me are several more, though I am quite near the top.” In the vision, the pyramid lumbers slowly about the room while all of the people in it “chatter” to one another. Ondaatje’s vision suggests that he now recognizes himself as simply one member in a long family legacy, standing upon the shoulders of those relatives who went before him just as his children stand on his. This sense of belonging to a larger group of people suggests that for any individual, finding and recognizing their place in their familial and cultural legacies defines their own identity as a person who is influenced by the past and who will contribute to the future of their lineage.