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Violence In Anil's Ghost

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Anil’s Ghost Portfolio
Violence is a theme seen throughout the world in all forms of media and literature. As a society we are exposed to violence so much that people’s biggest fears are that they will become fully desensitized to the violence. Many are at this point where violence is as emotional , but some forms of violence are still so disturbing they transcend all levels of desensitization. Some examples are exhibited in Anil’s Ghost. By Michael Ondaatje. All forms of violence are disturbing, but some, even if they seem pretty tame when explained are increasingly disturbing when put into context of the novel. Though, many see violence against a character who a reader is emotionally invested in is very disturbing. The most disturbing …show more content…

Random acts of violence are dotted throughout the novel adding to the theme of death, spontaneous death. The italicized stories seen spontaneously popping up in the novel are testaments to the random acts of violence that were experienced in Sri Lanka, all take an effect on the reader, but none are as blunt or effective as the list seen in the middle of the book. A young women walks to the school everyday to work and sees the same group of boys, but one day she shows up at the bridge and randomly the boys are gone, She says, “She is ten yards from the bridge when she see the heads of two students on stakes…...she doesn’t know or care”(Ondaatje 174). This scene is not just disturbing for the fact that there are heads on stakes it is most disturbing because of how she reacts when she first sees the heads. She passes …show more content…

The stories ability to paint a picture of the scene, give life to those who are dead, and convey Anil’s thought process makes this story excel. Though, the story does jump around and is hard to understand the writing style is very concise and is easy to understand. Every sense is explained, and this adds to the emotion of the story. The extreme detail makes the story intensely disturbing in some areas. Ondaatje's writing style instill a theme of death in the story not only relating to the random murders seen throughout the book, but also by giving life to the bodies that are being examined in the story. There is a scene in the book where a leaf falls into the ribcage of sailor and represents the beating heart. This small detail helps reinforce the fact that sailer and the other bodies in the story are real characters and actually effect the story. The novel only asks for your attention because the story requires a lot of it. Every sentence builds a scene then it quickly changes. This is also the case when we have a chance to listen to Anil and Gamini’s rambling thoughts, and dialouges where it’s mostly medical related each is different, but it alway involves dark humor. While Anil is visiting Gamini he goes on one of the rambles in the book by saying, “I mean, I know everything about blast weaponry. Mortars, claymores, antipersonnel mines which

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