Running In The Family By Michael Ondaatje: Facts, Meaning, And Insights

Author anthony Monday, 15 September 2025

The Ghosts of Colonialism: Sri Lanka's Past and Ondaatje's Personal Journey
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The Ghosts of Colonialism: Sri Lanka's Past and Ondaatje's Personal Journey

Family Legacy and Historical Context

The book explores the legacy of colonialism through the lens of his own family, particularly the experiences of his uncles and their involvement in different facets of Sri Lankan life. Ondaatje doesn't shy away from the complexities of his family’s history, revealing both their strengths and weaknesses, their successes and failures, their contributions and their shortcomings within the context of a rapidly changing society. He exposes the intricacies of family relationships, uncovering the hidden tensions and unspoken secrets that shaped their lives and, consequently, his own. This deeply personal approach to historical narrative offers a uniquely intimate and powerful perspective on the colonial legacy in Sri Lanka. Ondaatje states, "The book isn't about Sri Lanka; it's about the Sri Lanka I knew, the Sri Lanka that existed within the confines of my family.” This highlights the intensely personal nature of his historical inquiry.

Memory, Identity, and the Fragmented Self: Deconstructing Narrative Truth

The Search for Self and the Elusive Nature of Identity

The fragmented nature of the narrative reflects Ondaatje’s own journey of self-discovery. Throughout the book, he grapples with questions of identity, exploring his own roots and his connection to his family and his homeland. The lack of definitive answers is deliberate, underscoring the ongoing process of self-understanding. This reflects a broader postmodern sensibility, recognizing that identity is not something to be found but something to be constantly constructed and reconstructed. This relentless self-examination, woven throughout the book’s narrative structure, highlights that personal discovery is an ongoing process, rather than a singular event. As Ondaatje himself might say, it’s a matter of “running in the family” of one's own thoughts and memories, tracing the labyrinthine pathways of the self.

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