ECO – MARXIST READING OF MICHAEL ONDAATJE’S IN THE SKIN OF A LION

Abstract

Eco criticism the latest contemporary literary hermeneutics has assimilated into its trajectory Marxist literary and cultural criticism. The industrial revolution let to the capitalist movement wherein nature and human life is regulated by political control. Environment and the proletariat are exploited by the capitalist mode of production and have been brutally destructed by the authoritative regime which considers environment and human life from a utilitarian and materialistic perspective. In the political modernity “bios’ – environment and ecology is the core of capitalist mode of regulation which becomes key categories of political economy. Environmental crisis arises due to amassing of the green regime- the sustainable energy that vitalizes planetary life. Michael Ondatjee’s In the Skin of a Lion is a historical, literary and cultural text when dealt with a rigorous eco- Marxist analysis reveals the bio-political history of capitalism. Eco criticism deals with the problem that human beings encounter in relation to the environment or milieu in which they live; the environment could be natural or artificial – a city which is constructed by destroying the natural ecosystem. The novel historicizes the creation and development of the city of Toronto in 1920’s. The city comes into being after the destruction of the forest ecosystem, loss of life of the anonymous poor immigrant laborers who are employed in the construction of the landmarks of Toronto city. Thematically the novel is categorized Postcolonial and structurally as postmodern. This paper attempts to bring ecological concerns and immigrant’s status as outsiders under a common platform.