In the Skin of a Lion Lesson Plan

What is Nicholas’ immigration story? What message, if any, might the author be sending through this section?

Nicholas heard about North America through Daniel Stoyanoff, a man from Nicholas’s hometown who went to Canada, was injured on the job and made enough money to start a business back home. This made Nicholas think there was possibility and promise in North America, or "Upper America," as Ondaatje says throughout the novel. After hearing about “Daniel Stoyanoff’s America” (45), Nicholas and four friends take a dangerous journey (during which two of the friends die) to Canada. When they arrive, they are forced to bathe in groups and pick lice off of each other. They...