Comparison of the Treatment of Childhood in Shadowboxing and In the Skin of a Lion Frances Bolling 11th Grade

Shadowboxing, a series of short stories by Tony Birch follows the life of Michael Burn as he grows up in the inner suburbs of Melbourne in the 1960s. Michael Ondaatje's novel In the Skin of a Lion narrates the life of Canadian Patrick Lewis throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s. While the majority of Ondaatje’s novel focuses on Patrick’s adult life, the first chapter “Little Seeds” recounts his childhood in rural Canada. Both texts focus on the observant nature of children and the keenness with which they see and feel the events and people around them. Both works examine the ways in which events and people experienced during childhood can affect a child, and the lasting impact these factors can have on an individual. Birch depicts childhood as a time in which certain details are both keenly noticed and keenly remembered.

Although young, in the chapter “The Butcher’s Wife”, Michael shows himself to be highly aware of the violence around him. He says “I caught only a glimpse of [the butcher’s wife’s] face as we passed each other, but I noticed [her cuts and bruises] immediately” (Birch 41). Furthermore, when describing the “heavy foundation of powder” (41) this woman uses to cover the bruises caused by her husband, Michael...