3.

In my humble opinion, I think Clara's tragic flaw resulted in a lot of disasters in this novel. First, one of her flaws is that she lacks a sense of attachment or humanly love towards anyone. Although she has this bond with Alice, it doesn't necessarily continue throughout the book. She lives with a millionaire, Ambrose, but doesn't seem affectionate towards him. Her relationship with Patrick is surface level and has no meaning whatsoever. Because of her indifference, Patrick is more confused and is not able to get closure. To Patrick, this has left a huge scar in his life and he is not able to move on this point of life anymore.
Another one of her flaws is her aimless pace in life. In this book, we don't see any of Clara's motivation or goals in life; Her behavior and actions seem spontaneous and often irrational at the most. There is no indication of deep thinking in her life as she just wanders off from one place to another. Because of this, she doesn't seem to have any intimate relationship with anyone and in this book she is clearly portrayed as a flat character without any change or revelation. This tragic flaw eventually leads her self-destruction and ultimately to Ambrose's death. However, at the end, as we see Patrick and his daughter driving to Marmora we can sense Clara's significant change in life or even hope for the future.

2.

Out of all the characters in this novel, Patrick is the one I identify with the most because of two big reasons: (a) Patrick has this sense of anger embedded inside him; (b) He feels excluded numerous times

(a) Patrick's inner resentment and anger is magnified by the recurrence of the dynamite throughout the novel. First, Patrick's father dies because of a dynamite accident, his life revolves around the construction sites which also involves dynamites and his significant other, Alice, is killed by a dynamite. At the climax of the novel, Patrick carries a dynamite into Harris' office to destroy the waterworks. I, too, have some sense of anger that is deep within me. As a child, my family moved twice to the United States because of my father's job. Because of this, I never really had a chance to make friends from one place. So, I have a hard time feeling connected to kids who stayed in Korea their whole childhood and yet, I'm not connected to people I know from America. I questioned myself how this happened and I sometimes felt angry because of how my life turned out. At the same time, I wondered how everything would've been different if I hadn't moved.
(b) It is obvious that Patrick comes from a low social working class. Although he is a native Canadian, he mingles with many immigrants in the slum of Toronto and forms a rapport with many of the people. When he, however, encounters the Rich and the Powerful - Ambrose or Harris - he is often intimidated. He also feels that from Clara who continuously has an on-and-off relationship with him. She never genuinely feels attached to Patrick and uses him to satisfy her needs. Patrick despises this part of his life and feels incredibly isolated. I don't necessarily feel isolated all the time, but certainly there are moments when I feel like I lost this sense of belonging to my family. Although my family greatly supports me and I love them very much, I sometimes have a hard time understanding them. When I first told my parents that I wanted to be an international school teacher they just couldn't believe what I said. It wasn't as prestigious as they expected it to be and it certainly was not the highest paying job in the world. Also, they are completely indifferent on things that I am interested in - environmental conservation, government conspiracy, terrorism and much more.

Pathos is an element of my response to Patrick but not completely. Patrck definitely has had a harsh life and I understand the bitterness and aggravation he feels. I also feel sympathetic to Patrick because of his sense of isolation and exclusion from the world. Just as we see a bit of redemption for Patrick after Alice's appearence, she dies horribly in an explosion. His life has been full of grief and sorrow beyond my imagination. However, I feel more sympathetic to Clara than to Patrick. I'm not denying the pain Patrick feels in this novel, but at least, at the end we see a glimpse of hope for Patrick's future has his daughter drives him to his hometown. He understands his sorrow and he continues to lament his life. Clara, on the other hand has an aimless life whose desire lies on the temporary. Her connection to Ambrose seems superficial and doesn't seem to be completely happy. Even though she develops this relationship with Patrick she does not know how to handle or control the situation. In a way, she's rocking back and forth trying to figure out what she really wants from life. It is sad to me that she doesn't recognize the shallowness of her life and we don't see any change in her character. This is why I'm not completely sympathetic to Patrick because it's more traumatic not to be grieving or searching for your identity in life.

In the Skin of a Lion

1. The most beautiful passage that I found in this passage is at the end of chapter one. This is the part where Patrick, as a young child, follows a rare winter moth outside of this house and explores the nature that surrounds him. The numerous literary devices - particularly imagery and symbol - add to the beauty of the passage.
First, from the beginning the a blue moth is introduced in the passage. This color goes along with the darkness that is portrayed in the very same sentence. Then, as Patrick tries to follow the moth, he brings his kereosene lamp. The kereosene lamp gives a picture of a dim light gently crossing across the darkness of the countryside. He later encounters lightning bugs which is a parallel picture to the light that is shown from the lamp. The lights of the moon is then shown with its light reflecting against the whitness of the snow. The very image adds to the crispy cold air described in this setting and emphasizes the vastness of nature. From there, another parallel imagery is shown which is the light reflecting off from the ice. Again, it is a beautiful color of winter. From there, Patrick witnesses ten men skating and having fun. It is interesting to note that he just silently watches the men play and listen to their joyous laughter. To me, it was a foreshadow of Patrick's life and fate that was to be unfolded later in the book. Also, Patrick's river - a symbol of his life - is introduced which also makes this passage crucial.