Anil's Ghost Analysis

In Michael Ondaatje’s, Anil’s Ghost, the lives of surrounding characters in multiple side-stories encompass the consequences and effects of war in the second half of the novel through insightful glances of characters, symbolism, and the theme of causality in war. As the latter part of the book begins, Ananda, a drunk artist is introduced and helps Anil and Sarath by reconstructing Sailor’s face. As the trio travel to investigate the village of where they believe Sailor is from, Anil takes note of the dreary nature of the sculptor, unsuspicious of how the war has brought him to this state. Notably, in their time in the ‘walawwa’ —a manor-house— while Anil packed up her research in the evenings, Ananda would be drinking but, “it hadn’t become

For Anil, not knowing the story behind Ananda's wife's death, he would simply look like a drunkard, yet this development in his character evolves Ananda's purpose to illustrate the depression of survivors. And so, in gruesome civil wars like Sri Lanka's, many people have lost loved ones, and have been left with unhealed scars emotionally. As the death tolls increased over the years, with each life taken was at least one life permanently affected. Furthermore, as Anil and Sarath discuss the end result of Sailor’s face as “peaceful” (184), they conclude that “it was not a reconstruction of Sailor's face they were looking at" (188). Meant as a symbol to represent all the unnamed victims of the war in Sri Lanka, Sailor’s face is shown to be at peace as a sense of closure to the surviving families of those who’ve either died or were never found. In addition, Ondaatje continues storylines of other characters paralleling Ananda, having lives permanently affected by the consequences of

Ironically, Gamini sacrifices his own wellbeing by taking it upon himself to use drugs in order to take care of others. As Ondaatje particularly refers to the wounded as "dying around him" shows the uselessness in some situations of attempting to heal the civilians who are too far gone. While Gamini grows less and less sentimental to the value of his own life, the inevitability of death in these situations emphasize the severity of the war and a doctor's reluctance to give up on people. Unfortunately, like many doctors practicing in war-torn countries, Gamini faces repercussions of his sacrifice as his social interactions diminish as the war progresses. With his complete dedication to his work, he “did not approach people unless they had a wound, even if he couldn't see it" (211). As a person, his only communication to others was when he was trying to heal others, and for that reason, his marriage strained as he “couldn’t see” the emotional damage he brought onto his