Running In the Family Chapter Summaries

Jeez, you guys went into detail. Ok, we're making good progress. I think I'll be done soon.

Well Tibo seems to have done what I was assigned so heres a secondary reference to the first 3 parts
PROLOUGE (no title)
• Heat in Ceylon very different to Canadian weather causing micheal to feel discomfort
• Symbolism in thorn trees which were planted by his father. They come in his nightmares to haunt micheal as micheal is haunted by his father.
• For twenty five years he has been away from Ceylon leaving at the age of 11
• Electricity foreign like micheal, no curtains but “delicate” bars across the window

ASIAN RUMOURS (the memories of Asia that Micheal can gleam from his Aunt and others are mostly rumours. He has to look further for the truths or gleam the truths from the bloated rumours.

Asia (Micheal wishes to return to asia)
• Dream of father surrounded by dogs, both father and dogs barking reminiscent of drinking?
• Micheal wakes up sweaty (like previous dream in prologue) and was crying
• Only knew what he wanted to do when he was drunk. There is a connection between being drunk and every member of his family.
• Micheal is fascinated and fearful of Asia, he “runs” to Asia

Jaffna Afternoons (The chapter consists of Micheal’s time in Jaffna with his Aunt Phyllis and his favourite parts of the day are when Phyllis tells her tales that mix rumour with fact. It is all micheal has to learn about his family’s history)
• Great effort is made to describe the old governor’s house in which Aunt Phyllis lives with Uncle Ned who is constantly at work.
• Phyllis was close to father and that is why Micheal is fond of her.
• Micheal is being slowly introduced back into Ceylon with such things as palmyrah (the drink which is drained from the juice of the flower of a coconut).
• Catches a piece of dialogue about his father in the dream (the human pyramid dream)
• Walking through the walls of the room concludes the dream

A FINE ROMANCE (Doris’s favorite song and the irony of the situation Micheal’s parents were in. The fact that the pictures of the two on the title page are separated tells the reader about how the romance was not fine at all)

The Courtship: (A grandiose title given to what was a messy marriage.)
• Mervyn was not much of a student in Ceylon and was even less in Caimbridge but fooled his parents for three years
• When they found out he got off punishment by getting himself engaged to kaye roseleap (a respectable family)
• Two weeks after returining to Ceylon he announces that he is now engaged to Doris Gratiaen.
• Joined the Ceylon Light Infantry to escape parents wrath
• Doris danced “radical” dances which is probably what made Mervyn attracted to Doris in the first place
• Doris wanted to break off the engagement and did so but due to the persistence of Mervyn they end up getting married anyway

April 11 1932 (marriage date of Mervyn and Doris)
• A synopsis of the wedding

Honeymoon (Mervyn and Doris’s honeymoon)
• Events that happened in the world at that time

Historical Relations ( The history of people his family knew in the past and what happened to them in their time in Ceylon.)
• Life of the wealthy in Ceylon
• The uncaring nature of the people to those that they meet in the euphoria of high class living example :T.W. Roberts and the rabid dog

The war between Men and women ( A view of how social constructs affect the way that people live in Ceylon and how cultures clash. As well as a ironic view that men and women need each other to survive while if we are at war then the human race is doomed)
• Chapter in which Lalla is fondled by man on the bus but it is her false breast so she does not feel a thing. She notices after the other females on the bus start chattering about the man being allowed to get away with what he’s doing. Lalla makes no attempt to stop it knowing that it is fake once she discovers what the man is doing.

Flaming Youth: (A description of the young rich inhabitants of Ceylon. They are burning brightly and erratically like flames but eventually will burn out when they run out of money and succumb to drink.)
• Uses Francis de Saram as an example of the Flaming Youth of Ceylon. He is a worse alcoholic then Mervyn and is the first among the group that Mervyn is included to “drink himself to death”.

The Babylon Stakes:(Babylon was seen as an ungodly place in the bible and the “stakes” refers to the gambling that was done in Ceylon)
• Gambling was the only thing left in Ceylon for someone to do rather then drink or pursue romance
• Horse racing was the sport of choice to gamble on
• There was an elaborate racing ground with three tiers for the bettors
• There is a whole culture associated with the races
• Semi-respectable women sleep with jockeys for information- Babylon reference
• Devil Dances said to cure ailments-more evidence of Bablyon


Tropical Gossip (the rules of affairs are dominated over by the boundaries set by gossip)
• Love affairs rainbow over marriages
• You love someone you have an affair with more because you are sacrificing the marriage to be with that person and marriages are serious.
• More references to the flaming youth in this chapter
• There were boundaries in affairs that were able to be set by gossip, if you went outside the boundaries then you were shamed by gossip

Kegalle (i) : (a town in Ceylon in which Philip lived and where Mervyn grew up)
• First half deals with Paternal Grandfather Philip and how outside the family he was mean but he loved his family. He was also obsessed with the British.
• Once dead Rock Hill (Philips house) was seldom used
• The tales of Mervyn as he was nearing death, the chickens and the mood swings
• Gentle when sober, raging when drunk.
• His father’s own alcoholic culture

alright Iain, almost done with mine... yours is classy. Just fyi.

7:06

David wrote:I think I'll be done soon.

8:06

David wrote:almost done with mine

8:27
????

heh... I have a lot going on. sorry guys.

well david so do lots of people. i have college shit to get out of the way and my mom needs my computer so we must be swift

Zein wrote: so we must be swift

as swift as an elephant...

Do yourself a favour George and watch Dumbo

WHAT WE THINK OF MARRIED LIFE:

-Tea Country:
• Named after the tea country that Mervyn swept their mother off to from Colombo.
• Country kept her captive while she lived there.
• She was social, the lands were isolated.
• Filled with passages commenting on the quieter lifestyle in the tea country compared to Colombo.
-“What We Think of Married Life”:
• Describing the tumultuous marriage of Michael’s parents.
• Picture scoffing marriage.
• That’s what they think of married life.
• Marriage not taken seriously by anyone. Shown in the mentality in the pictures.
-Dialogues:
• Chapter composed of people talking about Mervyn.
• Sporadic. Disjointed, much like Mervyn’s life and the way a real conversation happens.
• Exploring drunken habits with whispers like rumors. Also loving memory, scorn and sympathy seen.
• Dialogues are used to communicate in real life. Are wonderful forms of communication in the book. Lots of wisdom hidden in this chapter.
-Blind Faith:
• Faith in the bloodline, blindly seeing it through its darkest hours, striving to keep it going.
• Keeping peace between generations, living and dead.
• Seems to be the most “real” sequence of the book.
• Not describing a memory but something her feels here and now.
• Faith in his family.
-The Bone:
• The grit of his family.
• Father carrying dogs through jungle. Bare bones of the insane nature of his family
• Skeleton, foundation of everything that is wrong so far.
• References to being. The prime nature of all that has happened, no bells and whistles, the real deal.

Part 1 : Asian Rumours :

Drought since December: Expresses the author’s adaptation to the climate of Ceylon.

Asian Rumours: The fascination of the author with the continent. Recollection of past events, description of why he is so motivated to go back. An idealization of the continent follows.

Jaffna afternoons: a lazy and voluptuous afternoon spent with his aunt chatting about his family’s past yet put into a broader context because it reminds him of more (,similar) afternoons spent in the past.

Part 2: A fine Romance:

The Courtship: comments on the extravagance of his father when he was a student and how he went around with the ladies (the courtship). Also talks about his dad’s romantic adventures that led to his ditching of his fiancée, Kaye Roseleap, for Michael’s mother Doris Gratiaen.

April 11 1932: Day on which his parents had a crazy car ride with the bishop of Colombo, who needs to drive the small Fiat due to lack of space. He is known to be a bad driver, making the story seem all the funnier.

Honeymoon: Describes a series of current events that have possibly taken place during his parents’ honeymoon (title is explicit yet the content is not.)

Historical relations: Comments on the extravagant activities of his family’s environment and society in and around Colombo, with a focus on the city of Nuwara Eliya once it became too hot in Colombo in April and May. There, everyone gathered and crazy parties were organized. Talks about the twenties and thirties. In Nuwara ELiya, everyone got along with and liked each other except for the British and Europeans.

Flaming Youth: Comments on the beautiful youths of his father and his friend, Francis de Saram. They were devoted party organizers and created a party area in Gasanawa which became a mythic location.

The Babylon stakes: Gambling and horse races. “The culmination of the season was the Governor’s Cup stakes” The Babylon stakes was a sort of race that was banned after one horse, “Forced Potato, managed to bite a jockey and then leapt the fence to attack as many as it could.” The title is named after this tournament, maybe because there, decadence reached its climax.

Tropical Gossip: His family remained wild and spoilt from the twenties till the war. So much gossip and artificiality marked his family’s society that he laments the difficulty this enthralls in finding the truth/true feelings of his relatives, which were hidden behind gossip and consequently hard to find.

Kegalle (1): About his paternal grandfather Philip, who resided at Rock Hill in Kegalle. Comments about life at Rock Hill, both during and after his grandfather’s life.

DON’T TALK TO ME ABOUT MATISSE:
Meaning: (In section Karapothas, p. 85-86) Angry and powerful poem of Insurgenc, Lakdasa Wikkramasinha:
“Don’t talk to me about Matisse…”

Tabula Asiae:
Meaning: tabulets of asia maps?
• Character of brother jumps into story out of nowhere
• Looking at “false maps” of Asia: “portrait” – pictures of Ceylon through time
• Evolution of perspective, titles, names – connects history + past to name Ondaatje
St. Thomas’ Church:
Meaning: timeless node of Ondaatje family
• Ondaatje name engraved on old church floor (built 1630)
• Lyrical: finding history in something ancient
• Questions rise about past + new characters are introduced: Reverend Jurgen Ondaatje, Simon (Rev son), the quarrelling brothers Dr. William Clarks (botany) + Mathew (finance, military)
• Ending image of paper washing away – symbol of past lost with time
Monsoon Notebook (i):
Meaning: Paints a picture of Ceylon, as the monsoon rules all when its season reigns
• Seeming strand of a 100 stray thoughts strung together
• A video clip of images flitting from one to another
• Unifiying quality in lfestyle ruled by rains + season – part of the people
Tongue:
Meaning: Association of Identity of Ceylon
• Personal, cultural history and significance of the kabaragoya tongue
• Kabaragoya: sub-aquatic monitor (thalagoya: smaller version)
• Robert Knox: “he hath blew a forked tongue”
• Mysticism of Ceylon: unique to ecology
• Myth of eating tongue (particular way of killing and eating): will be brilliantly articulate
Sweet Like a Crow:
Meaning: Oxymoron – depicts lack of musicality Sinhalese
• Humorous, lyrical, colorful, culturally detailed
• Poem describing awful sound of someone singing
Karapothas:
Meaning: What Michael’s neice calls foreigners: beetles with white spots not native to Ceylon
• Remarks at himself being both prodigal + foreigner
• Heat makes foreigners shamed
• Aloof distance of those separate from culture
• Beauty of alphabet reflected in culture
High Flowers:
Meaning: cut flowers for alcoholic liquid
• Poem colorfullly depicting cultural image of “toddy tappers”
• “From his darkness among high flowers”
• Scenes of village life, of people ( a man and woman are central to a woven story)
To Colombo:
Meaning: Drive to Colombo
• Poem of passing images – intensity through the car windows + sunlight falling through
Women Like You:
Meaning: The untouchable woman – ancient concept
• Dream-filled romance, fantasy of woman’s used heart
• Cultural descriptions such as “swan breasts”
The Cinnamon Peeler:
Meaning: The central idea + character of poem
• Sensual + culturally defined with sensory decsriptions of people and love
• “I am the cinnnamon peeler’s wife. Smell me.”
Kegalle (ii):
Meaning: Life in Kegalle, family home on Rock Hill- insight into father
• Chickens and Snakes: ping pong balls
• Stepmother and her shotgun: grey snake is Michael’s father
• Rock Hill incident 1971 rebels don’t ransack but play cricket

Eclipse Plumage: The term refers to birds, mainly ducks in which, after molting, males are left flightless and are forced to adapt. They do this by growing feathers similar to the drab feathers of females to meld into the background. In the context of the chapter, this is ironic as the author tells the story, mainly, of Lalla proving how women, with their husbands out of the way move from the background into the foreground, drawing a lot of attention to themselves.

Lunch Conversation: This is meant to be slightly humorous as the chapter is, plainly put, a lunch conversation. The humor however draws from how confusing, one-sided and majestic the conversation is.

Aunts: They have a whole chapter devoted to them as if to cite them as a major reference, thus the opening line is “How I have used them”.

The Passions of Lalla: This chapter is basically an in depth study on Lalla. In it, her life is split up into things she liked to do, her “passions”. Also, the title reads like an epic tale which is exemplified in the tall-tale style of writing.

The Prodigal: This basically refers to someone who is wasteful. It may refer to how the author himself was presented with a bountiful and incredible lifestyle and how he wasted it away, not discovering all the hidden secrets of his family. This would partially explain his returning to Ceylon.

Harbour: This chapter is about how much the author adores the harbor, hence its name.
Monsoon Notebook (ii): The author here writes, describing what is around him, presumably in his notebook/tape recorder during a monsoon. This chapter name reoccurs, possibly to indicate the frequency of monsoons on the island.

How I Was Bathed: Not only does this chapter refer to how the character was actually bathed literally, but also figuratively. The chapter is and example of how the author was bathed/immersed/showered in his own culture.

Wilpattu: This chapter is written in the style of a log with references to dates and times. This may be because the beauty of the jungle left such an impression on the author that he wanted to document it correctly.

Kuttapitiya: The chapter uses the name of the author’s last childhood home as a springboard to talk about other topics, hence the name

Travels in Ceylon: The chapter is not merely about the geographical trips taken by many of the family members, including the author himself (as the two previous chapters exemplify). This is also a chapter that explains the travels through the realms of sanity of which his father forgoes, and gives references to the spiritual and cultural journey that Michael has embarked upon.

Photograph: This titles is very simple to paradox the complexity of the chapter, as well as to recognize this event as one of the defining moments in the author’s entire experience.

WHAT WE THINK OF MARRIED LIFE:

-Tea Country:
• Named after the tea country that Mervyn swept their mother off to from Colombo.
• Country kept her captive while she lived there.
• She was social, the lands were isolated.
• Filled with passages commenting on the quieter lifestyle in the tea country compared to Colombo.
-“What We Think of Married Life”:
• Describing the tumultuous marriage of Michael’s parents.
• Picture scoffing marriage.
• That’s what they think of married life.
• Marriage not taken seriously by anyone. Shown in the mentality in the pictures.
-Dialogues:
• Chapter composed of people talking about Mervyn.
• Sporadic. Disjointed, much like Mervyn’s life and the way a real conversation happens.
• Exploring drunken habits with whispers like rumors. Also loving memory, scorn and sympathy seen.
• Dialogues are used to communicate in real life. Are wonderful forms of communication in the book. Lots of wisdom hidden in this chapter.
-Blind Faith:
• Faith in the bloodline, blindly seeing it through its darkest hours, striving to keep it going.
• Keeping peace between generations, living and dead.
• Seems to be the most “real” sequence of the book.
• Not describing a memory but something her feels here and now.
• Faith in his family.
-The Bone:
• The grit of his family.
• Father carrying dogs through jungle. Bare bones of the insane nature of his family
• Skeleton, foundation of everything that is wrong so far.
• References to being. The prime nature of all that has happened, no bells and whistles, the real deal.

1. The Ceylon Cactus and Succulent Society
a. Meaning of Title:
i. That is the name of an organization his father made, mostly to keep Lalla out of gardens. Since this chapter is mostly a tribute to his father, the title reflects his personality
b. In This Section:

i. Thanikama
1. Meaning of Title
a. “Aloneness” his father is alone and feels rejected by everyone
2. In This Chapter
a. His father tries to get redemption from his mother, but she doesn’t notice him.
b. Alcoholism is apparent throughout the chapter
c. Reminisces about college and thinks he looked ridiculous back then

ii. Monsoon Notebook (iii)
1. Meaning of Title:
a. Pretty standard, it’s a notebook he kept during a monsoon and this is the third installment.
2. In This Chapter:
a. This chapter seems almost like a brainstorming session, starting out with how to avoid spirits and ending with the weather.
b. At the start of it, a definition for the name of the previous chapter is given
c. Other two monsoon notebooks are in different areas of the book

iii. Final Days Father Tongue
1. Meaning of Title:
a. This chapter is all descriptions of his father’s last days according to different people. The title reflects that as well as saying that this chapter is a true picture of his father because of all the opinions involved
2. In this Chapter:
a. The first letter is from Jennifer (his father’s daughter from his second marriage)
i. It describes their whole life
ii. Involves his attitudes toward his first family
b. The second letter is from V.C. de Silva (a friend and also in the poultry business)
i. His father had charm and was able to get more money from the chickens
ii. Close friend, but they never drank together
iii. Was the go between after his parents divorced
c. Archer Jayawardene (the other close friend that he never drank with)
i. Was a member of ‘The Ceylon Cactus and Succulent Society’
ii. Says the father was a great organizer
iii. Spent lots of time reading and with radio
iv. Was in a terrible depression for a year before death
v. Funeral was a fiasco
d. Memories by the author
i. Very severe mood swings but kept them in
ii. Extreme paranoia
iii. Vicious cycle of drink causing paranoia causing strange “fantasies” causing drink
iv. When keeping in emotions was too much, he fell into a depression
v. During all this family were away, unknowing of his state
vi. Was cheerful very near the end
vii. Says that book cannot offer a complete picture of his family

iv. Last Morning
1. Meaning of Title:
a. The morning he leaves Ceylon
2. In this Chapter:
a. Trying to forget nothing
b. Feeling the last of Ceylon

[IAIN'S BIT]

PROLOUGE (no title)
• Heat in Ceylon very different to Canadian weather causing micheal to feel discomfort
• Symbolism in thorn trees which were planted by his father. They come in his nightmares to haunt micheal as micheal is haunted by his father.
• For twenty five years he has been away from Ceylon leaving at the age of 11
• Electricity foreign like micheal, no curtains but “delicate” bars across the window

ASIAN RUMOURS (the memories of Asia that Micheal can gleam from his Aunt and others are mostly rumours. He has to look further for the truths or gleam the truths from the bloated rumours.

Asia (Micheal wishes to return to asia)
• Dream of father surrounded by dogs, both father and dogs barking reminiscent of drinking?
• Micheal wakes up sweaty (like previous dream in prologue) and was crying
• Only knew what he wanted to do when he was drunk. There is a connection between being drunk and every member of his family.
• Micheal is fascinated and fearful of Asia, he “runs” to Asia

Jaffna Afternoons (The chapter consists of Micheal’s time in Jaffna with his Aunt Phyllis and his favourite parts of the day are when Phyllis tells her tales that mix rumour with fact. It is all micheal has to learn about his family’s history)
• Great effort is made to describe the old governor’s house in which Aunt Phyllis lives with Uncle Ned who is constantly at work.
• Phyllis was close to father and that is why Micheal is fond of her.
• Micheal is being slowly introduced back into Ceylon with such things as palmyrah (the drink which is drained from the juice of the flower of a coconut).
• Catches a piece of dialogue about his father in the dream (the human pyramid dream)
• Walking through the walls of the room concludes the dream

A FINE ROMANCE (Doris’s favorite song and the irony of the situation Micheal’s parents were in. The fact that the pictures of the two on the title page are separated tells the reader about how the romance was not fine at all)

The Courtship: (A grandiose title given to what was a messy marriage.)
• Mervyn was not much of a student in Ceylon and was even less in Caimbridge but fooled his parents for three years
• When they found out he got off punishment by getting himself engaged to kaye roseleap (a respectable family)
• Two weeks after returining to Ceylon he announces that he is now engaged to Doris Gratiaen.
• Joined the Ceylon Light Infantry to escape parents wrath
• Doris danced “radical” dances which is probably what made Mervyn attracted to Doris in the first place
• Doris wanted to break off the engagement and did so but due to the persistence of Mervyn they end up getting married anyway

April 11 1932 (marriage date of Mervyn and Doris)
• A synopsis of the wedding

Honeymoon (Mervyn and Doris’s honeymoon)
• Events that happened in the world at that time

Historical Relations ( The history of people his family knew in the past and what happened to them in their time in Ceylon.)
• Life of the wealthy in Ceylon
• The uncaring nature of the people to those that they meet in the euphoria of high class living example :T.W. Roberts and the rabid dog

The war between Men and women ( A view of how social constructs affect the way that people live in Ceylon and how cultures clash. As well as a ironic view that men and women need each other to survive while if we are at war then the human race is doomed)
• Chapter in which Lalla is fondled by man on the bus but it is her false breast so she does not feel a thing. She notices after the other females on the bus start chattering about the man being allowed to get away with what he’s doing. Lalla makes no attempt to stop it knowing that it is fake once she discovers what the man is doing.

Flaming Youth: (A description of the young rich inhabitants of Ceylon. They are burning brightly and erratically like flames but eventually will burn out when they run out of money and succumb to drink.)
• Uses Francis de Saram as an example of the Flaming Youth of Ceylon. He is a worse alcoholic then Mervyn and is the first among the group that Mervyn is included to “drink himself to death”.

The Babylon Stakes:(Babylon was seen as an ungodly place in the bible and the “stakes” refers to the gambling that was done in Ceylon)
• Gambling was the only thing left in Ceylon for someone to do rather then drink or pursue romance
• Horse racing was the sport of choice to gamble on
• There was an elaborate racing ground with three tiers for the bettors
• There is a whole culture associated with the races
• Semi-respectable women sleep with jockeys for information- Babylon reference
• Devil Dances said to cure ailments-more evidence of Bablyon


Tropical Gossip (the rules of affairs are dominated over by the boundaries set by gossip)
• Love affairs rainbow over marriages
• You love someone you have an affair with more because you are sacrificing the marriage to be with that person and marriages are serious.
• More references to the flaming youth in this chapter
• There were boundaries in affairs that were able to be set by gossip, if you went outside the boundaries then you were shamed by gossip

Kegalle (i) : (a town in Ceylon in which Philip lived and where Mervyn grew up)
• First half deals with Paternal Grandfather Philip and how outside the family he was mean but he loved his family. He was also obsessed with the British.
• Once dead Rock Hill (Philips house) was seldom used
• The tales of Mervyn as he was nearing death, the chickens and the mood swings
• Gentle when sober, raging when drunk.
• His father’s own alcoholic culture