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The various works of Michael Ondaatje entail themes of identity. Ethnicity is often incorporated as an essential property to identity in the works. These frequent occurrences may be a product of Ondaatje’s immigration from Sri Lanka to Canada in 1962. In living the immigrant experience, Ondaatje is able to recognize the importance and presence of culture in one’s up-bringing. Through a critical examination of Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion and The English Patient, it is apparent that nationality and ethnicity are integral to the nature of identity. Two main characters from both novels realize the importance of their ethnic background in the most unlikely of places. Patrick Lewis, a tunnel worker, bridge builder and leather cutter, discovers the meaning of being Canadian in the Macedonian community of Toronto. Patrick’s cultural liberation happens while attending a play put on by Alice Gull, his lover, at the Waterworks, a theatre. The play demonstrates the language and cultural barriers experienced by immigrants to the city as they mouth the words of the actors to themselves in order to learn English. It is through this experience that Patrick realizes the notion of multiculturalism and its importance to his Ca