Abstract

This study is a theoretical and text-based exploration of Michael Ondaatje's construction and representation of female characters in four fictional works: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, Coming Through Slaughter, In the Skin of a Lion, and The English Patient. The primary focus is on the demarcating lines or 'boundaries' drawn between male and female characters, which results in the self-consciously incomplete portrayal of the female, in all of these texts. Issues to be addressed include the gendered identification of the author with male, rather than female characters, the difficulties of representing female characters within a masculine discourse, and Ondaatje's chronologically increasing awareness of gender issues within his texts.