Contemporary History in Anil’s Ghost Essay -- Literary Analysis

There is always a problem of historical inaccuracies in fiction. When certain historical events become a part of the narrative (especially when these events are controversial), it is important to understand what they mean in the author’s conception of history and reality in general. Far more important is to understand their place in this conception when we see that the author’s depiction of facts is unusual and what he does seems to be not the reflection of existing reality but the deconstruction of a different one. Terrorism, civil war, separatism – it is hard to remember the themes that would be more complicated and controversial in the modern world, because questions like these never have a certain answer. Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost is a good example of a novel that deals with the most important problems of contemporary history. Anil’s Ghost, first published in 2000, and is dedicated to events of Sri Lankan Civil War. Michael Ondaatje claimed in interviews that his book is not â€Å"just about Sri Lanka; it could be Guatemala or Bosnia or Ireland† (Scanlan 302) – so it can be suggested that the author is trying to describe not this particular conflict, but the situation in general. In another interview Ondaatje says: â€Å"Anil's Ghost is a more faithful or more nonfictive version. It's a fiction. It is a novel, and it is also a point of view† (Coughlan). Sri Lanka is mentioned as one of the places in which the war â€Å"always seems to be there, and nobody goes to it anymore† (Champeon). The conflict that still takes place is set between the government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group. Different issues state that at the moment the number of victims is about 80.000 people. The action takes place at the end o... ...every country with the similar circumstances and not only in Sri Lanka. The experience of civil war is reconstructed in destinies of main characters – everyone of them has his personal tragedy and deals with it the way he can. And when neither the executioner nor the victim can be identified, it becomes important to give the identity to at least one of the murdered. It has to be named, and the problem has to be named, too. Through the historical situation the author tries to show us the necessity of personal choice in the times when there is no choice for the nation or the whole country. Anil’s ghost is many different ghosts – ghost of innocent people, who disappeared or died, ghost of the past, which has to be dealt with; ghost of Sarath, who finally becomes a martyr. And these ghosts don’t seem to be Anil’s only. In some reasons they belong to each other.