ut the novel, Patrick becomes like the people he associates with, he gains a temporary identity and purpose.. He takes on Alice's quest to dissolve the power of the rich by blowing up the Muskoka Hotel. He becomes a criminal like Caravaggio by breaking into the Waterworks. When Patrick is without light to reflect, he is without identity. When Clara leaves Patrick, he is thrust into a world of darkness. Only when Alice re-enters his life can he begin to have an identity again, reflecting her light. Just like Alice's story of several actresses sharing the animal pelt to tell the story so too do the characters in Patrick's life, at times, become the focus of his life. When Patrick is without an identity, the light of other characters, he is also lacking love. "Something hollow, so when alone, when not aligned with another - whether is was Ambrose or Clara or Alice - he could hear the rattle within that suggested a space between him and community. A gap of love." (Ondaatje 157). Only with love can anyone be expected to have identity and fit into a community. Hazin Lewis neglected this aspect in Patrick's life and without a motherly influence he never received the nurturing and encouragement needed. This lack of love from his father, an abashed man, created Patrick who became himself an abashed man. When Patrick came to Toronto he tried to forget about his past, he tried to make a new beginning. "Now, in the city, he was new even to himself, the past locked away." (Ondaatje 157). As much as Patrick was trying to get away from his past it engulfed his future, his past became him. He could not escape his lack of love as a child, and continually searched for it. Patrick's life is a train ride. He is confined to the train, meeting new and unique people as they get on and off. He talks with them, befriends them. But there is something essentially different from Patrick and the people whom he befriends. They all have purpose for riding the train, ...
