Spirituality in Anhil's Ghost Aaron E. Lebel 12th Grade

Throughout Ondaatje’s novel Anil's ghost, there are a multitude of allusions to an underlying theme of the struggle between the spiritual world and the physical. Ondaatje does a fantastic job in weaving these two world views into the singular perspective of the reader; it seems as if the goal of the text isn't to show the differences in spirituality and the physical world, but rather to effectively display how physical events are perpetuated by spiritual concepts. This said, in spite of the seemingly effortless mesh of the two themes, it's clear that within the confines of the text spirituality plays a deep role in the way the story plays out, and performs the task of giving an explanation as to why certain events happen.

Ananda’s character development and the ritual painting he performs as his trade portray a massive amount of links between spiritual and physical lives. Ritual painting is a concept first introduced within the novel within the chapter titled The Grove of Aesthetics. From its introduction it’s clear that the event in question is a highly regarded act. Throughout the novel, and at its terminus, ritual painting serves a deep role in the development of the story. The process of first explained to us by Palipana,...