In the Skin of a Lion Lesson Plan

How would you describe Patrick’s connections with others? What does the nature of these connections illuminate about his character?

Patrick has complex relationships with others. The primary interactions we see in In the Skin of a Lion are with women, specifically Alice, Clara, and Hana. It is clear that Patrick loves all three women, albeit in different ways. Still, the first chapter sets up some implications that are relevant to Patrick’s relationships with those women. “He was an abashed man, an inheritance from his father. …What did the word mean? Something that suggested there was a terrible horizon in him beyond which he couldn’t leap. Something hollow, so when...