In Running in the Family, Michael Ondaatje uses motif, syntax, and analogy to create a mythical Ceylon and convey its fragmented identity through the fate of history. Employing a sarcastic and ironic tone, he creates an analogy between what people in the past did in Ceylon and what he is doing in the memoir; he is creating a “map” of his father. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Ondaatje first uses the motifs of uncertainty, unanswered questions, and what gets lost in translation to highlight that subjective reality precedes objective reality. Thinking about Ceylon during his time in Toronto, he introduces the theme of in-betweenness and hybridity, emphasizing that he is stuck between two worlds: Ceylon and Canada. He combines fragmented syntax with “old portraits” (2-3) as a metaphor for “false maps” (2) to emphasize these motifs. The reasons for uncertainty, unanswered questions and what gets lost in translation are also highlighted through the paradox of “voices of topography” (19); the paradox is that since topography is science, how can there be rumors? Ondaatje uses what these maps project to empower subjective truth and to undermine facts and objective truth. The motifs of uncertainty, unanswered questions, and what gets lost in translation are later combined with the motif of what it means to be foreign. Ondaatje uses these aspects of his narrative to demonstrate that truth is based on perception and that the course of history fragments his identity and that of his family. He also combines these motifs with allusions to mythical images to justify his own mythmaking. Using images of “satyrs” (17) and a “cherub” (9), Ondaatje creates magical realism to juxtapose Greek mythical creature and Asian imagery, thus highlighting hybridity and in-between motifs. Together, these motifs are what allows Ondaatje to create his own mythmaking, and thus to be able to create his own fiction, and ultimately to learn about his father. Ondaatje also uses syntax to highlight his fragmented and hybrid identity; his authorial devices also fragment time and space in the memoir. Using the fragmentary phrase “the island seduced all of Europe. The Portuguese. The Dutch. The English. And so her name changed…” (22-23), Ondaatje personifies Ceylon as a decidedly seductive woman, highlighting the fact that her memoir is a postcolonial commentary. This piece also echoes the title, “Tabula Asiae” (1), which means clean slate; Ondaatje uses it sarcastically, to criticize the colonizers in Ceylon who only saw what they wanted to see and did with the land what they wanted. The repetition of the fragmented syntax also develops the construction of the identity motif. The fragmentary syntax here is used to describe Ceylon. However, when Ondaatje explains the name “Ondaatje. A parody of the dominant language” (34-35), uses fragmentary syntax to describe himself and his family. The fragmented sentences reflect the fractured and hybrid identities of Ondaatje and his family. He points out that even at the core of his identity, his name is a hybrid. The final sentence of one of the first passages reads: “here. At the center of the voices. At this point on the map” (36-37). These final sentence fragments once again reflect the fractured and hybrid identities of Ondaatje and his family. They quickly take us from the distant past to the present, fracturing time and space. All these fragmented sentences create the analogy that Ondaatje makes regarding the colonizers and himself,.