... he sees is just the hallucination of a tormented mind. The markings of an adult cat surely would not change that much, unless maybe the pattern was not part of the animal's fur, but only a substance on its surface which, with time, could wear off and disappear. It could be a substance such as plaster perhaps, foreshadowing the narrator's wife's burial within the ... quickly takes on human aspects as Poe describes it as having a face and lungs from which comes a sound that is "exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note" (p.43) that the "dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand," (p.44) ...

• Word Count: 4324
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and a thief who leads a charmed life. This is a haunting tale of passion, privilege and biting physical labour, of men and women moved by compassion and driven by the power of dreams - sometimes even to murder. Michael Ondaatje was born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on Sept. 12, 1943. He immigrated to Canada via England in 1962, Bristling with intelligence and ... is thrust into a world of darkness. Only when Alice re-enters his life can he begin to have an identity again. Just like Alice's story of several actresses sharing the animal pelt to tell the story, the characters in Patr...

• Word Count: 3985
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School