Reflections through Cyberspace

The book under review is Anil’s Ghost, written by Michael Ondaatje. The author, a notorious novelist and poet was born in Sri Lanka in 1943 and later, in 1962, he moved to Canada.

Anil’s Ghost, a fictional novel, is oriented in Sri Lanka, an island off the southeast coast of the Indian subcontinent. In the past two decades, Sri Lanka has been going through a civil war, where people just started disappearing and bodies were being found burned beyond recognition. The groups involved in this ethnic conflict are the government, anti-government insurgents in the south and separatist guerillas in the north. This award-winning book is set during this political turmoil.

The main character in the novel, Anil Tissera, who is a forensic anthropologist, returns to her home country, Sri Lanka, after being away in the West for 15 years. She returns on a mission, sent by the UN to investigate murders which took place during the civil war, what are possible extrajudicial executions by the government. For this 7 week project, she is teamed up with Sarath Diyasera, an archaeologist selected by the government to work with her on this Human Rights investigation. The work they are conducting is done in a background where nothing is simple and the novel in fact gives the reader a perspective about survival and going on with life under difficult circumstances.

At one point, they discover a recently buried skeleton among several ancient ones in a governmental site. Since the archaeological site where they found it is only accessed by the army, they realize that there is a mystery concerning this particular skeleton. Other suspicious details include the fact that traces of soil in his bones do not match the soil where it was found and also that it was buried twice as well as the pollen that adhered to him before he was buried comes from a different region, possibly an insurgent area where many villagers disappeared during the crisis. They call the skeleton ‘Sailor’ and they believe that if they discover its past they might shed light on the disappearance of many people since they believed that it was a case of murder committed by the government. Throughout the novel, they continue to search for the skeleton’s identity and they are forced to risk their lives to uncover secrets that the government will do anything to protect.

During the course of events, other characters come into play. One of them is Sarath’s brother, Gamini. He is a surgeon who spends his days in the emergency room taking care of victims of bombings and other atrocities. He is also in charge of identifying what victims have died of, and at the end of the novel one sees his reaction when he identified one of the victims as Sarath, his brother. Another character is Ananda, who used to work in mines and is called to reconstruct Sailor’s face. He does a brilliant job as an artist; he gives life to objects by painting their eyes. At one point, Palipana is also mentioned; he is a blind man who was Sarath’s mentor and former teacher and lives in the ruins of a Buddhist monastery in the forest. When Sarath and Anil meet him, he explains his perspective on Sri Lanka’s ancient history and the violent present situation the country is in.

Towards the end, they discover Sailor’s identity. Anil has to make a speech about their findings, but the skeleton which was her evidence was nowhere to be found. It was confiscated, together with her tape recorder so that the truth about mass murders never comes out. At that point, Sarath seems against her, but later one discovers that he is on her side as he gave her back Sailor and the tape recorder. He is in fact then killed to save her life.

Reference to the title, Anil’s Ghost

Many people have disappeared without explanation and their relatives are too scared to ask for clarity in case they are next to be killed. Instead, they invent stories about the disappearance of their lost ones - they carry with them a ghost: “some people let their ghosts die, some don’t.”

Human Rights

As part of the peace process in Sri Lanka, the government has been urged to give an explanation of the whereabouts of missing people to the public and to make sure that justice is done with those responsible for these serious human rights violations, such as abuse, torture and murder. Security forces have been found that they encouraged members of armed groups to carry out search operations on the public. This led to human rights violations, including illegal arrest, where people taken in custody have been ill-treated and tortured to death in secret places of detention. There have also been reports of children being taken hostages and recruited as soldiers. The government must also ensure that witnesses of disappearances and relatives of the disappeared are able to participate in the legal process without fear of intimidation. Human rights monitoring and the protection of vulnerable groups is essential to reach a peace agreement in a country where a civil war has destroyed the lives of so many innocent people, whose basic human rights have been violated.

Citizenship

In the novel, the author also touches the topic of citizenship, in this case postmodern identity. It is about a woman, Anil, who was born in Sri Lanka, but left her home country aged 18 and lives mostly in the West. She travels with a British passport and works for an international organization, the United Nations. She lost contact with her country and only returns to work on this project after 15 years. In this novel, one can see the story of an expatriate returning back home after many years of absence, living in a different environment and conducting a different way of life. In fact, during the course of the novel, one can see Anil as both a foreigner and a native. At first, she is simply an observer as she goes back in her country, but then this is changed and she becomes interested in what is going on. In the end, during her speech about her findings, she is heard saying: “I think you murdered hundreds of us”. This proves that even after 15 years of absence, she still feels part of that country – one of them. This character can also be compared to the author, who in fact was born in Sri Lanka but moved to England and Canada later on.

Identity

In this novel, issues of identity are also explored. One is taken back in
time when Anil wanted to change her name and this can be considered
as the first step in creating an identity for herself. When she was young and still living in Sri Lanka she was a good swimmer and when she returns on this mission, she finds herself surrounded by people who still know her by the fact that she was a famous swimmer. She doesn’t like it at all and she keeps declaring that she is not a swimmer now, but a forensic scientist. By this declaration, one can confirm that she has created an identity for herself. She is always looking for simplicity and to find the truth.


The author based this novel on real events and it is a clear example of what happens when rule of law breaks down. In fact, at the end of the book, one finds a list of acknowledgments and here, amongst other information, it is said that the list of names of people who disappeared is taken from an actual list in Amnesty International Reports. Also, the description of the assassination of the president at the end of the book is based on true events, although the president’s name has been changed. The author probably used real events and names to make the novel more credible and to show the real events that went on in Sri Lanka during the civil war.