Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Running in the Family, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Memory, History, and Story
Alcoholism
Ancestry, Homeland, and Identity
Irresponsibility in the 1920s
Colonialism
Summary
Analysis
A poem describes the sensory details of driving from the high Sigiriya hills down to Colombo, passing alongside men, bulls, and terraced rice paddies.
Again, Ondaatje draws the reader into his world by describing what it is to experience Ceylon directly, rather than only narrating events or history.
Themes
