In Ondaatje's novel Anil's Ghost, there are a multitude of allusions to the underlying theme of the struggle between the spiritual and physical worlds. Ondaatje does a fantastic job of interweaving these two worldviews into the reader's singular perspective; it seems that the goal of the text is not to show the differences in spirituality and the physical world, but rather to effectively show how physical events are perpetuated by spiritual concepts. That said, despite the seemingly natural intertwining of the two themes, it is clear that within the confines of the text spirituality plays a profound role in the unfolding of the story, and performs the task of providing an explanation as to why certain events happen. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Ananda's character development and the ritual painting he performs in his craft depict a tremendous amount of connections between spiritual and physical life. Ritual painting is a concept first introduced in the novel in the chapter entitled The Forest of Aesthetics. From its introduction it is clear that the event in question is a highly appreciated act. Throughout the novel, and at its end, ritual painting plays a profound role in the development of the story. The process is first explained to us by Palipana, when she advises Sarath and Anil to look for a ritual painter. Palipana describes the ritual process of painting as follows: “Coomaraswamy points out that before the eyes are painted there is only a piece of metal or stone. But after this act "he is now a God". (91). The surrounding passages serve a similar purpose, the main idea being that without its eyes the statue has no life. Ananda's job, as a professional craftsman, is to give inanimate objects the gift of life, an event that is implied a few times within the novel. We see a significant event with spiritual implications take place when Ananda completes the clay molding around Sailor's skull; instead of the portrait of a sailor, the skull ends up becoming the portrait of Sarissa, Ananda's dead wife. Referring to Sarath, Ondaatje writes: “He already knew as she did that no one would recognize the face. It was not a reconstruction of Sailor's face that they were looking at" (179). This scene itself is also excellently constructed; Before the discovery of the skull we see Ananda caressing the statue in front of Anil. While Anil writes this (since he is able to sympathize with Ananda's apparent desire to see the statue as human) one can see by looking back at this excerpt that Ananda has long seen a part of Sarissa within Sailor. We see more spiritual events surrounding Sarissa within of an italicized section in the chapter. The flashback we see of the wife also plays on the theme of a connected spiritual context, as can be seen in the following passage: "She doesn't even think about freeing them from this public gesture. I can't touch anything because everything feels alive, wounded and raw but alive. He begins to run forward, past their eyes, his darkness closed until he passes them. Up the hill towards the school. He keeps running forward and then he sees more.” (166) Of course the detached heads themselves are not alive. Sarissa states that the heads appear to contain a living essence. This very idea is an allusion to the presence of the students' spiritual essence in their severed heads. Sarissa closes her eyes as she passes them because she senses their presence. Of course this is a very human instinct for her; exposure to the severed heads of one's acquaintances would likely make anyone try to run away in fear. But there is an error here,..