[4] The plot incorporates a number of true stories of the time, such as the fall of a nun from a bridge,[5] the disappearance of Ambrose Small, the political suppression of Police Chief Draper, and the murder of labour union organizers Rosvall and Voutilainen.
It is located in the epigraph as "I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion," echoing the theme of converging voices re-telling history.
The first chapter, "Little Seeds," describes the growing years of the main character, Patrick Lewis, providing causation for his subsequent actions in the novel.
As a young boy in Depot Creek, Ontario, Patrick watches the loggers arrive in town in the winter, work in the mills in the other seasons, and skate on the frozen river.
Patrick's father, Hazen Lewis, becomes a dynamiter and is meticulous when washing his clothes each evening to remove remnants of explosives on his apparel.
These elements form the foundation of the subsequent narrative: Depot Creek, the loggers skating, learning about dynamite, etc.
"The Bridge" deals with the construction of the Bloor Street Viaduct, which will link eastern Toronto with the centre of the city and will carry traffic, water and electricity across the Don Valley.
Temelcoff is a silent man who struggles with English yet they are able to transcend their social and language barriers through the commonality of their scars— his from work, hers from being "always unlucky."
As a young man, Patrick leaves the profession that killed his father and sets out to find the vanished millionaire Ambrose Small.
Patrick escapes to his hotel room and is visited by Clara, who dresses his wounds and makes love to him before returning to Small.
Patrick finds work in a leather company through Alice's friends and meets Nicholas Temelcoff, now a baker.
Realizing that the water supply is vulnerable to being cut off or poisoned, Harris installs guards at the Waterworks, which he built.
Patrick tells Harris how Alice Gull was killed and we learn that she accidentally picked up the wrong satchel, containing a bomb.
[2] Additionally, the structure of the novel may be described as postmodern in that Ondaatje uses the integration of different voices, images, and re-organization of time to tell these stories.
Watson and McLeod note the use of a "searcher-figure" in Patrick, and by extension the narrator of the story, who act as observers finding "'truths'" in order to construct a cohesive history representative of all the parts that created it.
It is located in the epigraph as "I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion," echoing the theme of converging voices re-telling history.
[8] Throughout the book, light (from a lantern, flaming cattails and other sources) and darkness plays heavily in the context of the main characters and development of the plot, i.e., illumination of the Finnish loggers, moonlight, when Caravaggio is learning to become a thief in total darkness, Patrick's removal of the lamp when breaking into the water plant, the lights being turned off during the final dialogue between Patrick and Harris.