Question 6: The novel’s flavor would have changed immensely if Richard Parker was not the sole surviving animal. If Pi had ended up living on the boat with the zebra, the book would not have been very exciting. For starters, tigers are my favorite animals, so to me the zebra would have made the novel less interesting. The zebra was a weaker animal, and more submissive and boring. If the zebra was the sole surviving animal, Pi may have went crazy from boredom or given up hope much more quickly. The zebra seems rather useless compared to Richard Parker. The zebra could not have helped Pi catch flying fish like Richard Parker did with his claws. The novel may have been more dull and ended sooner if Pi had died with the zebra. Pi would end up exerting a lot of energy helping the zebra survive, especially since the zebra is a herbivore and food would be scarce to come across. We wouldn’t have seen such a religious and personal growth in Pi. If Pi was stranded with Orange …show more content…
Pi and Richard Parker grow a special bond and he uses personification to talk to and treat Richard Parker like a human, showing how much he values him. Both Richard Parker and Pi have a unique chemistry together that helps make the story what it is. Richard Parker allows some comedy, and helps Pi reach his full religious potential and stay alive. Pi’s dialogue shows us how important Richard Parker is. "I love you!" The words burst out pure and unfettered, infinite. The feeling flooded my chest. "Truly I do. I love you, Richard Parker. If I didn't have you now, I don't know what I would do. I don't think I would make it. No, I wouldn't. I would die of hopelessness. Don't give up, Richard Parker, don't give up. I'll get you to land, I promise, I promise!" Pi needs Richard Parker to survive. I believe Yann Martel includes Richard Parker to build the plot and setting around his main idea and
In the Life of Pi he must learn to rediscover himself because of the tragic accident that has happen to his family. Pi must learn to be able to get over the loss of his loved ones and quickly reconnect with himself in order to help him survive. Pi must turn himself around and remember to focus on the things that matter most, trying to survive. Pi rediscovers himself in Richard Parker because he uses the companion of the tiger to help keep himself calm. Pi has left his comfort zone of being under the care of his parents and must now discover his own values and beliefs in order to navigate and survive his life in the sea.
“Without Richard Parker, I wouldn’t be alive today to tell you my story.” The significance of this quote is that the presence of Richard saves him from the effects of loneliness. “The lower you are, the higher your mind will soar.” This quote is important because when Pi is at his lowest point, he reaches for his only remaining sources of salvation, which is his faith and imagination. “Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The element couldn’t be more simple, or the stake higher.” The quote significance is that the few that survive the ship are force to face each other in a strategic battle of wits to see who will
Pi’s life before the boat crashing was full of hope and wonder. His presence was ethereal, making a purpose out of everything around him. His family ran a zoo, which gave him a tight-knit relationship with animals. Pi loved to try new things. He met new people which led to his exploration
1. The main characters in Life of Pi are Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) and Richard Parker the Bengal tiger. Pi is the protagonist he is hopeful and believes that things get better. He is very optimistic which gets him through a lot of his troubles. In the beginning of the book Pi seemed to have things the rough way and continues that way but he was very hopeful. In the beginning of his lifeboat journey he was sure things would get better but as time went by he wasn't sure anymore but he had things to remind him to keep going. I also think he became more grownup and stronger by the end of the book. Richard Parker is the tiger on the lifeboat with Pi he is there every step of the way with Pi. He helps Pi get through things. Richard Parker is very
The last animal, Richard Parker, symbolizes Pi, his animal like instincts when he was stranded at sea, as he must complete many tasks to survive which in the real world he would find very hard to do. Richard Parker can symbolize many things, Pi himself and Pi’s fears. Richard Parker represents Pi himself, and his inner strength. In Mexico, when Richard Parker left Pi and is never to be seen again, it shows that Richard Parker was only what Pi needed for strength and that he never was real. He also represents Pi’s fears, and how he overcomes all of his fears, mainly his major fear; death. The skills Pi had learned at his father’s zoo helped him face his fear of Richard Parker and in order to tame Richard Parker, he pretends that he is at a
Commentary: When the author notes a step by step way of training the tiger, the reader better understands how important zoos, animals, and animal training was in Pi’s childhood, being the son of a zoo keeper. Instead of reading a training manual (like in the movie) Pi comes up with his own theory on how to tame Richard Parker.
-The author meets Pi’s two children and declares Pi’s story has a happy ending. Part 2: - Pi finds himself on the lifeboat, and tries to rescue Richard Parker before he realizes the danger of having a tiger on board. HE doesn’t realize that despite the danger, Parker saves him from the other animals. - The narrator returns to the night of the official sinking and tells the story of how Pi was able to escape the boat alive.
In addition to personification, Pi creates an emotional bond with Richard Parker through their journey, so when he leaves Pi is confused as to “how he could abandon [him] so unceremoniously, without any sort of goodbye, without looking back even once” (Martel 6). Richard Parker’s depart is characteristic of how a tiger should react, but since Pi has personified the tiger, he expects an elaborate emotional goodbye since he thought they built up a relationship. Through personification, Pi is able to create a relationship with Richard Parker that cannot be reciprocated because in truth he is just a tiger. While Pi denies it, he personifies both Orange Juice and Richard Parker in the first story giving them human qualities in order to build relationships with the
Furthermore, Pi confesses to wanting Richard Parker to live primarily for Pi’s own survival when he states, “A part of me did not want
He starts out with a zebra, hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger, but the animals slowly diminish leaving only Pi and Richard Parker. Pi works to tame and care for Richard Parker, and the two survive for two hundred twenty-seven days. Pi encounters a fellow French castaway who is eaten by Richard Parker (Martel 311-320). Pi also comes across a man-eating island (Martel 322-358). The events that take place are fairly far-fetched, and the probability of all of them occurring to the same person in the period of time given is even less believable. The second story, on the other hand, is a perhaps more believable retelling of the original story. Pi relates the second tale upon the request of his interviewers for “‘a story without animals’” (Martel 381). In this story the animals are replaced with human representatives including an injured Chinese sailor, a French cook, Pi’s mother, and Pi himself. The second story, like the first, begins with many passengers on the boat, but in the end it leaves only Pi to survive by himself after brutally murdering and eating the cook who killed both the sailor and Pi’s own mother (Martel 381-391). Unlike Pi’s first story, this account is dark, desperate, and harshly realistic, without any sense of hope to counter it all. After relating both of these stories to his interviewers, Pi asks them which story they think is better (Martel 398). Although the
Richard Parker, the tiger, is a symbol of Pi himself. Pi directly correlates himself with Richard Parker. If Richard Parker “give[s] up” (121) then Pi is giving up. When swimming toward the life boat Richard Parker “look[s] small and helpless” (121) much like Pi actually is. Next to the tiger, zebra, and hyena Pi is small and feeble; he has no way to defend himself against the other animals. Pi egging Richard Parker on, toward the boat; “keep[ing him] swimming” (122) shows Pi’s resilience for survival; determined for Richard Parker to survive, which is actually his determination to survive. It is often mistaken in the novel as to whether Pi is speaking of himself or of Richard Parker because they could be the same being.
In Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, the author displays how Pi’s anthropomorphizing of animals and the natural world ironically has positive and negative effects upon his experience – thus conveying Martel’s message that the seeming divisions between humankind and the natural world become blurred when each is overly exposed to the other It is evident throughout the novel that Martel illustrates how animals in domestic settings or contact with humans begin to take on more domestic characteristics whilst humans exposed to more wild and harsh conditions begin to obtain more animalistic traits and characteristics. By accomplishing this, the author can then convey his message that when the divisions between man and the natural world become less evident,
At a point in the novel Pi’s father shows him and Ravi how dangerous all the zoo animals can really be. He says about the tigers: “Tigers are very dangerous. I want you to understand that you are never—under any circumstances—to touch a tiger, to pet a tiger, to put your hands through the bars of a cage, even to get close to a cage. Is that clear?” (Martel, 37) Now that his father’s fear of animals has been passed on to him, this could put Pi in a dangerous situation when stranded on the ocean with one. The story shapes and changes as Pi has to make a difficult choice when being near the tiger; listen to his father’s advice, or fight for his life? These events tie back to the main theme, willing to survive, by testing Pi’s faith to his father’s words, and whether he’ll be able to survive in a boat of wild
By sharing a lifeboat, Pi had a zoomorphic arrangement with Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. At first, Pi and Richard Parker did not coexist well, but then both had to adapt to living on a lifeboat with limited supplies and together they went through traumatizing experiences, such as the storm. By going through this experience with Richard Parker, Pi noticed a bond growing between them. Pi was first scared of Richard Parker, but then as time went on, he thought of him as a friend rather than an enemy. To some degree, Pi even loves Richard Parker and sees him as a human. Once the lifeboat reached Mexico, Richard Parker disappeared into the jungle unceremoniously, which troubled Pi. Humans often expect goodbyes when someone is leaving from their life and this shows how Pi had seen Richard Parker as almost human
Furthermore, his vast knowledge of animals, having grown up at a zoo, helps him to tame Richard Parker. Pi knows tigers’ psychological thinking and exploits this by classically conditioning Richard Parker. Likewise, Pi’s experience of watching a tiger kill a goat in his early childhood taught him the fundamental lesson that ‘an animal is an animal’, enabling him to strategically and mentally survive his long and testing time at sea. In addition to that, during the early parts of Part 2, Pi comes across a survival manual, a crucial object for his continued existence. The book gives him critical information on the do’s and don’ts of survival at sea and it is hard to imagine that Pi could have survived without this book which also gave him the opportunity to write down his words which were “all he has left’’.