Life Of Pi Short Story

His journal was a key element, since he always wrote about what happened. Therefore if Pi has a written record his story is believable. After Pi's last journal entry, he relies on his memory in order to tell the rest of the story. There's no evidence in the journal of what happened after his last entry, this means his memory could be inaccurate. Possibly, Pi tells the reader events that did not actually happen or he changes how things happen. Just as the Japanese businessmen did not believe Pi because he had no evidence, a reader could think the same way. The Japanese businessmen say, “Come on, Mr.Partel it's just too hard to believe” (374). People may also say that most of Pi's events are hard to believe because they might be

Without it, no species would survive.”(Martel, 2011, p. 41). For him to deal with trauma and the struggle, he chose madness and formed a story that would keep him sane. Pi gives the Japanese a choice, similar to himself. He chose to believe the story that gave him comfort rather than the one that would have caused him pain. Pi’s faith and fear of God had also kept him alive, the island gave him faith of survival but his fear led him to cover the murder he committed. Pi failed to realize the two stories he told by fit together flawlessly. He is also irritated when asked to tell the story with the humans, this ultimately indicates he was not ready to consider the darker side which is more plausible. Everyone has different approach of coping through life changing events, the subconscious mind determines the creates stories that are created. The subconscious picks the story that gives an individual comfort and strength to survive, even though the story might not be true. Some choose to believe is fantastical stories, other believe only what is plausible. Ultimately, when an individual is dealing with trauma it is hard to differentiate between reality and illusion. It is the comforting story that helps to cope with loss and

Throughout the entire novel the author gives us characteristics about Pi, he is the protagonist and, for most of the novel the narrator. In the chapters that frame the story and tell us everything that has happened they portray Pi as a shy, graying, middle-aged boy, whom tells the author about his early childhood and the shipwreck that changed his life, and gave him a new friendship with someone whom you would never believe a human could become friends with. This novel makes everyone question the truth which makes us wonder if Pi’s story is accurate and makes us wonder what pieces we should believe. Pi emphasizes the importance of choosing the better story which makes

In Pi's 227 days of being stranded in the sea, he has had many problems that have

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

When the boat was searched by the investigators, there was little to prove that Pi was indeed trapped with a Bengal tiger. When Pi told Mr. Tomohiro Okamoto and his junior colleague, Mr. Atsuro Chiba, to look in the boat for proof, they did not find any traces of a tiger having being present. Instead, they found what Pi claimed to be meerkat bones that were eaten by Richard Parker after their departure from the island but what were actually bones from another pest that escaped from the sinking Tsintsum, and which was eaten by one of the lifeboat’s human inhabitants, “We have no proof they were meerkat bones” (300). The educated investigators reasoned that the bones came from the animals from the ship and that meerkats were not the likely victims.

Pi’s narration also supports the theme of the importance of storytelling. As the only evidence of the story, people have no choice but to believe what he tells them, however wild it seems because while he might lack evidence, they don’t have any at all. When Pi is recalling his story to the Japanese in charge of the sinking, he tells them two stories, one with animals and one with people. One version, although it may be factually true, does nothing to reveals the emotions and masked memories that should not resurface. By creating the animals Pi blocks his mind from

Pi's story of survival is one based on and very similar to two stories in the bible. The first is David and Goliath, a story of overcoming overwhelming odds. David, just like Pi ,was a young teenager at the time and managed to kill a powerfully known giant, Goliath. What are the chances? Same goes for Pi, a youth who survived 227 days with a tiger. He too overcame the odds, so much so, it was unbelievable. Even the investigators said, "In an lifeboat? Come on, Mr. Patel it's just too hard to believe!...We just don't believe there was a tiger on your lifeboat" (Martel, 163). Jonah and the whale is another biblical story that illustrates similar motives in Pi. Jonah refused to let his life "end" and get eaten by the whale. The same case with Pi, but instead of a whale, it was a tiger he refused to get eaten by. He set out a plan to tame Richard Parker until one day "...the lifeboat was resembling a zoo enclosure more and more: Richard Parker had his sheltered area for sleeping and resting, his food stash, his lookout, and now his water hole" (Mantel,101). From the beginning of the story, Pi spent a significant amount of time studying religion. One in particular was Christianity, a religion that teaches both these stories. If one overcame the odds and the other managed not to get swallowed by the whale, what were the chances he would merit to be just like them?

When writing, authors focus on what they wish for their audience to gain from the story, what they want the readers to learn from the actions and thoughts of the narrator. In The Life of Pi Yann Martel uses Pi and his experiences whether the audience believes Pi’s grand story of his survival or not, to impart upon them the relativity of truth. In the beginning this is shown threw Pi’s explorations with different religions already guiding the reader to consider what truth means with his thoughts on the different religions. It is later explored in Pi’s telling of what occurred to him while shipwrecked to the officials and their reactions to his tale. Especially once it becomes clear that the few differences between the stories were the lack of animals in one. Pi asks the officials which story they prefer; the officials can choose to believe whichever story they prefer, and that version becomes the truth to them.

After being rescued Pi’s tells his and Richard Parker’s amazing survival story, but no one believes it. Pi then begins to tell a different version of events without animals. While similar to the original story the survival of a young boy lost at sea the new story depicts

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

Life of Pi is a very interesting book. There are two different versions of Pi’s story that are given near the end of the book. There is one story with Pi, a hyena, zebra, orangutan and a tiger named Richard Parker. The other story is without animals. This story has a sailor, a chef, Pi and his mother replacing the animals. The question is, which story is true?

“It’s a murder fact, reality kills”. In Life of Pi, the readers can never be certain of what is the truth and what is completely fabricated. At the end of the novel Pi asks “ Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without the animals”(Martel, 317). It can be assumed that Pi created this false story as a coping mechanism to deal with the horrific things that happened while he was out at sea. Going back to Epik High’s song, reality can sometimes be too harsh for people to handle but it’s something that we do end up having to accept.

Like all story’s each has an ending to it, but in Life of Pi, the investigators of the sunken ship, wanted straight facts, instead of any storytelling that would make them look like fools. Pi’s questioning of the officers led to his question “tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?”(Martel, 311) Pi’s question, about which story was real was never answered, due to the ambiguity of his storytelling. Pi’s storytelling of his journey, lacked a final resolution, as it is left open for the reader to pick which story was better, regardless of which one is the actual

Pi could survive on the ocean for many months is a miracle, and he even stayed with a tiger during the venture. He probably was eaten by the tiger, but he didn’t. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, Pi survival depended on his past experiences, Pi not only survives, he becomes stronger due to learning how to swim when he was young, believing in three religions, and stay with animals for a long time because he father used to own a zoo.