Essay on Life of Pi (Unabridged) by Yann Martel

To overcome his constant fear of Richard Parker, Pi devises a system in an attempt to tame the wild beast. Pi realizes the tiger is important to keep around but he is frightened by his presence and killer instincts. His

The most interesting part of the novel is it’s end which is left on the readers to decide that whether the liked the first story of tiger and a human or the second one that includes animals giving out the mix feeling of humor and grief also Pi Patel describes it as a happy ending (although the tiger left him but he got on land after 100 days on life boat moreover he accomplished his quest of finding God).

Humans generally face struggles in their lifetime. Such struggles could be within themselves or with someone or something else but commonly stem from some sort of opposition in lifestyle. In Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, Pi’s passion for personal survival conflicts with his moral obligations to himself internally, morphing his external character.

Once Pi has finished telling both of his stories, he asks which one the men prefer to believe, since neither of them make a difference (317). They both reply that the story with the animals makes for a much more interesting story (317) and then reference that story in their official report (319). Each person decides what they believe and that decides what becomes truth to them. To every individual what is true can be completely different based on their thoughts and

During this part of the novel, Pi’s father is teaching him a lesson by letting a tiger brutally kill a goat right in front of him. He is trying to teach Pi to not go near an animal such as tigers because they are incredibly dangerous. I believe this thread represents the foreshadowing of what is to come for Pi.

In Yann Martel’s novel Life of Pi, he wants the reader to decipher whether his first story or his second story is real. The first story consists of the protagonist, Piscine Patel, being trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, and many other animals from his father’s zoo after they were lost together at sea. In the second story, Piscine re-tells a different story with a chef, his mother, and a sailor, this was to give the Japanese investigators “a story that wont surprise them (you)” (Martel 302). Martel clearly wishes the reader to understand why “Pi” might

As stated beforehand, the isolation truly hits Pi throughout the majority of the second part of his journey. On their way to Canada, the ship Pi and his family resided on got/became caught in a large storm. The ship flooded eventually, resulting in the ship and occupants submerged in the ocean. Pi watches this unfold from a small emergency/evacuation/escape boat. To expand on this, Pi is shown swimming against the waves in an attempt to avoid Richard Parker—thus noticing the ship descending underwater. During this scene, Lee films a medium shot of

In chapter 8 Ravi, Pi and their parents are at the zoo and Pi’s father is teaching his sons a lesson on the dangerousness of a tiger by

Pi is stranded out at sea on a boat with his only company as a tiger, Richard Parker. Pi is scared for his life, very uncomfortable and isolated out on his boat with Richard Parker. “‘ And what of my extended family - birds, beasts, and reptiles? They too have drowned. Every single thing I value in life has been destroyed.

In addition, Pi decides to feed a “450-pound” (Martel 61) bengal tiger named Richard Parker for his own self preservation. He acknowledges, “I had to tame him. It was at that moment that I realized this necessity…More likely the worst would happen: the simple passage of time, in which his animal toughness would easily outlast my human frailty” (Martel 164). This means that Pi fears that the fierce animal strength and power of Richard Parker would eventually kill and eat him for food.

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.

The father’s warnings to stay away from the tiger occur when he teaches Pi to never trust tigers after learning that Pi tries to go near the tiger: “‘Tigers are very dangerous. I want you to understand that you are never – under any circumstance – to touch a tiger, to pet a tiger…”’ (Martel 37). This line specifies that tigers are extremely dangerous to human and any contact with them can cause serious injury to people. The author does a good job of putting this information into trace into the book because it helps to foreshadow what is about to come Pi’s way. The lesson to stay away from the tiger develops the theme of survival because Pi must make a decision of following his father’s lesson or fight for his life while on the lifeboat. Because

Piscine’s parents work at the family owned zoo, thus allowing him to have more knowledge about animals than an average young child. He has always shown interest in seeing how the animals get trained, fed and watching them go to sleep. He is able to use the knowledge from his experiences with animals at the zoo to survive on the lifeboat inhabited with other animals. One of the important lessons he learns as a child is when his father takes the family to the tiger’s cage, and his father shares that the tiger has not been fed for three whole days. The zookeeper releases a goat into the tiger’s cage and the goat is immediately killed by the famished tiger. This teaches Piscine and his brother that not all animals are approachable, and reminds Piscine that animals can also be dangerous, and provoking them can either lead to injury or death. Piscine remembers this lesson when he first lands on the lifeboat, and Richard Parker and a hyena are on board. He remembers that he must stay out of the hyena’s way because his father once said, “They have the strongest jaws in nature…They’ll start eating you alive” (Martel 40). Fortunately, Piscine knows each animal’s diets, and which animals have the status of being “alpha” or “omega”. He also knows the key features each animal possesses to survive, such as Orangutans being herbivores that cannot

Because of the incident with the cargo ship sinking, this leaves Pi, a young teenage boy, in a tough situation. Pi starts conditioning the tiger through

The next key character is Richard Parker, an adult Bengal tiger who Pi inadvertently rescues after the Tsimtsum sinks. He is the only animal that survives the 227 days with Pi until they reach land and he flees into the jungle, which upsets Pi.