Author Nancy Wynne Newhall once wrote “The Wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask.” To man, nature can be manipulated and overrun easily but it is not easily destroyed permanently. In Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi convinces himself he has altered the beastly nature of his tiger companion, Richard Parker, however, he fails to realize this as a misconception until the certain events with Richard Parker that ultimately revealing that the savage nature within wild animals cannot be tamed.
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
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Being more comfortable around such a beast, however, later proves to be a fault of Pi’s. The unpredictable behavior of such a wild animal causes a huge threat to Pi. Richard Parker exemplifies this wild behavior by “bursting over the ridge at full gallop…coming [Pi’s] way high speed” (Martel 263). Pi describes this event as a “rapid and direct approach of a known killer” which casts a different image of Richard Parker than the previous seemingly harmless companion (Martel 236). Pi’s reaction to his fear is using his method of whistle which causes more anger within Richard Parker. Richard Parker’s unexpected reaction to the training method proves how capricious a personality of an animal is. Thus, attempted taming of a wild animal was merely a distant goal Pi thought he had accomplished.
The violent outbreak of Richard Parker, along with his silent departure at the end of the novel, portrays how futile it is to try to change a wild animal into a civilized being. Richard Parker seems, at first, to have experienced a spiritual breakthrough and transformation after Pi’s attempt to training. Even in the end, Pi’s ability to survive such a journey with a beastly killer seems evidence enough that Pi trained the tiger. Pi’s main goal, along with survival, is to establish a level of equality between himself
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).
This book focuses on the survival of a man named Pi after a horrible shipwreck and many months in a lifeboat with a large Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. This book would be a good choice for me because it strikes my interests by including survival at sea with a life endangering animal.
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.
Pi’s hand joining with Richard Parker’s not only shows the unity between the two in the animal story, but also shows the savagery that exists within Pi and how that brought him to survive in the
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
Who has the power? A sixteen-year-old or a Bengal tiger? Power is typically concerned with who or what has control over someone or something else, so the question almost seems silly, because what could a young teenage boy have over a carnivorous, wild animal? Although it may seem obvious that the wild animal would have control over the boy, the answer is not as definite in the Life of Pi by Yann Martel. In the novel, the tiger, Richard Parker, and the teenage boy, Pi Patel share power. In other words, the two characters share power because of the unusual dynamic of equals between them. As a result of their dynamic, it brings up the question of how this situation came to be
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.
dish” (Martel 235). These quotes show Pi’s effort to train the tiger and using his wits to outsmart
In the novel ‘Lion’ survival is depended on behaving instinctively, illustrates that there are many ideas about survival presented in the book ‘Lion’.
Pi is shameful that he let the beautiful zebra become an offering to the dominating hyena for their meal. He does feel regret for the zebra and prays for the souls he also let become meals for other dominant animals. Therefore, Pi uses his animal story to explain that he let the other animals be eaten so that he was not. Similar to, Willy’s feeling of guilt after cheating on Linda and how he desperately wants to make up for his unfaithfulness, “I’ll make it up to you, Linda I’ll –” ( Miller 39). Willy cheats on Linda with another woman because he claims he was lonely. He realizes how much he has put Linda through and he uses his truth about the American Dream to justify that though he cannot be faithful to Linda he attempts to provide her with enough money to be happy with his admirable personality. Pi is regretful for his savage and selfish behavior that lead to the death of several animals for his needs and to justly explain that he creates the animal story to show that it was only an act of
The ship sank, and Pi was left on a lifeboat with a tiger. Pi fed the tiger and kept his water full, it was comparable to a zoo habitat. The tiger and Pi bonded, Pi trained the tiger but when they got to land, Richard Parker, the tiger, left Pi all by himself. Richard Parker became Pi’s family, and was the one that pushed him
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’s defeat of the hyena, a pitiful affair, comes after the hyena realizes it has done too much wrong to bear and must be brought back under the control of Pi. Richard Parker, unlike the other animals, has no direct counterpart in the alternate story, but he
“I must say a word about fear. It is life’s only true opponent” (Martel 161). These wise words come from a young man named Pi, the main character of the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It is the fear-filled story of Pi, who becomes trapped on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific ocean and must survive the elements for a harrowing 227 days. In the story, Pi claims to have not been alone on the boat; he says he lived in the company of a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. However, one can suspect that Richard Parker is only a figment of Pi’s deteriorating mind and that he was created so that Pi could distance himself from the animalistic behavior and actions he was forced to resort to in order to survive. In Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses literary
Among the three main characters, Piya is a Bengali-American cetologist who travels to the tideland in order to find and research the Irrawaddy and Orcaella dolphins that are native to the region. Piya was born in Calcutta and moved to Seattle with her parents when she was one-year-old. Her father believed that, in order to better assimilate into U.S. culture, the family should sever its ties to India. Therefore, growing up in a family whose children are not allowed to access their own language, Piya can only speak English. Being the emblem of the conservation politics that has heavily influenced the Sundarban Islands, Piya tries to appreciate the country’s unique culture and its people, but is impeded by her own morals and the characteristics which come from being an American citizen. This can be elucidated by Piya’s confrontation with the villagers who kill and burn a tiger alive inside a mud hut in retribution of their deceased villagers and livestock that were slaughtered by the creature. Although Piya’s attempts to stop this attack are failed, her stance is evident—people are not