The number pi is unusual, never ending and most importantly, irrational. In the Life of Pi, Piscine and the narrator himself narrates the extraordinary story of how Pi survived on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger on the Pacific Ocean. The number pi is about 22/7 and ironically Pi is all alone for 227 days. Throughout this story one important factor is his name; Pi. There are some significance to his unusual name. The first significance to Pi’s name is like the number pi, his story is irrational. One example of something that is illogical is that in his story he landed on a carnivorous island with acidic algae. By morning the island is paradise, but at night the algae turns acidic and eats all the nearby fish that swims by. This kind of island …show more content…
His loyalty for all 3 religions is infinite like the number pi. An additional significance is foreshadowing. The author has used this in many ways. In the story it explains that he became a good swimmer because his parents would not learn how to. This showed that he can take charge of his life and is willing to take on a challenge and overcome it and in the story he has faced many problems. For instance the time he was starving. Although he is very faithful to Hinduism, he fished and ate turtles and fish to ensure his survival. Another foreshadowing is the time when children at his school were making fun of him because his name sounded like “pissing”. Piscine went up to the front of each of his classes to make sure everyone knew his new name was Pi. This shows a leadership quality as well as creativity. That foreshadows those skills he uses on his journey such as making a seperate life boat from Richard Parker or when he tamed Richard Parker to protect his life. At the beginning of Pi’s journey, he is stuck with 4 animals: a tiger, an orangutan, a hyena, and a zebra. They all represent Pi in some sort of way. The zebra symbolizes individuality, the orangutan represents peace, the hyena represents cleverness, and the tiger represents
He received his unusual name from their family friend’s favorite swimming pool, Piscine Molitar, in Paris. This name is significant to the story since it shows a correlation between the boy and the water from birth. Piscine was constantly teased in school so he shortened his name to Pi to better fit into Indian society. In Thomas Foster’s book, he says, “Actions can also be symbolic" (p 112). Through this symbolism, the reader comes to better understand Pi through his actions, shortening his name that connects him to the water to be better able to be accepted by others. His actions to survive in the Pacific, then, can be considered the symbolic fulfilment of his destiny received from his name. Another example of the strong symbolism used in the book can be seen when Pi is on a trip to Munnar in India. There, he sees three mountains and imagines them as representing the three different religions of India. He is not able to understand the fundamentals of each religion and, thus, these mountains portrayed his struggle to come to terms
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
Hinduism is represented through Orange Juice the Orangutan, since orange is the color of Hinduism, its native to India, and in his story to the Japanese investigators his Hindu mother becomes Orange Juice. Then, Christianity is seen through the Zebra; it like the painting of Christ in the church, show venerability in the divine. The Hyena stands for Islam, one of the pillars of Muslim faith is prayer five times a day, which goes with the Hyenas noticeable sounds. This leaves Richard Parker, he represents Pi’s faith; having certain traces of the other animals or faiths, in one autonomous being. Since, Richard Parker is the embodiment of Pi’s decision, he is Pi’s Helen. This is not a grandiose love affair between boy and tiger, so much as being Pi’s counterpart. Once again going back to the other version of the story Richard Parker is Pi, so that means the same conflict in Richard Parker is reflected in Pi. Even though it goes without saying Richard Parker is more than just a symbol of Pi’s faith; he also is a dangerous animal. In order to deal with the challenge Richard Parker brings Pi must adapt, which put his morals and beliefs at ends with his will to
Being narrated by an older version of the main character, Life of Pi is a story about a man named Pi Patel. Most of the beginning of the novel includes all the history of his life; it introduces topics such as his major, the definition of his name, and his family. His majors are religion and Zoology, which comes back later in the book. It also gives the reader the interesting background of the meaning of his name, based off of a swimming pool. These larger topics and more were shared with the readers. A prominent part of all of this is the fact that it almost always comes back to animals.
Pi is an irrational number that represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. In the Mile of Pi, Numberphile printed out the first million digits of Pi in a continuous long piece of paper, which stretched for over a mile. They printed out pi and rolled it out for one mile to show that there are cycles of repeating sequences within pi and that every number does not appear evenly. Brady Haran also presents some interesting things that could be found along the way. He points out the Feynman Point which has the number 9 repeated six times. He also pointed out the point where Akira Haraguchi (known for memorizing the most digits of pi) memorized up to. When they reached the end of the mile long paper, the last digit was 1 in
As the title of the novel has already suggested, the name of the protagonist is Pi, legally known as Piscine Moliter Patel. Piscine's first name is later on shortened to "Pi", for it is a much simpler name. If the name is analyzed with further thought, a significant meaning can be uncovered. Pi's name not only represents his identity, but is in a way, connected to the theme the nature of religious beliefs. In the science field, "Pi" is symbolized as the mathematical term for " ". This term is commonly recognized as the number 3.14. In particular aspects of Hinduism, the number 3 signifies the ability an individual possess to build curiosity upon faith and connect with its spirituality. This means that they are often curious about religion
Yann Martel offers two accounts of Pi’s survival story so that Pi is able to personify animals and also give animalistic qualities to humans. This exchange is only seen after both accounts are read. The reader is able to determine which he or she accepts as reality, but since the facts of the story go unchanged and both tales are primarily the same, the sole purpose is to highlight the traits humans and animals posses. Yann Martel exemplifies human traits in animals and animal traits in people through his claim in passage A by telling the two stories of Pi’s survival.
Pi`s name started popping up in the story when Pi said that he “was named after a swimming pool”(8) by his father`s friend named Francis Adirubasamy. Francis named Pi, Piscine Molitor Patel because he said that, “no swimming pool in [his] eyes matched the glory of the Piscine Molitor” (12), so that is the reason how Pi got his name. As a result of Pi`s name being Piscine Molitor Patel. It closely sounded like Pissing Molitor Patel, which later caused him to get bullied by teachers and students. Due to getting bullied because of his name. Pi was going to decide that he was going to change it. In the end, Pi change his name from Piscine to Pi or 3.14 to help stop the bullying, and also came up with a cool new nickname for himself too.
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
Everyone can pick an animal that they believe describes themselves or symbolizes themselves, but in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi he takes those characteristics to a new level. The symbolism of a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger all contribute to the characteristics of Pi and his journey through the sea, together, on a life boat.
The name Pi is also symbolic because as Pi stated: “I was named after a swimming pool” (8) The word “Piscine” in French translate to ‘swimming pool’ in English. The significance of his name is because he spends 227 days in a huge swimming pool (the ocean) fighting for his life.
The mathematical constant to which ‘Pi’ relates his name has a value of 3.14 which is the approximate fraction 22/7 this represents the 227 days Pi survived at sea. When Pi is introducing himself at his new school he goes up to the board in each class during attendance, writes his name and beside it “π = 3.14” and draws “…a large circle, which [he] then slice[s] in two with a diameter, to evoke that basic lesson of geometry.” Pi repeats this same routine with every teacher on the premise that “repetition is important in the training not only of animals but
To start, the title of the novel greatly defines the story as a whole in many different ways and it gives the reader a good hint or idea behind the meaning of the book. The title, Life of Pi is a great caption considering the main idea of the
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.
Karanvir Dhami Ms. Yu ENG3U March 7, 2011 Symbolism in Life of Pi In Life of Pi there are many literary devices used to present the different themes in the novel. The main literary device used in Life of Pi is symbolism. Symbolism is often used to represent an object to something else, either by association or by resemblance. Most of the names of animals, objects and even humans in this novel have a symbolic meaning. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, symbolism such as pi’s name, the colour orange and the algae island, are used throughout the novel to provide Pi with protection to help him either survive or overcome his emotional pain. The mathematical pi is undefined, infinite and unable to be understood, just like Piscine Patel.