Richard Parker Life Of Pi Quote Analysis

As Pi reaches the second level of the hierarchy of needs, he finds himself on the level of safety he needs to figure out how to stay safe while on the life boat. While Pi was on the boat he was so scared of Richard Parker that he had jumped off the boat to go in the water, but then realizes that there are predators just as scary as Richard parker or maybe even worse that he has to avoid to staying safe. “I noticed the presence of sharks around the life boat…The sharks were makos-swift, point-snouted predators with long murderous teeth that protruded noticeable from their mouths” (Martel 179). Once Pi tries to overcome his fears and tames Richard like a zookeeper would do and once he does, he ends up having a companion that helps Pi get through the struggle to survive. Pi finds an island where he is safe and is able to regain his strength but as he finds a tooth in the algae, Pi

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.

Pi is alone with Richard Parker on the lifeboat and they both starve and suffer with dehydration. Pi starts catching fishes for both of them. He always gives the biggest share to Richard Parker as he is the strongest. One day, he decides to eat the largest part. He wants to calm his desire for hunger. He does not want to share anything with Richard Parker. Pi starts eating like an animal. Pi tells, “It came as an unmistakable indication to me of how I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal” (Martel 183). The innocent boy is now as dangerous as an animal that can do anything for the food. His yearning for food makes him selfish. It is in pi’s hand not to sacrifices his integrity, but he chooses to sacrifice because he knows that at this critical situation it is right to do. Even though Pi loses his integrity, he gains the power of being the strongest one on the

In the book, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi becomes a different person after he kills the flying fish. In the beginning of the passage Pi shares that he is a vegetarian, and could never hurt anything living. After Pi kills the flying fish to use for bait, he says, “I wept heartily over this poor little deceased soul” (Martel 88). This portrays the morals of Pi before he kills the flying fish. He gives life a great value and is reluctant to interfere with the wellbeing of anything living. Later in the story, Pi kills another fish, this time a dorado. After catching the dorado, Pi says, “killing it was no problem” (Martel 89). The attitude Pi has towards killing a fish changes drastically the second time compared to

At one point, Richard Parker makes a sharp “aaonh” cry to find a mate. This means that all his needs are met because an animal will not mate unless comfort is found. Pi feels like Richard Parker until he finds the teeth on the island. When he finds them, he realizes that he will die if he remains on the island. “Ah, how I wish that moment never had been. [...] I might have lived for years [...] on that island,” shows that he is completely comfortable. Until he figured out what would happen to him over time, he did not want to leave. As nice as the island may have been, Pi finds out that he would rather be safe at

From the shortest to the tallest, from the smallest to the biggest, all living creatures will defend for their lives if the situation calls. Survival depends on freedom. Freedom allows the creature to make choices needed to survive. If those freedoms are taken away in any measure, the creature then becomes protective and threatened in which it will do anything to survive, this might result in a small battle or a war till death. This quote summarizes some main components from the novel Life of Pi. “Life will defend itself no matter how small it is.” (Martel) . This means that any living creature will fight for its existence no matter if it is an ant, human, or elephant. An example from the novel is how Orange Juice defended herself from the hyena. She felt the need to brawl for her safety, so she engaged a fight with the hyena and unfortunately she lost her life as a consequence.

“The Real Story in Life of Pi
The difference between fiction and reality is not always evident to those who are unable or unwilling to recognize the difference.”

1. Firstly, part three of the novel presents the reader with a change in the form of the narrative. Up until chapter ninety-six, as we’ve seen, the novel has consisted of two types of narrative: first person from the point of view of the author, and Pi’s first-person account, which is constructed by the author. Now, the exchanges between Pi, Mr. Okamoto, and Mr. Chiba are entirely dialogue. The new form of narrative is a third-person transcription, which lacks rich detail, potential illusion, and over exaggeration. As an audience, we perceive this as solid, factual information. But, Pi is also preparing to retell another version of his survival story. We now have to decide what story—one, both, or none, is the true story.

He is most likely frighted by this idea because he lived with animals and woke up with them every single day throughout his childhood. However when he is put in a situation where he needs to fight for survival, he needs to change his eating habits. Pi tried for a very long time to stay away from consuming animals, but at one point he realized in order to stay alive, he needed to eat his first ever animal. When reminiscing about the event he said, “You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado. I could explain it by arguing that profiting from a pitiful flying fish's navigational mistake made me shy and sorrowful, while the excitement of actively capturing a great dorado made me sanguinary and self-assured. But in point of fact the explanation lies elsewhere. It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing” (185). This line is so powerful because he truly does feel bad for the animal. Even through all of the tough times that he is enduring on the boat, he still feels really bad about

Pi is forced to give up his compassion for all of earth’s creatures and in doing so gives up part of his humanity too. The existence of Richard Parker gives Pi a way to transfer his guilt for the acts he’s committed unto another being, an animal, it’s okay for Richard Parker to be savage because it is his nature he only cares about survival, therefore, it’s okay for him to commit acts that Pi would consider morally repugnant such as murdering the blind French sailor they come upon at sea. (cite) The French sailor Pi randomly comes upon in the middle of the ocean is most likely a version of the French sailor Pi refers to in his second telling of his survival story (cite) in this version of Pi’s story he recalls brutally murdering the Frenchman and even resorting to cannibalism. Pi himself cannot admit to committing such a heinous act because it goes against his core beliefs so he chooses to shift the blame to Richard Parker who is merely acting of instinct and eliminating a threat as well as providing himself with enough sustenance to continue

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

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.

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

“You might think I lost hope at that point. I did. And as a result I perked up and felt much better.” At several points in my life, I have reached a point at which I lost all hope. I lost my energy and determination, but from that negative energy came a light to guide me in the right direction. When we realize we are in a dark place, it motivates us to try to escape it. This dark place can lead to the best creation and some of the greatest levels of accomplishment in life. When I lost the first art contest I entered, I thought I was a failure, unable to create anything worth looking at. However, some of my best work came after that instance. In friendship the same applies. My best friend had been using me all my life,

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’’.