What Does Richard Parker Symbolize In Life Of Pi

Another way Pi was able to survive through his harsh times was by learning how to live with Richard Parker. At first Pi was terribly afraid that he might be the next goat. “I had a choice so long as he did not sense me. If he did, he would kill me right away. Could he burst through the tarpaulin, I wondered.”(Martel, 119) Since Pi was afraid of Richard Parker, he would try his best to avoid him. His fear towards Richard Parker distracted Pi from the sorrow left by the sinking of the Tsimtsum. Even if Richard Parker was a man-eating carnivore he had to learn how to live with him. “In my case, to protect myself from Richard Parker while I trained him, I made a shield with a turtle shell...” (Martel, 228) If Pi wasn’t able to tame Richard Parker

1. The main characters in Life of Pi are Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) and Richard Parker the Bengal tiger. Pi is the protagonist he is hopeful and believes that things get better. He is very optimistic which gets him through a lot of his troubles. In the beginning of the book Pi seemed to have things the rough way and continues that way but he was very hopeful. In the beginning of his lifeboat journey he was sure things would get better but as time went by he wasn't sure anymore but he had things to remind him to keep going. I also think he became more grownup and stronger by the end of the book. Richard Parker is the tiger on the lifeboat with Pi he is there every step of the way with Pi. He helps Pi get through things. Richard Parker is very

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

The way in which Pi assumed this power over Richard Parker was by establishing himself as an equal to him. As Pi brought food to the tiger, Pi would use whistles to remind Richard Parker of who provided him with food and water: “…not forgetting to blow the whistle hard several times, to remind Richard Parker of who had so graciously provided him with fresh food” (Martel 206). This method Pi had developed proved to be successful on his mission to become equals with Richard Parker when Pi “stared into [Richard Parker’s] eyes, wide-eyed and defiant, and [they] faced off” (Martel 246). Pi knew that if he looked away and backed down, the tiger would never see him as an equal, because Richard Parker would see

Richard Parker as an Allegorical Representation of Pi’s Crisis of Faith and Humanity It is clear throughout Life of Pi that despite condemning the anthropomorphism of animals (Martel 34), Pi, himself has a tendency to apply human characteristics to the animals he encounters throughout the story this includes the animals living in his father’s zoo that he claims to anthropomorphize to the point that they speak perfect English(cite). To keep Pi from falling into the pitfalls of believing that animals are capable of feeling in the same way that humans are Pi’s father one day shows him and his brother how savage an animal such as a tiger can truly be. This event in and of itself is the perfect set-up for introducing Richard Parker who is a projection

Having nothing left to live for brings out a lot in a person so be prepared for the unbelievable to be believable. The book Life Of Pi by Yann Martel is a book about a boy named pi that is trapped at sea with little to no resources on a lifeboat with a tiger named Richard Parker they got trapped on the lifeboat while pi was trying to move with his family and their zoo to Canada but the ship sunk leaving Pi and the Bengal tiger the sole survivors and at the end of the book it is questionable if the tiger was just an entity in pi trying to keep him alive. Richard Parker and pi are two different people because pi is a human and Richard is an animal the reason why they are different is they got smacked off the boat by Richard Parker's feces and finally how they slept and went to different places.

His mother was the caretaker, she took care of the sailor as much as she could and she cared for Pi. Pi was passive, his hunger became excuse for his behavior(beginning of cognitive dissonance), such as eating the piece of rat behind his mother’s back and eating part of the rations with the cook. This created cognitive dissonance in Pi. According to Leon Festinger, cognitive dissonance “assumes people have a tendency to change their attitudes to reduce the cognitive discomfort created by inconsistencies between their attitude and their behavior”. These dynamic play out until the cook killed Pi’s mother and Pi kills then

On the other hand, Pi uses Richard Parker as a way to separate his ID and superego. Richard Parker is the part of Pi that does not have a moral conscience, it is his animalistic instinct. Pi is a devout vegetarian, until it comes down to survival. Richard Parker is quick to kill flying fish, yet Pi gets emotional when killing anything. In the novel Pi says, "Lord, to think that I'm a strict vegetarian.

Piscine and Richard Parker are two different species; Pi is a human and Richard Parker a bengal tiger. Stuck in a lifeboat with a limited amount of food and water, a tiger and a human are not going to be good companions. Eventually, one or the other is going to survive, and the other will not. Yann Martel creates an alternate idea. Throughout the book, Yann Martel shows the importance of using your enemies to help get through situations. Richard Parker also helps by catching flying fish, which is a good source of food. Soon, they start

Bengali polymath, Rabindranath Tagore, once said “you can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” In the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the protagonist, Pi, faces many challenges at sea while being accompanied by a tiger by the name of Richard Parker. This tiger, though a nuisance, proves to be essential in the role of Pi’s survival. Throughout the story, Richard Parker symbolizes survival, a reflection of Pi, and a being of God.

In the rare times, we see Richard Parker throughout the novel we simultaneously see the savage side of pi. Whenever the mysterious tiger makes an appearance we often see Pi partake in something barbaric to survive. Pi Patel was never one to break the flesh of another living thing but being on the lifeboat for those unpleasant 227 days he is forced to do things that go against his own moral compass. Martel does a fantastic job of symbolizing the character of Richard Parker as the savage ways pi demonstrated to survive his ordeal. The main way we can draw this conclusion of Richard Parker representing Pi comes from the many textual examples throughout the novel. For example, as Pi gains consciousness and awareness of his surreal surroundings after the sinking of the Tsimtsum he goes straight into survival mode as Richard Parker appears. Whenever Richard Parker is hidden Pi is always in a calm and restful state, this meaning that as Pi’s need for

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.

Next, Richard Parker helped Pi by giving him hope and a friend. Pi Patel says, “...a part of me was glad about Richard Parker. A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he died I would be left alone in despair, a foe even more

Pi spent 227 days stranded on a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Pi fights starvation, madness, and solitude throughout the journey.

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’’.