Life Of Pi

Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is a successful and insightful story of a young boy’s journey through the perilous waters of the oceans. In this fantasy story Pi is thrown into a dangerous environment with a Royal Bengal tiger. Over time Pi and “Richard Parker”, as the tiger was named, became partly dependent on each other. The question is what extent does Pi need Richard Parker as Richard Parker needs him. When analyzing this story the answer that is most plausible is that Pi is in greater need of the tiger than vice versa. The first realization that must be made is the fact that to Richard Parker, Pi is just a source of food and an alpha male. Pi realizes that “Richard Parker had been a zoo animal . . . he was used to sustenance coming to him”. He knew that the major reason he was still alive was because of his ability to provide for food. Richard Parker is still an animal with animalistic tendencies and thus, to him, Pi is an source of food. Pi was also a alpha predator to

To Pi, both survived a experience which brought them together in a sort of kinsmanship. This is evident when they were going blind and Pi “was more affected by [Richard Parker’s?] imminent demise then [he] was by [his] own”. Pi was devastated that he couldn’t take care of Richard Parker and that he failed his duty as a zookeeper. Pi may have not shown sincere affection outward, but he had bonded with the tiger at a fundamental level. A clear instance of this is when Pi could not leave Richard Parker on the shores of the carnivorous islands as doing so would have ensured safety and security on the lifeboat. Pi’s only explanation for this act was “ I could not abandon Richard Parker. To live him would mean to kill him”. That itself is not much of a reason, unless you realized the underlying bond between them that Pi was using as a