Richard Parker in the novel represents more than what he is portrayed in the novel as. Richard Parker represents Pi’s aggressive and nonhuman side while surviving on the life boat. Richard Parker is portrayed as a killer that will kill anything that is harmful in his way. The story can be either interpreted as Richard Parker is simply a tiger or Richard Parker being Pi’s imagination as his killer side. Pi throughout the story is presented with many difficult tasks as a teenager surviving in the ocean all by himself. He takes on many of these tasks with the form of Richard Parker alongside using his killer instinct side to solve many problems. Richard Parker is portrayed as vicious, animalistic, and having this killer instinct to survive. These …show more content…
are the same characteristics required from Pi to survive this long on a journey that has become so unbelievable. The vicious side of Pi that is Richard parker is represented by his killing of the hyena and many other things throughout the story.
Pi was threatened by the hyena as it was killing the other animals or people so he decided to kill the hyena. “At times, Richard Parker bloodied .Pi cleans the bones from Richard Parker's lair and the. At an early point on the island, after many hardship endured together, Richard Parker runs after Pi with "the rapid and approach of a known killer" Martel Pg. 92. The quote shows Pi’s savage side as a known killer and that Pi has gotten attached to him. Pi has gotten attached to his savage side and is now, maybe realizing that he is a killer and is accepting that side. This also shows that his savage side and his normal side might have accepted each other as Richard Parker runs at Pi with rapid and direct approach of a known …show more content…
killer. The animalistic side of Pi is represented by all the inhumane things that Richard parker does while on the life boat. Pi realizes at a point that he has become more animalistic as maybe an influence of Richard Parker. “Richard Parker turned started clawing the shark's head with his free front paw and biting it with his jaws, while his rear legs began tearing at its stomach and back. Richard Parker's snarling was simply terrifying. Pg. 79.” The quote shows that Pi has this animalistic side of eating and that Pi has turned into this savage from this journey. Pi becomes more and more like Richard Parker in his eating habits at sea. Pi even admits it which shows that he is starting to admit to his animalistic side known as Richard Parker. Also, notice how Pi attributes moods and motivations of Richard Parker, complicating the tiger's savageness. The killer instinct of Richard Parker has developed throughout the story as the way to survive on the boat.
Pi uses this side to survive and make sure that there is nothing in his way to survive as most issues that Pi faces is solved through this way. I didn’t have pity to spare for long for the zebra. “When your own life is in danger, your sense of emotion is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival. It was sad that it was suffering but there was nothing I could do about it. I felt bad and then I moved on. This is not something I am proud of. I am sorry I was so dramatic about the matter. I have not forgotten that unfortunate zebra and what it went through. Not a single prayer goes by that I don’t think of it.” This shows that Richard parker doesn’t care about anything but his survival and he is willing to do a lot of his
survival. Pi’s aggressive side called Richard Parker was very dangerous and new to Pi at first. It took Pi time to get used to his killing and animalistic side to become a part of him. As the need for survival gets harder you see more and more of Pi’s aggressive side come out. The killing of the Frenchman was an important part as it’s shown that Pi can kill using in the hardest of circumstance. Pi has mastered his vicious and animalistic side known as Richard Parker after killing the Frenchman because he is taking life with more ease to survive. This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. “He gave me life, of my own, but at the expense of killing one. He ripped the flesh off the man and broke his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in died, then that has never come back to life." This quote show how Pi feels about his ferocious side know as Richard Parker killing someone helping him survive. The quote directly shows that the two sides are connected in some way and that Pi feed of off that ferocious side. The animalistic, ferocious, and the killer instinct side of Pi is represented by Richard Parker. All the things that Pi does is for survival. Pi has to deal with many problems throughout his journey and uses a lot of his ferocious and animalistic side to help him survive throughout the journey. He kill many things, starts to eat like an animal, and does many animalistic type things in order to survive. In the story Pi uses this side to help him solve problems that occur throughout the story. 'So talk, since it makes no factual difference to and you can't prove the question, which story do you like? What do you think is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?' Mr. Okamoto: 'That's an interesting question? The story with animals.' Mr. Okamoto: 'Yes. The story with animals is the better story.' Pi Patel: 'Thanks. And so it goes with God.'" This quote shows how hard it is to believe the story side of Richard Parker just being a Tiger and not Pi’s Imagination of his animalistic side. The symbolism of Richard Parker being Pi’s aggressive side is told throughout the story and it really impacts and changes the way one can interpret the story.
...o face our fears, looking them dead in the eye. He notes that tigers only attack when you are not looking straight in the eye. When Pi tries to tame Richard Parker by blowing the whistle, while Richard Parker is seasick. Pi faces his fears instead of letting it sit there and control him. We need to ‘blow the whistle’ on our own fears and admit we do have a fear, so they become easier to control in our lives. Richard Parker also teaches Pi his inner strength even though Pi does not display it himself. "This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man's frame and cracked his bones. The smell of blood filled my nose. Something in me died then that has never come back to life. (Martel 139)”
Leonard F. Peltier once said, “Innocence is the weakest defense. Innocence has a single voice that can only say over and over again, "I didn't do it." Guilt has a thousand voices, all of them lies.” This powerful quote featured in Peltier’s novel, “Prison Writings” that was written in his prison cell reflects on the issue of himself being incarcerated for over 30 years for an action he states he didn’t do. Some may question if it would be mean anything now if Peltier was released and given freedom again. No human being should ever have their life completely taken away from them because of a crime that they did not commit. With this action happening to Peltier, he has found a way through his writings
...knowledge his shadow self. He was able to survive his plight on the lifeboat because of the characteristics of his shadow self, Richard Parker. Even at the loss of his shadow self, Pi remains connected and constantly misses this part of his persona. After his ordeal on the lifeboat, Pi becomes rational and humane; however his experiences has scarred him, and will forever remain with him. Readers can definitely learn from Pi’s experience with his shadow self. The more we refute our shadow, the more it weighs us down. However, if we are willing to come to terms with the reality of our shadow, learn how it works, “tame” it so that it does not control us, we would be more literate and enlightened.
The projection of Richard Parker helps Pi to be aware of this current situation, which was him being stranded in the ocean on a lifeboat in comparison to his beliefs in his religions. His fear towards Richard Parker was one of the reasons of his survival. Pi says, “Fear and reason fought over answer. Fear said yes. He was a fierce, 450-pound carnivore. Each of his claws was sharp as a knife” (Martel 108). Pi describes Richard Parker as an extremely dangerous, fearful, and vicious predator. This causes Pi keep aware because he is on a boat with a deadly carnivore. He tries to keep awake at night while being on the lifeboat with Richard Parker from the fear of being attacked and eaten by the Bengal tiger. However, since Richard Parker is Pi’s id, it was actually him keeping himself aware and alive. Pi states, “If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances” (Martel 164). This shows how Richard Parker occupies Pi’s mind and influences his thoughts about the tragic incident that has happened. The will to live for Pi is no longer his family, but Richard Parker, his id. Richard Parker taught Pi how to survive based on his instincts an...
An important factor that should be kept in mind throughout out this writing is that Richard Parker is a tamed zoo animal that has never seen anything outside the confinements of his cage. He has been treated with expert care with a healthy amount of food that he has been given without being asked. So it must have been very hard for Richard Parker. This being said, Richard Parker’s perseverance is what kept him alive throughout this entire journey. It was his perseverance that made him kill (for all the right
Imagination played a large role behind the scenes in the book Life of Pi. “This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker” As the reader, this passage makes you think that Richard Parker was a burden for Pi, that there was nothing positive that came from this tremendous creature. Richard Parker was more than just an idea that Pi thought up, Richard Parker was Pi’s Conscience/himself. The first line of this passage represents imagination, since Richard Parker is Pi’s imagination it would translate to this was the terrible cost of my imagination. When Pi witnesses Richard Parker attack the cannibal he says “Something in me died then that has never come back to life” This has a more spiritual meaning than a literal meaning in the way Pi says it. This means that when he “imagines” this man being killed this shows how cruel life can be even when he looks to god for answers. The reason that Richard Parker is Pi’s imagination is because during the course of this book Richard Parker mimicked exactly what Pi did. For example the moment that they bot...
Pi was afraid and surprised that Richard Parker was in the boat once he had lifted the blanket. Then Richard Parker had roared at him and tried to attack by his claws ,but pi had gotten away as soon as he did. Pi and Richard Parker started to roamed slowly around the boat in the middle of the ocean. Pi didn't trust Richard Parker because he knows that he only wanted to kill and eat pi. Pi tried to get rid of the tiger and then he tried avoiding the tiger, but as time goes on he got tired of trying get rid of Richard Parker. So then he began tame the tiger by using his whistle he had gotten from his locker. As he and Richard Parker started to get along through the past days,they have become really close friends.
In Richard III, Richard is introduced as a villain who has extraordinary skills with words and wins the throne with them; however, his malicious personality is a ‘product’ of the environment around him. He suffers with the fact that no one likes with his physical appearance- hunchback and deformity. Even his mother, Duchess doesn’t like him; “Thou cams't on earth to make the earth my hell. A grievous burthen was thy birth to me; Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; Thy school days frightful, desp'rate, wild, and furious” (p. 262). This quote shows the reason why Richard becomes a villain; he isn’t even loved by a person who gave birth to him.
He lives in a zoo, and is surrounded and influenced by animals daily. His knowledge of animals grows as he does, and he learns and sees new things year after year at the zoo. One peculiar, yet crucial thing that Pi learns while living in the zoo, is the concept of zoomorphism. Zoomorphism, “is where an animal takes a human being or another animal, to be one of its kind”(84). He explains that within the zoo that he spent his childhood, there were many cases of zoomorphism, from the strange friendly relationship between the goats and the rhinoceroses, to the even stranger friendly predator-prey relationship between a viper and a mouse. Pi then says that the only explanation for zoomorphism is that the “measure of madness moves life in strange but saving ways”(85). The rhinoceros and goats get along because the rhinoceros, “[is] in need of companionship”(85), and without the goats, the rhinoceros would become depressed and die. This explanation of zoomorphism is major foreshadowing and background on why Richard Parker and Pi can live together on the lifeboat. Like the rhinoceros, both Pi and Richard Parker would have died without the company of another being. The “madness” that is the relationship between Richard Parker and Pi, scares Pi and causes him stress. However, this stress and fear keeps Pi alive, and ultimately saves his life. Therefore, the story with the animals is true, because
Yann Martel uses language in Chapter 94 to explain Pi's thoughts, feelings, and reactions to finally being saved. The author uses diction, metaphors, similes, symbolism, and more to tell the story. This helps the reader understand Pi better as a character. On page 285, Pi reflects on his abrupt farewell to Richard Parker through detailed imagery. Pi explains how he thinks that someone one must have closure to fully let something or someone go. To me, this shows how sensitive and empathetic Pi is towards animals. The imagery helps me to feel how Pi is feeling. On page 286, Pi thanks Richard Parker for keeping him alive. Yann Martel uses parallelism and diction to help convey Pi's feelings. The use of language throughout this chapter, along
...creates the character of Richard Parker to justify his actions that he considers to be savage. He even separates parts of the boat to use as a boundary between his idea of humanity and savagery. “It was time to impose myself and carve out my territory” (Martel 202). This part of the text implies to me that Pi is making the boundary between his humanity and his actions that he sees as savage. Richard Parker’s territory in the story is the bottom of the boat and under the tarpaulin. I see Richard Parker’s territory metaphorically as Pi’s savage side. Pi’s territory in his story is on top of the tarpaulin and on the raft, which I see metaphorically as the humane side of his personality. By making this separation, Pi is addressing the issue of what is savage and what is not within himself.
The most significant level is psychological because it is very important to a person’s emotional and physical survival. In order for someone to survive, he or she must have a positive mind with faith and determination in every action they take, Despite the fact that having high hopes with slim chances of survival is not as easy as it seems. “In its general form such a requirement insists that important relations (survival, identity, psychological connectedness)”. (Brennan 225). Trying to survive, Pi has to struggle with himself mentally: he has to go against his ethics like rectitude and religion pledge. To do that easily Pi finds his animalistic part which he called in his story as Richard Parker. May be because of his religious grounds he would have never done things like killing people eating fish or cannibalizing humans as done with just imagining himself as a Bengal tiger and he admits that “If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful.” (Martel, 219) This quote shows that he used this imagination to kill his loneliness boredom...
Pi turns to God and says aloud, “‘Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die.’” (Martel, 148). Instead of giving up, he used a miracle that God gives him and turns it into a routine. His belief of God watching over him gave him a lot of motivation Pi explains his struggles when he says “You might think I lost all hope at one point. I did. And as a result, I perked up and felt much better. We see it in sports all the time don’t we?” (Martel 134). At this moment, Pi decides to disregard Richard Parker and focus on his thirst. He thinks back to how when Jesus was crucified, that his only complaint was thirst. This gave Pi a reason to help himself by letting go of his worrying. As he slowly becomes more depressed, Pi comes to the realization that “God’s hat was always unraveling. God’s pants were falling apart. God’s cat was a constant danger. God’s ark was a jail. God’s wide acres were slowly killing me. God’s ear didn’t seem to be listening.” (Martel, 209). Whenever Pi starts to upset about his situation, he yells about how everything symbolizes God. Although sometimes it did not help, Pi says that he will continue to hope and love
Right before the men depart, Pi asks them this question, “In both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies, and I suffer… Which is a better story?” (Page 398). He points out that there is no factual difference either way, so it makes the most sense to tell the more compelling tale. It is more intriguing for listeners, and easier for Pi to cope with having to talk about the situation. Immediately, after he makes this point, when told the men will be watching out for Richard Parker, the tiger, Pi explains, “He’s hiding somewhere you’ll never find him.” (Page 399). Richard Parker symbolizes Pi when he is on the lifeboat; The part of him he doesn’t want to admit is there and wants to forget. By using illusion to tell his story he is able to reference that the part of him he thinks of as the tiger is now gone for good. Proven by this, Pi relies deeply on illusion to portray his inner feelings instead of telling them as they
Having just experienced the sinking of his family’s ship, and being put onto a life boat with only a hyena, Pi felt completely lost and alone. When he sees Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger from his family’s zoo, it is a familiar face to him. His initial reaction is to save the life of his familiar friend so that he may have a companion, and a protector aboard the lifeboat. Suddenly Pi realizes just what he is doing. He is saving the life of Richard Parker, by welcoming him, a 450 pound Bengal tiger, onto the small lifeboat. He experiences a change of heart when helping the tiger onto the boat. Pi realizes that he is now posing a threat on his own life. With Richard Parker on the boat, Pi is faced with not only the fight to survive stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, but the fight to survive living with a meat eating tiger. The change of heart that Pi experiences might possibly mean that he is an impulsive thinker. It may mean that he often does something on impulse without thinking it through, and then later regrets his actions.