Life of Pi tells the story of the protagonist Pi Patel, a 16 old South Indian boy who survives at sea with Richard Parker, a 450 pound tiger, for 227 days. Piscine Patel, or Pi for short, grew up in the South Indian city of Pondicherry, where his father runs the zoo. Pi, brought up as a Hindu, discovers Christianity at 14 years old, then Islam at 15. He chooses to simultaneously practice all three religions with their the rituals and ceremonies, while being able to find a common ground between them.
Life of Pi is divided into three parts, each one representing a different section of his adventure. Part One is narrated in a first person point of view by Pi where he narrates about his earlier life as a high school and college student in Toronto, then even further back to his childhood in Pondicherry. He explains that he has suffered intensely and found solace in religion and zoology. He describes how a close business associate of his father’s taught him to swim and gave him his unique name. Pi gets his name from the Piscine Molitor, a Parisian swimming club with two pools that the business
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During a period of temporary blindness likely caused by dehydration, Pi runs into another blind castaway. The two talk about food and tether their boats together. Suddenly, the blind man attacks Pi, intending to eat him, but Richard Parker kills him, as if to protect Pi. Not long after, the lifeboat arrives at a strange island of trees that grow out of the vegetation, without the need for soil. Pi and Richard Parker stay here for a time, so that they can recover from their harsh time at sea. One day, Pi discovers human teeth in a tree’s fruit and comes to the conclusion that the island is carnivorous. He and Richard Parker quickly head back out on their lifeboat; eventually, they wash ashore on a Mexican beach. Upon landing, Richard Parker runs off, and the local people discover and take Pi to a
Stranded for 227 days at sea in a lifeboat, with no one else except an adult Bengal tiger. This is exactly what the main character Pi, in "The Life of Pi" went through. "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel is a story about a boy named Piscine Molitor Patel, an Indian boy who survives more than seven months floating on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean, with no one else but a 450-pound tiger (Cooper). Yann Martel was born on June 25, 1963, in Salamanca, Spain. His parents, Emile Martel and Nicole Perron, were both born in Canada. He spent his childhood in several different countries, including France, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and Costa Rica. As an adult, he lived in many other places but one of them was India, which may be where he got inspiration for writing “Life of Pi”. Yann Martel uses the literary elements similes and foreshadowing, to express the theme that believing in religion can give you the faith to want to survive.
In Life of Pi, storytelling is told through the eyes of Pi Patel, who’s the main character. He gives such a bewildering story with many descriptive details that it’s hard to believe. He starts his story off by him surviving the shipwreck, jumping into a life boat with a zebra, hyena, tiger, and an orangutan. One important factor to consider is how he documents his journeys in a journal which he finds in the survival kit on the lifeboat. This is relevant because this might have served a role in keeping him sane as writing down his experiences gave him some sort of relief. Towards the ending of the novel we see Pi being interviewed by two Japanese reporters, Mr.Okamoto and
Pi’s journey starts out in a town in India known as Pondicherry. Here he finds a great interest in both Zoology( the study of animals), and religion. Pi also as well shows much knowledge in Zoology as shown in this quote from the book. “I got every possible student award from the department of Zoology.” (Pg.6) Pi, relating to religion(his other great interest), believes in multiple religions of which include Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. Pi also finds great enjoyment in going to the Zoo, a zoo in which his own father owns. Pi’s great home life before his journey doesn’t last too long however. Soon the Tamil
He talked about school and how he came to have the nickname Pi. The majority of these stories take place in his father's zoo in the city of Pondicherry, India. He tells multiple stories about the different animals within the zoo and speaks about their many different behaviors and tendencies. He talks about how man doesn't always understand the animals. Pi also tells stories about how he comes to worship three different major religions of the world, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity.
Martel’s novel is about the journey of a young man being forced to test his limits in order to survive the unthinkable predicament of being lost at sea alongside an adult Bengal tiger. Life of Pi starts out by introducing an anonymous author on a quest to find his next big story and goes to a man by the name of Piscine Molitor Patel who supposedly has a story worth hearing. Patel begins his story talking about his childhood and the main events that shaped him such as his family’s zoo, the constant curiosity in religion he sought as a young boy and also how he got his nickname Pi. Mr. Patel continues explaining how his father contracts a Japanese ship to transport his family, along with a number of their zoo animals, from India to Canada in order to avoid political upheaval. While traveling the ship began sinking and Pi was the only one to manage to make it onto the life boat and survive the wreck. The disaster left Pi along with a fe...
There are many similarities between Harper Lee’s life and the characters in her book, To Kill A Mockingbird. She grew up in Monroeville, Alabama, and the story took place in the fictional county of Maycomb, Alabama. Also, when Lee was growing up her father was a lawyer and in the legislature, just like Atticus Finch. Lee’s mother had a mental illness and would rarely leave the house, while in the book, Scout did not have a mother and her neighbor Boo Radley seemed to have a mental illness and also rarely left the house.
Life of Pi, a book written by Yann Martel, is an inspiring tale of survival in a time of hardship and peril. The story follows a young boy ,named Piscine "Pi" Patel, through his early life and as he and his family make their journey to Canada aboard a cargo ship with many cages of zoo animals. However, halfway through their journey, their ship sinks and Pi's family perishes while he escapes on a lifeboat. However, he encourages a companion to climb onboard the lifeboat with him; a large tiger named Richard Parker. Thinking the tiger was gone after Pi found him missing, the large feline reappears some time later, much to Pi's dismay. Now, Pi has to survive not only the harsh conditions of nature, but also the malicious and feral instincts of
The novel Life Of Pi by Yann Martel is the story of a 16 year old boy stranded on a life boat. Religion is of the utmost importance to Piscine Molitor Patel, also know as Pi. Throughout Pi's life he practices three religions, that shape who he is. As a result of Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam Pi survives on the life boat, because of the morals he has from his faiths.
Transition – Yann Martel is a Canadian author that has spent time in Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. Martel created a multi-cultural work that combines magical realism and survival fiction in his 2001 novel, Life of Pi. Life of Pi is the story of Pi Patel, an Indian boy with unique experiences with religion and animals, surviving 227 days as a castaway with animals after the cargo ship transporting Pi and the zoo creatures makes an unscheduled stop at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Martel uses a philosophical, reflective tone as he illustrates the monumental changes Pi undergoes as his time at sea increases.
Life of Pi begins with an author’s note in which Martel describes being told by the character Mamaji that Pi has “‘a story that will make you believe in God’” (ix). This essentially sets up the basis for the entire theme of the novel. The main character, Pi, claims to practice three religions simultaneously: Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam (Martel 81). Much of Pi’s explanation of his own childhood consists of his own religious journeys. He begins with an explanation of how his aunt introduced him to Hinduism upon ...
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities that interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional — but is it more true?
Human nature encompasses a duality of light and dark impulses, resulting in an inner conflict between good and evil. The texts Life of Pi by Yann Martel and Lord of the Flies by William Golding explore the internal conflict between our civilised self and animalistic savagery. The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula Le Guin and the Strange Case of Dr Jekll and Mr Hyde by Robert Stevenson convey the inner moral conflict caused when our conscience opposes our desires. These texts reveal the duality within us and its inevitable inner conflicts. While we may try to oppose and hide it through civilisation and rationality, we possess an innate savagery like animals.
As the reader examines the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the reader recognizes the similarities between the story of the animals and the factual story. The main character Piscine Molitor Patel, known as Pi, goes through many struggles once he is stuck on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean which are shown between both of his stories. Throughout the novel, Martel describes to the readers the relationships the Pi has between the animals in the story of animals and the real people in the factual story. In Life of Pi, Pi meets many different animals on his journey on the lifeboat that influence him in many ways, including the zebra, which represents the Taiwanese sailor; the hyena, which represents the chef; Orange Juice, the orangutan, which represents Pi’s mother; and the Royal Bengal tiger, Richard Parker, which represents Pi himself.
Life of Pi: An Innocent Boy’s Awakening Throughout the story of Life of Pi, the main protagonist, Pi, goes from an innocent little teenager to a well-disciplined and highly respectable individual. Pi’s sidekick for most of the story is Richard Parker, a Bengal Tiger who tags along with Pi for most of the story’s duration. In addition, the main theme responsible for Pi’s great character development remains the Loss of Innocence, as Pi adapts to the true, harsh world. From experiencing thunderstorms adrift in the sea to coexisting with a tiger on a lifeboat, Pi is involved in incidents that completely alter his initially innocent character.
The Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel, is the story of a young man, Piscine, or Pi for short, who experiences unbelievable and unrealistic events, which are so unrealistic ambiguity is aroused amongst the reader. Duality reoccurs over the course of the novel through every aspect of Pi’s world view and is particularly seen in the two contradictory stories, which displays the brutal nature of the world. Martel wonderfully crafts and image of duality and skepticism though each story incorporated in this novel.