Hello
everyone, and welcome back to my blog! There has been a slight change of plans;
we are now reading the book Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I am currently
about ¼ through the book, and it is truly interesting.
Something
interesting that I have seen so far is that the book’s main perspective is Pi’s
(I love how he got that nickname), but there is also another perspective that
comes into view every few chapters or so. As I read those chapters, I saw that
the perspective belonged to a man who is first meeting Pi, but a much older
version of himself. He describes the setting that he meets him in: a house full
of different religious books, symbols, and shrines. He also notes his
personality, talents, and history (as far as he can tell).
Moving
back to Pi’s perspective, his background of growing up in a zoo make for a good
sort of “hook” for the reader to get caught onto. Childlike wonder plus a zoo
can never go wrong. However, some of the statements that he makes involving
zoos, rights, and free will, I somewhat don’t agree with; one of them is when
he says that living in a zoo is luxury for the animals rather that being in the
wild. His defense for this is that the animals have everything the need in a
zoo, and that in the wild it is always by chance and risk that animals find the
next thing the need. I say that it is true that the animals get everything they
need in a zoo, but some animals are specifically designed to live better in the
wild. A wolf in the wild would know how to hunt in using it’s smell and agility
to its full power, rather, a wolf in the zoo would just know when feeding time
is.
The
thing in the book that I am the most intrigued about is Pi’s conversion to Christianity.
Pi was confused as to why a god would send his son to be rejected, trampled on,
and murdered, but his thought process shows the beauty of what Christianity is
about: Christ’s love for us. He finally sees Christ’s love in His sacrifice.
However, after accepting Christ, he says, “thanks to Lord Krishna for having
put Jesus of Nazareth, who’s humanity I found so compelling, in my way”. This
shows that he is still devoted to being a Hindu, even after accepting Christ
(not to mention that later he becomes a Muslim). In Pi’s quest to find the
truth, after accepting Christ why does he still hold on to Hinduism and later
hold on to Islam? Does this mean that he actually doesn’t have faith in Christ?
Hey Sawyer!
ReplyDeleteLet’s talk about the Life of Pi. I too enjoy the book so far, and I like you said, it is really interesting. I do like that Pi talks directly to the readers/ audience, and his life with the animals is very interesting. I personally like the love and care that Pi’s father puts towards the animals. I am confused however, about why Pi’s father took Pi and Ravi around the zoo and reemphasized that all the animals (save the guinea pigs), were terrible, bloodthirsty creatures. He was also worried that Pi would stick his hand in the tiger’s cage. Pi has lived in a zoo his entire life. I think he would understand the strength of the animals around him.
Now about Pi’s religious situation. You had asked whether or not Pi actually has faith in Christ. I personally think about how Pi tells his parents and religious teachers that, “I just want to love God”. I think that Pi’s quest to love God is genuine, but the way that he goes about doing it is wrong. Loving God is one of the few things that Hinduism, Islam, Christianity all have in common. I would say that Pi loves God, but not really Christ. Also, Pi ends up worshipping many idols while trying to worship all three religions, and in the process breaks rules of the other religions. Christianity says have no idols, while Hinduism has multiple gods.
I also have some questions about this book. I’m trying to figure out who exactly is the perspective in italicized chapters. I at first thought it was Pi, but when a chapter arises that talks about Pi introducing his wife and daughter, I get confused about who is meeting his family. Do you have any idea of who this might be? Another question is how all the animals made it out of there cages and into the lifeboat? And I find it interesting that the animals lived as long as they did together, the hyena, orangutan, tiger, zebra and man. I thought they would all be dead in a day. I hope this answers your questions, and maybe you can add some insight to mine! Thanks!
-Graham
Hello Graham!
ReplyDeleteThank you for following up on my blog question. It makes sense that in Pi’s quest to find God, he is finding the wrong ways to do it (using Hinduism and Islam). Hopefully he will figure out that Christianity is the right path; as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”.
The perspective of the italicized chapters is a journalist (if I remember correctly from the movie) I believe he is either writing a news article or a full-on book. It is interesting to see that at the beginning of the book, his perspective is a lot more common, but once Pi is stranded on the boat with Richard Parker, his perspective is not seen (yet). It could be that Pi is explaining his story to the journalist during this time.
As for the animals being set free, they must have been set free in order to have a better chance of surviving the shipwreck. The animals that made it on the lifeboat had a few good reasons why they didn’t all kill each other in the first twenty-four hours of their experience. The hyena didn’t kill the zebra right away because Richard Parker was the superior animal, and the hyena respected that the zebra might be Richard Parker’s kill. The hyena didn’t kill Orange Juice right away because a) an orangutan and hyena do not live in the same place, b) Orange Juice set up dominance early on between the hyena in a screaming match.
What I think is interesting is that Pi quickly learns to adapt to his situation once something runs out. Slowly, he goes from relying on the man-made products to almost solely nature for his food, tools, etc. In fact, he goes from being a vegetarian to devouring ocean life on sight. Pi gets so good at hunting that he says, “I hunted far beyond the needs of my hunger or my capacity to cure; there simply wasn’t enough space on the lifeboat”. But what could the next extreme be for Pi to overcome and adapt to? Or even could there be another worse extreme that he would need to conquer?
Thanks,
-Sawyer
Sawyer,
ReplyDeleteI see your reasoning on your answer to my questions, and thanks for taking time to answer them. Now about your questions as you continue through the book. Pi is able to adapt well to what’s around him, and it is impressive how all his years of being a vegetarian could be unfolded when it became necessary for him to survive. He definitely has his share of physical challenges in his new life on the lifeboat. What I personally think is Pi’s main obstacle is trying not to lose his sanity and reason while at sea with a tiger. He has to constantly work to keep himself from becoming bored during the day. Chapter 63 simply goes over what Pi has to do to stay alive, but to also keep his sanity. He also takes to “training” Richard Parker (I love the story of his name!). These activities kept his mind sharp. But he also had to begin to see his days differently. Pi explains, “I survived because I made a point of forgetting” (191). Pi only knows how long he was at sea, but he does not keep track of days and weeks and months at all. I think keeping track would have made him go insane. Ultimately, one of Pi’s largest challenges is not a physical game, but a mental one. He needs to stay sane to stay alive, or else he would have no chance of surviving.
I have come across some more questions that I was wondering you could help answer. Pi eventually goes blind from the many stressful exhaustive hours on the sea. But as he is blind, he ends up meeting and having a conversation with a voice about food. Pi finally says that this conversation is with Richard Parker himself? They talk about food and boots and tell each other stories about food. I would say that this is just Pi experiencing the effects of the sun and sea, but he explains that the person he is talking to has a boat of his own and when he boarded Pi’s boat, he was eaten by Richard Parker, of which evidence showed that someone was actually there. Was this all Pi’s imagination, or did he actually meet another stranded person at sea, who he called Richard Parker, and who was killed by the tiger Richard Parker? This is confusing to me?
Thanks
-Graham
Hi Graham,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your interesting input on my question. It definitely makes sense that Pi’s new front of survival is in his head; as it is said in cross country, “it is 90% mental, 10% physical”. The mental state of a person plays an important role in decision making and work ethic.
As for your question about the mysterious man in the other lifeboat, he was definitely not an illusion of insanity. Once Pi is able to recover his sight, he sees the dead, half eaten carcass of the man. Pi even resorts to using the man as a resource: “I will confess that I caught one of his arms… and used his flesh as bait. I will further confess that… I ate some of his flesh”. Because Pi can remember exactly how he used the man’s body, his experience must not have been an illusion. A question I have about this section is why on earth doesn’t Pi save the other man’s lifeboat and provisions for his own? When he reaches the green island, there is nothing that says that the other lifeboat was with him. Also, the appearance of the stranger seems strangely abrupt in the plot.
Currently, I am halfway through the chapter about how Pi has reached the strange, green island. His recovery, once making it to the island, is interesting to see. He must completely relearn how to walk properly, since he is so used to having sea-legs and being malnourished. Once he learns how to walk, he is able to explore the island, which raises the question of how all of the meerkats got there. Did another ship shipping meerkats get sunk near the island, or were the meerkats dropped off there intentionally? The second question I have is why there isn’t any other plants that are like what the island appears to be? Wouldn’t there be similar cases of this plant in other places of the world? Of course, I do realize that this plant is fictional, but I still wonder what kind of plant the author modeled the island after.
Finally, my last question is this: Why on earth did the oil tanker come in at such a weird time in the book (it seemed to me like it threw off the plot), and how could it have not seen Pi at all?
Thanks,
-Sawyer
Sawyer,
ReplyDeleteNow we’re getting deeper into the book. Remembering the evidence of the body and how Pi uses it does add to the case that it actually did happen. I think Pi left the materials and the other boat because they were not a necessity to him. All that the man had was a little turtle meat, a dorado head, biscuit crumbs, and water, which he says that he ate all of it. He and Richard Parker could stand each other at this point, so the need for another boat wasn’t there. As for the meerkats, I’m not entirely sure how they got to the island. Your ideas could easily be true about how they got there, whether a sunken ship or brought on purpose. As for the island plant, it just says that it is some type of algae that is edible and makes up the entire island. Now on to the oil tanker that almost destroys Pi and Richard Parker. Remember how Pi said that all the days and weeks and months flew by and how he didn’t keep track of it? I think that the oil tanker could have happened in anywhere between a couple hundred days. Why Pi put this into his story right at that moment in the plot could be him remembering an event from earlier. He was out there for so long, it could have been the most exciting thing for him in five weeks. It also didn’t see him because Pi’s flare missed, and the ship was too big to see anything that small.
Only answer this part after you’ve read the chapters on the island. Here are my questions. How in the world is the island acidic enough to destroy human flesh and bone!? That would have to be one of the most acidic materials on earth! Maybe it’s just in the realm of fiction, but how would this island work? It floats around, and is carnivorous at night. The island itself baffles me. Anyway, I’m glad Pi and RP make it off safely. Also, why didn’t Richard Parker at least acknowledge that they were saying goodbye? Maybe it’s just how life with animals really work. You help them in their lives, and they don’t do anything back. Thoughts?
Hi Graham,
ReplyDeleteI finished the book! I definitely thought that the ending was interesting. It is never revealed as to how the ship is sunken, which leaves it up to the interpretation of the reader. The representatives from the boat company do their best to draw a conclusion as to how the ship is sunken, saying the “cause was perhaps internal to ship. Survivor believes he heard an explosion”. This possible theory makes sense because the engine could have experienced a massive mechanical failure since it was an older ship. There was a less likely theory that the ship could have been hit by an underwater mine, which would raise a few interesting theories. It could have been an old mine from WWII that the Japanese used since must of the fighting between Japan and the USA were fought over the Pacific. If the author had chosen to go with that as the ship-sinker, there would have been such a great background story.
To answer your question about the island, I think that it is entirely possible (fictionally) that it could have been carnivorous and could have used its acidity to kill prey. The pitcher plant slowly digests its prey so it can absorb it’s nutrients, and there are many other plants that release acids if touched or snapped. As for your question about Richard Parker leaving Pi on the seashore, I think that is almost perfectly normal for any animal to do. A dog could love his owners, but once off-leash could bolt off into the unknown. The same goes for most outdoor cats. However, I think that Richard Parker still accepts Pi as the alpha even when he leaves, so their relationship isn’t gone completely. Overall, I thought that this book had a mostly good story line but has a skewed lens on the truth of finding God. Pi thinks that there can be multiple ways to God, but Jesus is the only way that truly works.
Sawyer,
ReplyDeleteHere are some of my final thoughts on the book. I pity that Richard Parker and Pi parted ways without a ceremonial/symbolic goodbye. They had been through so much, and Pi was able to stay alive because Richard Parker gave him something to do and kept his mind working. I find it sad that they never saw each other again. I personally would find peace in and ending like the one Pi wanted, and I can tell that Pi doesn’t get peace from their parting.
Now my final thoughts about the Japanese men and their interview with Pi and his story. Their argument interests me. The men continually repeat that they “believe what they see.” Pi makes a good point in the fact that just because we haven’t seen something doesn’t mean that it exists. When the men finally ask Pi for another story, and he gives it to him, I find this new story very sad. But I also think that this is what actually happened to Pi. Although his first story is much more entertaining, I think that Pi shaped what actually happened with his understanding of animals to fit his circumstances on the lifeboat. Just like the men, I can see the connections between each of the stories, and how each animal represented a different person, even though some facts don’t line up between each story. I think that Pi was ultimately seeing himself as Richard Parker and how he had to change from a devout vegetarian and educated boy, to becoming a hunter and meat-eater in order to survive. Pi lived off his own animal instincts in a sense. There is the possibility that Pi tells his story with the animals because he knows people will be more comfortable with it, but also so that he himself will be more comfortable with his own actions and how he survived. Overall, I found this to be a wonderful book, and would recommend it highly to other readers. Thanks for the talks Sawyer.
-Graham
Graham and Sawyer, you have a great conversational structure here, building reliably on each other's observations and questions, and I can see your scientific what-ifs and -comes working away, interesting focus on how Pi's conflicts are mostly mental and what his purpose for telling multiple stories might be. Please remember for futureMOR's that every entry needs at least one quotation and that it's useful to keep pushing toward MOWAW's wherever you see hints of them (here, you do that mostly with the religion questions and a little with the sanity discussion). thanks! Grade on Portals.
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