Upon Completion

        I believe Pi’s story. I believe that he was stranded on a raft with four wild animals including a zebra, hyena, orang-utan, and Tiger. I believe he tamed a Tiger and visited an algae island that turned acidic at night. I think if I was to have been told the second story first and then his story, I would have believed the second because it is something that seems more real. The second story never changed the strength of my opinion on the first one but rather irritated me that Pi would make up a new story just to please the investigators. If someone didn’t believe my story after everything I had been through at sea, I would say ‘I guess your gunna have to believe because that is the true story.’ Since the first story was so long and had so much detail that I felt like I was there with him sometimes experiencing it all, the second story actually just felt like a story he made up on the spot that only shared character similarities. So in the end Pi’s story was what I believed and the second story had no affect on my opinion on what was really the true story. 

'Other Self"

       When I think of my ‘other self,’ I think of something that would represent the complete opposite of who I am. I decided that the perfect match for my other self was indeed a three-toed sloth. These animals spend up to eighteen hours of sleep everyday! I’ve sometimes wished I could be one of those people who just go home, do nothing and sleep or watch TV. (That’s my lazy side talking) But I’m not like that. I actually rarely just watch TV and I don’t think I’ve ever taken the bus straight home after school and walked into my house seeing the time as only 3:00pm. But instead I choose to work out or be on a team that leaves me walking in the door having to read the clock as 5:00pm. Also a sloth is quite dirty. In fact a green algae grows on its coarse hair and communities of a parasiticmoth live in the depths of its coat producing caterpillars which graze on the alga-covered hair. This is defiantly the opposite of me. Ya of course you have the days where you may not shower (example camping for a week) but I can say that I like to be clean and not look like a grease ball. Also the first thing that some people in the class said would best describe my other self is a cheetah because of its speed. I may have speed but I needed to find an animal that suits the complete opposite of me and since a sloth’s muscles are such that it is quite incapable of moving at any speed whatsoever. This is the speed of my other self. Finally the first characteristic I learned about a sloth was from the book Life of Pi in which it was said that a sloth is almost blind. This was the one characteristic that brought me first to the sloth. Although a sloths sight is retrospect to mine, I think your other self should share one thing in common. So the fact that we both can probably not see whose waving at us from 10 metres ahead (maybe even 6 metres, have yet to find out since I constantly where my contacts)  makes me laugh that this is the one similarity we share because it’s so true. Overall I think the Sloth is the perfect representation of my ‘other self.’

Life of Pi - Chapters 97 - 100

        At the end of Life of Pi, the Japanese investors clearly don’t believe Pi’s story - even while he was telling the story they were contemplating almost everything he said. Like how the orang-utan was floating towards the boat on bananas, or how he managed to survive the entire 227 day journey with a live Tiger on board. This is why Pi changes his story when they ask for the ‘better story.’ Pi told another story because he wanted to show the difference between a regular story and what they call the better story. People only believe the dull boring story’s with no animals, just a regular survival story; that’s what they wanted to hear. So Pi changed it so there were no animals, the algae island was never visited yet he still had the story irregular and more interesting than a regular story. This story didn't please the investigators. When they heard the truth (the ‘real story’) it was so disturbing that they fled back to the first story, despite its flaws. It's less believable but more comforting and that's what they prefer; that’s what people prefer. So in the end the investigators ask for a better story but end up believing in the first story told because this was a more pleasing story and was something they’d rather believe happen compared to the gruesomeness of the second story. 

Life of Pi - Chapters 92 - 93

       The algae island Pi comes across has great similarities to the Garden of Eden. The island comes across as sort of magical and non believable at first. When Pi was at a state where his body needed water and food or else he was going to lose all strength and die, is when his raft came upon this island. It had an ongoing supply of both sweet algae and fresh water, so Pi and Richard Parker could eat and drink as much food and water as they needed without having to converse it for the days to come. Along with the algae that Pi ate, the island had thousands of meerkats that Richard Parker acquired to. They both lived on the island for a longer time and soon gained all their strength back that they had lost from being at sea. Pi one day discovered something that changed his mind about the precious island; he discovered a fruit in the tree that turned out to be human teeth wrapped tightly in a ball of leaves. Along with this devastating discovery he found that the ground turned deathly acidic at night. Pi now wanted to leave. He didn’t want to die in a place that was unknown where no one had ever discovered; he wanted to exist and not be left ever unknown to the world. This island is very similar to the Garden of Eden. Like the island, the garden has a plentiful supply of food, and both can be eaten from as much as desired, excluding the exception of the tree of knowledge. The downfall to both the island and the garden is that they both have an evil aspect to them.  At night, the island goes acidic, and in the garden, the serpent came in the form of evil persuading Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. In both situations the beings never return. God forbids Adam and Eve from returning to the Garden of Eden and Pi decides to leave the island as is it also a sign of evil.

Life of Pi - Chapters 90 - 91

        At this point in the story Pi and Richard Parker go blind. This is due to malnutrition and other medical problems but that is not the true meaning as to why they went blind. Pi first hears a voice which then starts speaking to him. Pi responds with what is on his mind- food.  The voice speaks of beef and brains and all sorts of food that Pi finds distasteful. From here Pi assumes he is hearing the voice of Richard Parker. The reason why I think Pi concludes that this is Richard Parker who he is talking to his because the voice seems like a meat eating being like he has become. Pi asks the voice if he has ever killed anyone, and the voice says yes, a man and a woman. I think the reason for his blindness and his encounter with ‘another blind boy’ is a way that he will find his existentialism. This other being is someone Pi never wants to become, so by meeting this boy, Pi can compare himself to him and can see a side of him that he doesn’t want to ever release. The voice belongs to a castaway like Pi, and they join their boats together. The man climbs aboard Pi’s boat and tries to strangle and cannibalize him. But when he steps down onto the floor of the boat, Richard Parker kills him. Pi cries for the dead man which relives some of his blindness. He then rinses his eyes with seawater and his vision comes back. Yann Martel included this is the story because he wanted this to be a major stepping stone to Pi’s realization of his meaning in life. After meeting this man Pi knew he never wanted to become like him, and this imagination was exactly the opposite of who Pi was. Pi never wanted to kill a person, or eat like a savage. So being blind just symbolized that Pi still had no sight or vision as to what his meaning was. But once the hallucination had disappeared, Pi’s eyes opened and his vision slowly healed. Pi now knew what his meaning was in life (his existentialism). 

Life of Pi - Chapters 85 - 89

       Throughout Life of Pi, god’s looks to have been keeping Pi alive with natural phenomena. One of the first examples is when Pi is in need of food and struggles to catch fish but soon god gives him a gift of the thousands of flying fish. Another example is when Pi and Richard Parker are on the verge of dying, their strength is so weak they can barely function, but soon God leads them to the algae island which later regains their strength and hope. But if God has been keeping Pi alive with all these natural phenomena’s, it is questioned as to why did God had the tanker miss him. To me the only reason I could think of has a far greater meaning than just being rescued, but is more so about existentialism. Pi hasn’t found is meaning in life and the purpose of why his is in this world. Yes, Pi has gone through many things that he never would have imagined while being stranded in the Pacific Ocean and has made decisions over and over again that are just a part of his life now, but he has not truly found his purpose. This is why God chose for the tanker to miss Pi; his time wasn’t done and he had still not found the meaning to his life. Everything in life happens for a reason, Pi’s incident happened so that he could find the reasons behind his existence.     

Life of Pi - Chapters 62 - 65

          

            Pi develops a daily routine on the raft that consists of praying. Pi needs this to be a part of his life while stranded at sea. First because the constant practice of religion and praying was always a part of Pi’s life even before the sinking of the ship and should therefore still remain that way – now more than ever. This is what will give him security. He has something that can still be a part of his life even if stranded on a raft will little to nothing. Second, since praying is a wish or hope for a particular outcome or situation; it gives Pi a grip on hope/faith. He won’t lose faith or hope in his will to live if he continues to pray.  Praying is what stimulates Pi’s mind. 

            The question of whether Pi has become part of nature or is an observer of nature can easily be answered. It’s not that he has become part of nature or an observer of it, Pi has changed his own nature to adapt to this new environment. Yes Pi now contains many different kinds of behaviours he never had before, but only for the reason that he needs to survive. He starts to kill fish with his bare hands, break the necks of flying fish, and even drink the blood from turtles. These are the tasks that are needed for him to survive. If Pi’s character (nature) had not changed, he would not be alive to tell his story.  For example Pi’s original nature would not be to urinate on his territory because humans just don’t do that. But at his state now, being with wild life on a raft all alone, he must change his nature to adapt to the behaviour of his wild companion to keep him relatively safe.  Pi is flexible, versatile, and resourceful. Even without his objects, he holds onto his religious traditions, adapting them and integrating them into his daily routine. Though he is a strict vegetarian, he soon finds himself drinking turtle blood, skinning birds, and eating eyes and brains. It is easy for him to slip into a routine—he becomes a creature of a new habit. Pi really, just becomes a new person. This doesn't just go for Pi but anyone in the world - a person can never become part of nature, more so change their own nature in ways that allows them to adapt to any situation they may be in. Overall the answer to this is no. Pi has not become a part of nature nor is he an observer of it; he has just adapted his own nature to his foreign surroundings. 

Life of Pi - Chapters 58 - 61

Natural Wonders

        Martel includes the natural wonders of the flying fish that Pi encounters when he is in a time of need because he wants to show that by regaining hope you will in some form of way be rewarded.  In these chapters Pi realizes that it is himself who is going to be the one to save him because he knows he can’t rely on a ship to come by and rescue him. But the point in these chapters where he regains hope/faith is when he remembers the story of Markandeya. This Hindu story gives in hope and he is then rewarded with the flying fish. Pi could have been rewarded with these fish because his first attempt at fishing is a decided failure; the hook and bait he puts together don’t quite do the trick. So whether you think this encounter is seen through a theological point of view or an agnostic point of view; it depends on your beliefs. This could be an attempt from Martel to make a theological point that yes, god is there looking over you. God sees that Pi is struggling and decides to give him a gift to help him on his way. Or Martel could be giving evidence for agnostics; a fluke of nature—the sudden appearance of a school of flying fish—results in his first catch. Since there is no evidence of god, this encounter with such natural wonders could be a ‘fluke of nature’ which at the time coincidently benefits Pi perfectly.

Life of Pi - Chapters 37 - 45

                Right from the beginning of the book until Richard Parker’s true identity is actually said to be a tiger, I thought he was a human. This is because of the way Pi speaks about him while he’s telling his story. For example, early in his conversation Pi talks about how he loves Canada and misses India and that he misses someone named Richard Parker. Pi never said he misses Richard Parker ‘the tiger’, but makes it seem like he’s talking about a person whom he misses. The name of the tiger itself is too humanlike to be thought of as an animal. ‘Richard Parker’ doesn’t come across to me as an animal’s name; it sounds like a boy’s name. Also at some point the author comments on Pi’s state of mind, saying that after several years Richard Parker still preys on his mind.  Again, what Richard Parker truly is, is not even mentioned. I don’t think anyone unless they were told by other people who have read the story, would ever know that ‘Richard Parker’ is in fact a tiger. I think this personification of Richard Parker significantly affected Pi’s story. Since the impression of Richard Parker is that he played a huge role in keeping Pi sane and alive and that Pi would not have survived without him, and so if Pi were to have made this impression on everyone but instead revealing that Richard Parker was a tiger, I don’t think it would have had a great as an affect. This is because a lot of people don’t see animals in being able to have an effect on a person like that, especially a tiger. How could a tiger have kept you sane? How could a tiger have made it possible for you to survive? So by personifying who Richard Parker is, it can make it easier for the readers to see the strong connection between Pi and Richard Parker by first assuming that he was a person not a tiger.

            Pi being someone so faithful proceeds in his speech about losing everything and being ‘in hell’ because his life has drastically changed. He went from being on the ship waking up to his family every morning to being stranded all alone on a raft with no security of his family life and death all around him. This is something Pi may see as ‘hell.’ Although he is someone who believes in faith, with the brutal conditions he is in, even a person like himself would compare it to hell. He is alone with no sign of civilization, a zebra is being eaten alive right in front of him, and he constantly has to worry about his life with a Begel Tiger being onboard. This to anyone is hell. By Martel having Pi alone, theologically he is trying to show that now Pi is in a situation that will really reveal how god will help you. Pi has studied and practiced all these religions and has faith in all their gods so now Pi and the reader will see the nature of god and the religious truth. The relationship between the Hyena and Orange Juice can compare to the relationships between religions. Since there are no natural conditions in which a hyena and an orang-utan can meet, there is no way of knowing how they would relate. This is the same for religions. Each religion is so different from one another and there is no way that either one could come in contact with each other, that if for some rare moment they did, there would also be no way of knowing how they would relate. Like a hyena and an orang-utan, the religions are completely different creatures/beliefs and so unless there is a time where they can meet, there is no way of knowing how they could possibly relate with such differences.