YANN MARTEL

LIFE OF PI
Summarize the novel in a few lines.
The novel has three parts. In the first part the reader learns that Pi was named after a swimming pool in France, Piscine Molitor Patel, and changed his names when he was in the secondary school. His father was a zoo keeper so his family decide to move to Canada. The second part focuses on Pis attempts to survive, as their boat sinks. Only him and a tiger, a hyena, a zebra and an orangutan remain on the boat. Pi manages to survive and his boat reaches the coast of Mexico. In the third part, Pi tells his story to other people. When he tells them that the tiger eats the hyena, the hyena ate the zebra and the orangutan, people dont believe him. Pi changes then the characters, and replaces them with humans. Now, everything seems more logical.

Talk about Pis name and explain its relation to the swimming pool.
Pi was named by Francis Adirubasamy, a family friend, after a famous pool in France, Paris. Traditionally, water is the symbol of fertility, purity, the essential element of life. Pi learns to swim when he is allowed to, and this provides him with skills that help him survive. Also, Pi represents the idea of irrationality in the field of mathematics. Throughout the novel, Pi is portrayed as a religious child. Believing in religious ideals is somewhat irrational, due to the lack of evidence. Related to religion, Pi behaves irrational when resorting to cannibalism.

Discuss the issue of religion in the novel.

Pi is portrayed in the book as a religious child. He was born into the Hindu faith, confessing I became loyal to these sense impressions even before I knew what they meant or what they were for. Thus, he was born in this condition. Regarding religions, Pi finds similarities between them, rather than differences. He is quite attracted to Christianity, and finds the stories very troubling, because in Pis mind, gods should be more like superheroes. Pi finds compelling the personal and loving relationship with God, regarding Islam. Thus, for Pi, religion encompasses a series of stories, and it is important who has the better story.

Talk about the issue of animals in the book.

According to Pis father, the most dangerous animal is anthropomorphicus, the animal seen through human eyes. In order to teach Pi this lesson, Pis father makes him watch as he feeds the goat to the tiger. This knowledge of zoology prepare him for the ocean trip. The journey is an attempt of survival.

Narrative perspective in the novel.

Life of Pi is a story within a story. Pi narrates the story but he is interviewed by an unnamed author. The issue of narration becomes even more important at the end of the novel when the reader is introduced to a third narrative voice, the transcript of Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chibas interview with Pi in the hospital. The fact that we hear two we hear two distinctly different accounts of Pis experiencesneither of them from Pi directlyemphasizes Martels theme of the relative nature of truth.

Discuss a main theme in the book.

A very important theme in the novel is the struggle to live. Life of Pi is a story about fighting to live. Pi abandons vegetarianism to avoid starving to death. The novel also illustrates the way animals try to survive. 2

The author suggests the savagery people resort to in order to stay alive. At the end of the novel, Pi himself confesses the possibility the tiger represents an aspect of his own personality.

Who is Richard Parker?

Richard Parker is the tiger. The author used as a source, Edgar Ellen Poes The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, where Richard Parker is the cabin boy who gets eaten by drawing the shortest straw. Richard Parker represents Pis basic instincts. While on the boat, Pi behaves in ways that are not normal. He must kill fish and birds and drink their blood to stay alive, although being a vegetarian. As time passes, he becomes more savage, stuffing food in his mouth like Richard Parker. In the second story Pi tells the Japanese investigators he is Richard Parker and kills his mothers murderer. Richard Parker is the version of himself that Pi has invented to make his story more acceptable to both himself and his audience. The brutality of his mothers death and his own shocking act of revenge are too much for Pi to deal with, and he finds it easier to imagine a tiger, rather than himself, as the killer and eater of human flesh.

What is the main purpose of Authors Note from the beginning of the book?
The author depicts the origins of the book and delineates a clear line between real and fiction. Yann Martel questions truth, which according to him is relative. To express this, the author uses multiple narrative perspectives. Also, the author uses his novel as a plea for discussing topics like religion and politics. Yann Martel discusses the issue of story telling, as a way of telling the uninteresting truth. The fact that the author calls the story a nonfiction one, involves even more the reader into the story.

Name the main characters in the book and speak briefly about them.
Piscine Pi Molitor Patel is the narrator and main character of the story. At the age of 16 while emigrating from India with his family, he is the sole survivor of a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean. Richard Parker is 450 pound Royal Bengal Tiger who is stranded on a lifeboat with Pi. In order to survive, Pi must coexist with Richard Parker. The Author, an unidentified narrative voice, begins the novel in the Authors Note, explaining the circumstances by which he came to hear the story of Pi. For a while his impressions of Pi are intermingled with Pis account. Francis Adirubasamy suggests the name of Piscine Molitor for the newborn Pi and teaches him to swim. He is the one who approaches the author in Pondicherry and promises to tell a story that will make [him] believe in God. The firs Mr. Kumar is Pis biology teacher, an atheist and a rationalist. It is through him that Pi comes to respect atheists as the brothers of people of faith. The second Mr. Kumar is the Muslim baker who introduces Pi to Islam. He is the religious/faithful balance to the atheist and rational Mr. Kumar. Both Mr. Kumars meet at the zoo and find the zebra a remarkable creature.

Discuss a symbol in the book.

Pi is, first of all, a mathematic symbol. It expresses irrationality, and to irrationality Pi resorts to when trying to stay alive. The author suggests that savagery comes out from people when struggling for their life. Also, pi is a Greek symbol, containing both alpha and omega., denoting dominant characters.