LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL ~ PRESENTATION SUMMARY

HISTORY OF AUTHOR/ INSPIRATION

 Short Story writer/novelist born in Salamanca, Spain
 Lived in Canada, USA, Costa Rica, France and Mexico
 Studied philosophy at Trent University
 In 2001, Life of Pi won the prestigious Booker Prize and had his novel published in over 30
languages
 Inspired by the Portuguese book, Max and the Cats

PLOT STRUCTURE
 Exposition
o Lives in Pondicherry Zoo in India (owned by his father)
o Pi’s name comes from the famous Parisian pool, Piscine Molitor
o Follows Hinduism, Islam and Christianity
 Rising Action
o Plans to move to Canada, ship sinks along the way. Pi and the tiger are stranded on a life
boat in the middle of the ocean
 Climax and Falling Action
o Pi is temporarily blind and is almost eaten by a Frenchman. Richard parker saves him
o Pi stumbles upon an island of algae
o Initially thought to be a safe haven but then realizes that it becomes acidic at night and
dissolves human flesh
 Resolution
o Arrive at a Mexican coastline. Richard Parker leaves Pi
o Pi tells two version of his story to the Japanese officials. They prefer the one where the
animals in the story are replaced with humans.
SETTING
 Pondicherry, India
o Where Pi lived in his family owned zoo
o Political climate was very bad, caused the zoo to shut down. As a result, Pi and his family
decided to move to Canada
 Ocean & Island of Algae
o Where Pi spent most of his time stranded and his only resource for food and water
o Island that became acidic and killed humans at night

CHARACTERS
 Piscine Molitor Parker
o Believer in god
o Becomes thin from not eating. Eventually gets along with Richard Parker

THEMES
 Religion
o Believes in three different kinds. All of them help him to survive while he is stranded at
sea.
 Survival
o Needs to use his limited resources to survive. Survival becomes more important than
religion
SYMBOLS
 Pi represents the circle of life and to always face the challenges one may encounter
 LIFE OF PI BY YANN MARTEL ~ PRESENTATION SUMMARY

 Water represents life. It is needed to survive but also has the ability to kill
 The colour orange is a symbol for hope and survival

CITATIONS

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yann-Martel

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/yann-martel

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lifeofpi/symbols/

https://www.gradesaver.com/life-of-pi/study-guide/themes

http://pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/monkeynotes/pmLifeOfPi03.asp