Life of Pi
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Life of Pi is a novel by Canadian author Yann Martel. The protagonist Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, an Indian boy from Pondicherry, explores the issues of religion and spirituality from an early age and survives days shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean.
A 2012 adaptation directed by Ang Lee and based on an adapted screenplay by David Magee was given a wide release in the United States in 2012.
Plot summary
The book has three parts. The first section is an adult Pi Patel’s rumination over his childhood. The main character, Piscine Patel (aka "Pi") talks about his life living as the son of a zookeeper, and speaks at length about animal behaviour, while also speaking about his religion - Pi practices Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, having seen merits in all three religions. He says "I just want to love God."
The second part is a blend of a detailed and realistic survival memoir and a fantastic allegory in a medieval style. Pi’s father decides to sell the zoo and relocate the family to Canada due to politics within India. In the midst of the journey across the ocean, the cargo ship on which the family has found passage sinks. Pi manages to find refuge on a lifeboat, though not alone. He shares the limited space with a female orangutan named Orange Juice, a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, and a Royal Bengal Tiger by the name of Richard Parker. At first Pi believes that Richard Parker has abandoned the boat, and focuses on surviving the hyena. It is not long before the hyena begins to feed on the zebra. After the zebra's death, the hyena kills the orangutan, prompting Pi to approach it, lest he be next. It is then that he notices that Richard Parker has been resting under a tarpaulin and has been aboard the lifeboat the entire time.
The tiger kills and eats the hyena, but does not immediately attack Pi. The young man manages to construct a raft using supplies aboard the boat, and avoids direct confrontation with Richard Parker by keeping out of the tiger's territory on the deck of the boat. Pi eventually marks his own territory by using his knowledge of zoology thus taming Richard Parker. Pi reasons that while Richard Parker is healthy, he poses less of a threat - an injured beast being more dangerous. Therefore keeping the tiger alive becomes his primary focus. Pi's focus day to day is redirected towards day to day survival. He catches fish and turtles, and uses solar stills to obtain drinkable water. At one point, due to poor diet, nutrition, and weakness, Pi goes temporarily blind, and during this state meets another castaway on a boat travelling parallel with his own. The other man has a French language accent, and after a period of amicable conversation he boards Pi's boat with a view to murder him. As soon as he boards, however, he is killed and devoured by Richard Parker. Soon after the duo wash ashore upon a strange wooded island, populated by meerkats, and containing pools of fresh water. After some time, Pi finds a strange tree on the island, and upon examining the fruit, finds human teeth. He realizes that the island is carnivorous, and he and Richard Parker must leave the island immediately.
The lifeboat finally washes up on the beach in Mexico at which point Richard Parker bounds off into the jungle never to be seen again. Here begins the third part. When Pi is rescued and taken to a hospital two men representing the Japanese Ministry of Transport quiz him on his remarkable story. They are dissatisfied with his story, so Pi offers an alternative explanation. He was on board the lifeboat with three other people: the ship's French chef, Pi's mother, and a wounded sailor. The barbaric chef first kills and eats the sailor, then brutally kills his mother. Upon seeing this, Pi kills and eats the chef. Pi asks the men from the shipping company which story they prefer. The novel ends with the report to the Japanese government, in which the two men have told the first story. The last part also offers the reader a choice to actually choose the story version they prefer. Martel shows two ways of looking at the same reality and requires a leap of faith to choose the "better" story.
