The relationship between the two are special. Why and how did it come about?
What’s even more interesting is that Pi even admits his love for Richard Parker, Richard Parker the Royal Bengal tiger, the source of Pi’s fear and his greatest obstacle in surviving - Helen
What is Richard Parker to Pi? Hope, source of fear, companion, etc.?
“[fear] is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life.” (Life of Pi, ch. 56, p. 203)
Without Richard Parker, it seems, Pi would not be able to survive. -Helen
Pi’s courage to stand up against Richard Parker was also driven by his fear. - Thuyen
Surviving
A 16 y.o. Indian boy survives on the Pacific Ocean for seven months. What would you do in his situations? Is it possible?
I think more than anything we would all hang onto the past, especially when you aren’t sure of (or whether) you will have a future. - Katherine
Its hard to imagine myself killing and eating a turtle, any turtle, for that matter, but as I have argued desperate times call for necessary and desperate measures. - Jose
Cruelty
“snarling and the zebra barking and squealing, and he heard a repeated knocking sound. He shook with fright and… relieved himself in his pants.”
"I whiled away many a pleasant hour gnawing at a flipper joint of splitting open bones and licking out their marrow" (Martel 268-9)
When he watches the hyena devour the zebra, he is stunned by the brutal act: “Shock, revulsion and anger surged through me. I felt intense hatred for the hyena” (120). - Jade
Many people noted the cruelty in the second part of the novel. What was your response to it?
Reading about the gruesome and violent death of the zebra on Pi's lifeboat was hard to imagine, not only because of the hyena's act itself but because of the majestic beauty and theoretical harmlessness inherent in any zebra. - Spin
Faith
As a result of his pain and suffering, Pi comes to question his faith. - Helen
I find truth in the promise of the book; this indeed is a story that will make you believe in God. - Sharad
The lesson I'm getting so far from Life of Pi has a lot to do with faith. Not just religious faith, but faith in tomorrow. - Lauren
Changes in Pi
I also got the sense during this class’ reading about how things change and how they don’t at the same time - Katherine
How does Pi change?
“I didn’t have pity to spare for long for the zebra. When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival” (120)
He realizes that an animals or human’s traits can change radically when provoked - Jade
he must change his habits and let his animalistic instincts take over - Jade
While a deeply religious and compassionate individual, pushed to survival Pi will do just about anything. - Jose
If that fort is dismantled and our lives are at stake, there is no telling the extent that we will go and the evil we will do in the name of survival. - Thuyen
One of the more obvious indications of Pi’s personal transformation is his change in diet - Chris
In what ways is he the same?
Suffice it to say, I was thoroughly humbled and stunned by Pi’s bravery and selflessness in these scenes and in this whole book - Spin
Pi's humor lends the novel to a real entertaining adventure, rather than a desperate and depressing account of a survivor slowly descending into madness. - Jose
While Pi’s logical and emotional senses are well intact, he must make important personal choices that cause him a lot of distress. -Chris
Can you believe the story?
