Life of Pi begins in an unusual manner in an Author’s Note that explains his relentless craving for inspiration and the travels he took in search of finding new ideas to write about. It is in these travels that he meets a man named Francis Adirubasamy who offers to tell him a story that will, “…make you believe in God.” After some skepticism the author decides to listen to the story and it is explained that the story itself will not be told through the eyes of the author or Francis, but through those of Pi Patel.
Pi’s life growing up is very different than other teenagers. He, like our author, has a tremendous craving for knowledge and educational opportunities that is satisfied by his mother’s large collection of literature and his extensive school curriculum and connection with his teachers. His family runs a zoo so he is provided with a staggering amount of intelligence and appreciation for all types of animals, most notably the Bengal tiger.
One of the most crucial themes depicted throughout the novel is the reality and brutality of the food chain and what life is like outside the comforts of your town, village, or even cage at the zoo. We are constantly presented instances in which true animal instinct takes over, and how creatures are willing to do just about anything to survive. We are first presented with this idea on the zoo when Pi’s father releases a live goat into the domain of a hungry Bengal tiger. The true danger of what wild animals are willing to do to survive is clearly observable in great detail. While this is the first instance in which we view the reality of the real world, the most powerful occurrence of this theme is after Pi’s family’s ship of zoo animals has sunk and Pi finds himself on a boat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan, and a tiger. As hunger lingers the true survival instinct of the animals takes over and the food chain begins to transpire. The hyena consumed both the wounded zebra and the orangutan. Shortly after, Richard Parker, the name given to the Bengal tiger, eats the hyena. Pi quickly realizes that because it is only he and the king of the food chain left on the boat he must establish himself as the dominant beast in order to survive. Pi must act carefully and intelligently as he needs to establish dominance without doing anything so rash that the tiger just decides to maul him there and then. It is appropriate to call the relationship that transpired a master-animal bond. This almost friendship helped them work together to survive on a boat in the middle of the ocean, catch fish, and ends up saving Pi’s life from a potential attack form another stranded human.
There is no doubt that the bond formed between Pi and Richard Parker saved both their lives as they found a way to live and operate together as opposed to selfishly overcoming their own personal setbacks. Animal instincts are a huge part of both people and beasts, and while it is necessary a lot of the time, the ability to control the intensity and irrationality of it, in the case of Pi and Richard Parker, can end up being a life saver for you and others. (555)
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Cole--I like what you say about the food chain and Pi's need to make himself the alpha male of the life boat. Hunger, intelligence, survival, and natural instincts make that section of the novel both very entertaining and even realistic, even though it seems like a rather far-fetched premise at first.
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