Choose from ONE of the following questions and write a formulated response:
-Due Friday, October 2nd by Midnight.
1. The idea of survival is a major component in the novel. What does this novel project about what it means to survive?
2. Besides the loss of his family and possessions, what else did Pi lose when the Tsimtsum sank? What did he gain?
3. Chapters 21 and 22 are very short, yet the author has said that they are at the core of the novel. Explain how this might be true.
4. The two Japanese officials who interview Pi don’t believe that he really landed on a man-eating island. When they say that carnivorous trees and fish-eating algae do not exist, Pi responds, “Only because you’ve never seen them.” What does this exchange say about human understanding of what is real and possible?
5. Do you believe Pi forgets all too quickly about his family? Can we criticize Pi for not talking about the loss of his brother and his parents? Or does the alternate story at the end explain his silence?
The idea of survival is portrayed in many different ways in the book. It is played through two lenses, one is with religion and the other with natural instinct. They portray how Pi uses his religion to motivate him while also bring a crutch for him to come back to when times get extra tough. One example is when he is in the storm and is talking to God telling him “I’m yours.”. The second way survival is portrayed is through natural human instinct to survive. Pi quickly figures out that he and Richard Parker will need a steady supply of food and water to survive. He figures out how to get water and fish for them to survive. So all in all I think the book shows that you need to have heart, courage, bravery, and a strong will or faith to survive the impossible in life.
ReplyDeleteThis book is a story about how survival is not just physical, survival is psychological. People can go weeks without food, days without water, but not that long in complete isolation, or in an unsteady or depressed state of mind. Pi had to keep a steady level of mental fortitude to survive. In the book he starts off with normal issues that people have, fitting in with school and discovering new things.
ReplyDeleteHe has a very religious family and he learns about other faiths and adapts to them, Pi wants to be close to god and have good faith. When his family decides to move to Canada, he goes along probably with normal thoughts about his new life there. Then tragedy strikes when the ship sinks. Assuming the second story is the true one he has to deal with a lot. The Cook cutting of the Sailor’s leg and slowly eating and killing him. Then the Cook killed his mother in front of him, and he had to kill the cook. After that Pi spent Months alone at sea. Pi had to face the isolation for roughly 6 months. Pi had to adapt, he killed animals and ate them at sea. Moving from a strictly vegetarian diet he lived with his entire life to eating whatever he could.
Pi became a different person on that boat, but still kept hope. He still practiced faith in religion and thought of it as a test, or as a companion. When he was alone he turned to God to offer him companionship, because people can go through hell and come out fine, but going through it alone is completely different. People have evolved into a social species that group together in tribes or communities. We cannot survive in complete isolation, so Pi turned to god for it. Pi imagined Richard Parker, or his new self, was his companion. He went through that experience and was able to recover, the book talks about how he visits friends, goes around the world to visit new places. He got married and had kids. He did this while not being held back by his traumatic past. He isolated and abandoned that pain inside him and rejoined society. His experience still changed him, but instead of it crippling him he survived the psychological stress that pushed through it. Survival is a combination of three things, mind, body, and spirit. You can keep your body fit and your mind sharp, but you cannot survive if you lose your spirit. That was his test at sea, keeping faith of moving forward and surviving whatever was thrown at him. By the end he was weak and delusional, but through everything he kept faith that he was going to survive. That was his survival, faith and overcoming his suffering.
The exchange Pi has with the two Japanese officials speaks volumes about human understanding of what is real and not real. The understanding of what is real and not real is ultimately based on what one sees, believes, or can trust logically.
ReplyDeleteThe officials first question Pi’s statement about Orange Juice floating to the lifeboat on a raft of bananas. One investigator states “That cannot be true, bananas don’t float,” then proceeds to run the sink and test if a banana will float. He finds that it could be true after seeing the banana does float due to its density. This investigator had to physically see this banana float to believe Pi. This goes right along with the famous saying “If a tree falls over in a forest and no one is there to see, did it really fall over?” Humans at times must see something to believe it is true.
Next the official really starts to distrust Pi's story when he begins to speak about the carnivorous island with fish eating algae. They question this so heavily because it just does not seem logical. There is no logic nor evidence that it could be remotely true. No one has ever heard of such a thing so why would these investigators believe Pi. Logic is a funny thing because different people can have a different sense of what is and is not logical. It could be based on science or previous encounters, therefore when something is said and it cannot be backed up by either of these two things it can be ruled out as “logical”.
Finally, Pi is a religious man and many things he believes are true, are based on his religion. Pi constantly states that he turns to God in dire times. He also thanks God when he survives his extensive voyage at sea. One of Pi’s reasons behind surviving was that he had God by his side guiding him and the officials find this hard to believe because they don’t understand Pi’s compelling passion for religion. All the investigators know is that he was on a lifeboat with a 450 pound bengal tiger and survived 227 days. They cannot come to understand how this is possible and definitely can’t understand how God guided and helped him. When one has different or not as strong beliefs as another it is hard to understand some things about the said person with alternate or stronger beliefs. Human understanding is tricky with religion because you can’t base it off of what you see or is logical. Sometimes everything is illogical about religion but it is what someone believes in and has a passion for, so if someone has opposing beliefs rarely can they come to a true understanding of each other.
Human understanding of what is and is not true is an extremely fascinating topic and Yann Martel does a fantastic job incorporating it into the story. When coming to the end of the book there are two stories in hand and the reader is torn between which one to believe. Martel purposely does this to demonstrate and question human understanding. Both stories have an equal chance of being believed by the reader, creating a dilemma in which is true. The reader can’t base their decision on what they have seen, so it comes down to their beliefs and which one they want to be true. There is no wrong answer so readers are left in the unknown with their sole beliefs to determine what is true and is not true.
Within minutes, everything Pi knew was gone. His family, his animals, his possessions, all sank with the ship. But along with his beloved family, and materialistic memories from his home in India, he lost things even deeper than that. In just moments, Pi’s sense of security and optimism that comes along with youth, was ripped away from him. He lost his innocence and the future he and his family had envisioned. However, not everything that came out of the shipwreck was bad. Pi gained an even deeper connection with God. Along with that, he gained confidence and resilience, more than he ever could have without this experience.
ReplyDeleteEverything Pi knew, was on that ship, and everything he knew went down with it. However, even some things that weren’t physically on the ship, made it down with it. Pi lost his idea of the world as a safe place. In a few moments, he was alone in the middle of the sea. With absolutely no one and nothing familiar to him. Just as he lost his security, he lost the optimism that often comes hand in hand with youth. “With that second sunset, disbelief gave way to pain and grief. They were dead; I could no longer deny it.” Just like that, his safety and high hopes were broken.
Childhood is sacred. You can run, and scream, and cry, and play, and go about your day with your biggest worry being when mom was gonna make you come in for lunch. Even as a teenager, you have so much freedom to act without consequence, and have your parents to fall back on in most circumstances, but this ended sooner for Pi then it does for most. He was forced to grow up and fend for himself. Along with this new total independence, the future he had planned for himself, was now completely changed for good. He had absolutely no control anymore.
While the horrible takeaways from the wreck are much more obvious, there were a few good outcomes. As Pi’s journey went on, he had plenty of time to strengthen his connection with god. Along with this, he grew more resilient and confident in himself. With each obstacle he overcame, the stronger he saw himself and the more he knew he could survive. He watched his family drown, got trapped on a 26 by 8 foot long boat with multiple dangerous animals, and still managed to survive almost a year at sea. “I will not die. I will refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare... I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine.”
While the loss of his family and all of his possessions was obviously a huge tragedy, those weren’t the only takeaways from the wreck. He lost safety, hope, and innocence. However, he came out of it resilient, confident and closer with God.
Anna Wernersbach
When the ship sank, Pi lost everything he had ever known. He lost his loved ones and everything he owned, this meant he lost all of his memories of his normal life he lived before and that he had nothing to materialize those memories. I truly believe Pi gained so much through those experiences.
ReplyDeletePi may have lost all of these things but i think he gained so much maturity through these experiences he had to go through good or bad. He gained the idea of what the real world truly is and even though it is a very harsh way of learning it, he learned that not everything is for sure. He learned that nothing is promised and to cherish the ones he loves. I believe with how religious Pi is he will believe that god put him in that situation because he knew he could handle it and that no matter how badly it hurts him at the time he will persevere and that he needs to take a life lesson out of the situation. I think that by the end of the 227 days Pi realized how mentally strong he is. He was taught how to get everything for himself and survive for himself at such a young age which can be hard but it is truly what he will have to do the rest of his life so it is very important he learned that and I think it is one of the few positive things that came out of the situation. He lost a lot of things in the wreck but he also gained things as well while he may not realize it yet he will realize it at one point or another.
Nolan Moorhead
In Yann Martel’s book, Life of Pi, survival is one of the main themes in the book. According to the book, survival means gathering essentials, staying sheltered, and finding the will to live.
ReplyDeleteFirst, gathering essentials, such as food and water is a key part of survival. When Pi is stranded on his lifeboat with Richard Parker the tiger, he gathers fish and freshwater to replenish them both. Later in the book, just before they’re about to starve to death, they reach an island where Richard Parker hunts meerkats and Pi eats algae to stay alive.
The second part of survival in Life of Pi is staying sheltered. When Richard Parker is still a threat, Pi builds a raft out of life vests, and ropes it to the lifeboat to stay safe. Later, he also adds a roof to the raft to stay out of the sun.
Lastly and most importantly, survival is finding the will to live against all odds. On page 148, Pi states that people with the will to live “fight no matter the cost of the battle”. Later, Pi explains that his will to live came from Richard Parker because he kept Pi from thinking about his tragic circumstances.
In the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi goes through many tragic things, one of them is trying to survive out in the middle of the ocean. Pi needed to find a way to survive with a small amount of supplies, as well as trying to keep a tiger named Richard parker from killing him. Pi goes through many obstacles while trying to survive, both physically and emotionally, Pi had to find ways to stay alive and survive without losing his humanity to live. One way Pi tried to survive was trying to distract himself by doing the following things, completing daily tasks, such as reading the survival handbook, fishing, and writing a diary; taming Richard Parker, and practicing religious rituals. All of these things helped Pi to keep his mind active so he wouldn’t become depressed or lose hope. These were just physical things that Pi did to help himself survive alone. Some mental things Pi did to survive were praying five times a day, taming Richard Parker, again this helps Pi to distract himself from dwelling on tragic events. One other thing Pi does that helps him mentally is meditation, this helped him stay focused on staying alert and staying positive through all the hard times. Each one of these things helped Pi survive on his own, they showed him how to stay positive through all the struggles, and how to have hope through it all.
ReplyDeleteWe don't see too much about real and fake when its all about believing it when heard. seeing something is different then hearing about it, when Pi spoke about the man eating island, it wasn't believable at all. In true life events it's all about someone understanding what you're talking about and you making it so its believable. Pi was telling his story as he sought fit it didn't have to make sense to everyone else, only him.
ReplyDeleteThis makes great relation to our real life stories. When we tell our stories we want people to believe us, everyone likes to share their life stories, but there is always someone who doesn't agree to the story, who doesn't believe its real at all. and that's okay, you don't have to make it believable to all, for instance when Pi shared his story to the two Japanese officials they didn't believe a word from Pi. The difference we make about things that are real and possible is what we see, and what we want to see or understand. What if the situation is like this, The first man to invent the light bulb, we say Thomas Edison, but did you know there were actually seven inventors including Edison, or some may believe he didn't invent it at all because we weren't in that lifetime.
A lot of things could go on knowing and thinking what is real in this book. Some of us might believe that he wasn’t trapped on the boat with a tiger or any animal at all, they might think he was hallucinating because he didn't have any food. When we tell stories about our life we make it so we spend a lot of the time trying to make them believe. Nothing needs to make any sense to someone else as long as it makes sense to you, and I believe that it was what Pi was doing. Only speaking of his own story in the interview not telling a story for the entire world to believe, it only had to make sense to Pi.
Survival is a huge part of the novel Life of Pi, and by many different ways throughout the book. It’s shown through Pi and his fight to survive physically, his fight to live religiously, and his mental survival.
ReplyDeletePi’s main goal on the boat is to survive, the author shows us how difficult it was for Pi to get resources and food he needed in order to survive, like his experiences with turtles. It could take him days to get a turtle aboard for food, this shows his will and determination for survival,
The author also shows Pi’s fight for religious survival. Before the lifeboat Pi was a religious scholar learning as much as he could. While on the boat he is unable to learn more and has a religious drought. As he fights through all his physical challenges he tries to put his faith in his religion and fights to become more.
Lastly his mental health. He has two different stories but his first story is his made up story because he can’t live with the real truth of what really happened. In order to maintain his mental health he needed to come up with that other story to make it through his journey.
Survival isn’t only surviving physically but much more. This is especially shown throughout the Journey and storyline of Piscine. As his physical, mental and religious health was put to the test.
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ReplyDeleteWhen the two Japanese officials told Pi they don’t believe his story because of the man-eating island, Pi responded with, “Only because you’ve never seen them.”. The exchange shows the difference of understanding between humans. Different understandings can be found in religion, as they believe in different gods or deities, and in cultures as they have their own practices that is understood within that culture.
ReplyDeleteAll religions are different and each one has a different set of beliefs depending on who or what they believe in. For example, Christians pray to Jesus Christ, but in Islam, they pray to Allah, which is god in Arabic. Traditional Islamic practices, like using a prayer rug, look different than traditional Christian practices. When a Christian would look at those different practices, they wouldn’t understand why they were doing that and they might not believe that their practices are as good as Christianity’s practices, as their understanding of religion is different. Someone in a different religion could also not believe in another religion’s god. This shows a seperation of human understanding in believing why someone practices religion or prays to a god, the way that they do.
There are tons of cultures around the world that are all different from each other. For example, some cultures rely on dreams or “visions”, as they may call it, to foresee future events, both good and bad, and some even name their children after a name they heard in a dream. To us, that may seem ridiculous because why would anyone trust their dreams when it is something that our brains create and how do they know it’s real? However, to those cultures, those dreams hold a lot of importance, to an extent that we don’t fully understand because that’s not our culture. This shows the detachment of understanding between humans.
Overall, disconnection in human understanding is prevalent and is what can cause division amongst countries, religions, and cultures. Although we don’t need to fully believe in someone’s practices or beliefs, understanding why they do it and what it means to them can help the disconnection we see daily.
In the book Life of Pi we go through the journey of Pi out at sea. We see his personality and morals change throughout the book. Even though Pi made terrible decisions, I believe he had good intentions and did what he had to do to survive. At the start of the book we see Pi as a young boy who loves all religions and animals. “Animals in the wild lead lives of compulsion and necessity within an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food is low and where territory must constantly be defended and parasites forever endured” (Martel 16). This shows more that Pi connects with animals to the point where he knows where they are coming from and he understands them. Also this passage is very good foreshadowing for the rest of the book. He was innocently explaining animals not knowing what would happen not long after. Obviously at the end of the book we find out the real story of what happened to Pi after the Tsimtsum sank. “So the Taiwanese sailor is the zebra, his mother is the orangutan, the cook is… the hyena… which means youre the tigera!” (Martel 311). So the story with the animals was Pis way to cope with what really happened. He used the animals to shield the true horrific story. If Pi was actually an evil person with bad intentions he would not have felt the need to make up a story to help himself not look at himself differently. Throughout the book though we walk through the obstacles that Pi ran into. “I covered the fish’s head with the blanket and turned the hatchet around. Again my hand wavered in the air. The idea of beating a soft, living head with a hammer was simply too much” (Martel 183). Pi was under many circumstances of life or death, he had no choice but to change his morals to survive. The meaning of survival in the book is many things, it changes who you are in a situation no matter what, your natural instinct. Pis instincts in the story were not to die, but to figure out ways to live.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that Pi ever forgets about his family throughout the length of the novel. When we have traumatic experiences in our lives, the memory of the experience stays with us forever. Completely forgetting about the experience and choosing not to talk about the experience are two completely different things. I believe that the memory of Pi's family was with him the entire time on the boat. I believe he chose to not talk about them because every time he does, all of the memories come roaring back. I also believe that the horrifying alternate story at the end is the true story. This fully explains his silence about his family. There is no reason to hold any of it against Pi because of this very reason. As sad as it is, not talking about his family probably increased his will to survive. With the thought of him being the only one left in his family, he would have no will to survive. Leaving the tragedy of what happened to his family in the past, made it easier for him to look into the future and have a will to survive.
ReplyDeletePi's story is a story of symbolism, it's not until the very end that we learn what truly happened to him. Pi does not forget his family, the only reason they aren't talked about is because it is a tragic experience that is painful for Pi to remember. Seeing as how no one likes to talk about hard things that happen, Pi is not to blame for not talking about them. He loves and remembers his family, he just chooses to not bring them up.
In Yann Martel’s book Life of Pi, Pi’s story was shown as a merical of God and survival.The Author told the story in the three different parts, The first part was about Pi’s life before his greatest test.His life before was a lot about him finding his faith and building his character,It also talked about a how he lived in a zoo where it was the reason they had to get on the ship in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWas Pi and family got on the boat he didn’t know this where is story actually begins.The question that I have chosen was Besides the loss of his family and possessions, what else did Pi lose when the Tsimtsum sank? What did he gain? To me the Pi lost his faith and himself in the beginning of the second part of the story because of what just happened with him loosing his family and being lost at sea. He Lost himself because he couldn’t believe of what just happened and had no idea what to do with himself, plus in Pi’s first story he was on board with an adult tiger.Pi had little water and food so he was going insane and there was very little that he could do to prevent it.The main thing he lost was his faith because he thought no way God would let this happen to him but deep down he knew had to keep faith strong. The Author helps show the Pi is struggling with his faith was when the storm his when he was on the raft with richard parker and call richard “GODS CAT” and the storm was the power of God and how it was a test.
The Test the Pi had to go through was a true merical and towards the end the Author Yann Martel showed that Pi not only lost his family but himself and most of all his faith. With Pi past with faith helped keep the spark alive and helped him gain Himslef and his faith back.
The book Life of Pi demonstrates the hardships of both physical survival and mental survival. The book portrays how surviving is not just about the outcome but pushing through the hardships. Not only did our protagonist Pi need to gather food and supplies in order to survive, he needed to overcome mental obstacles in order to want to stay alive, and even had to fight religious battles.
ReplyDeleteWhile Pi is stranded on this lifeboat, he only has one purpose- to survive. Pi had to break his Hindu religion and eat animals in order to stay alive. He had to learn how to catch fish and turtles. He is determined to survive and get the food to do so. Over time, Pi becomes desperate and even contemplates eating Richard Parker’s feces. You can only imagine how hungry a person must be in order to even consider doing that. This projects how Pi is willing to do anything but die.
Towards the end of the book, Pi shares two stories. One story involves the one we read about that involves the animals and the other story involves Pi, his mother, and a cook from the ship. This is the real story and it is a lot more dark while it involves the death of his mother and the abusive legless cook. The way this story is involved in Pi’s survival is how he pushes it out of his mind. It's what he does after all of this that must make him survive. Pi creates a new story that involves animals. The orangutan (Orange Juice) represents his mother, the hyena represents the cook, and the tiger (Richard Parker) represents himself. Pi must convince himself this is the real story because of what he witnessed his mother go through. While Richard Parker is his only friend and companion on the ship, he is a figment of Pi’s imagination. Pi did this so he would not feel alone and would be given a purpose. Pi claims that if it weren’t for Richard Parker he would not want to survive. These are the mental obstacles Pi had to go through so he might not just drown himself. Creating an imaginary companion so Pi could push through the pain.
Pi was very religious. Before being stranded in the ocean, he practiced three different religions: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. While on the boat, Pi continues to practice his religious beliefs even though he breaks his vegan commitment. He is constantly wondering where God is within all of this or why this all had to happen to him. He also uses his religion as a “companion” since he could not survive alone. He kept turning to God just to feel alive.
Survival is defined as the state of continuing to live or exist in difficult circumstances. Life of Pi projects how survival isn’t just staying alive but maintaining your faith and soul as you do anything to not die. Pi was being tested by God at sea. He was keeping and maintaining his faith at whatever God tested him with. Although Pi may have lost his mind, he did not lose his faith or will to live. This is what helped him have the happy ending of continuing to live, getting married, and having children.
Life of Pi is completely about survival, it is one of the main components for this book. We see survival in many ways throughout the book whether that be mentally trying to stay sane while alone at sea or physically needing to catch food or find water. Pi is pushed to his limits and survives it all while still going on with his life after the events that occurred.
ReplyDeleteMentally may have been the most challenging part of this whole journey, Pi watched his family die and everything he knew was gone. Then to proceed to be stuck out on sea for a long period of time, he had to stay strong and persevere through it. While he was alone at sea having no one to talk to besides hallucinations. Given that if you say the second story is true then he watched the cook cut someone's leg off, then watched the cook kill his mother by decapitating her. He had to come up with another story to get past that so it didn't seem so harsh, so he could survive.
Physically Pi also understands he must change his vegetarian lifestyle in order to survive on the lifeboat. Pi had to learn to hunt the animals at sea because it came down to making the decision of changing his moral beliefs or death. Religion is a big part of Pi’s life and he knew he needed to survive at all cost so he had to go back on what he believed in. Pi was also very smart with water which is something you need at least every 3 days. Pi could not drink sea water, he had to retrieve drinkable water by using solar stills to make fresh water from sea water. “I read the instructions carefully, as the survival manual told me to. I inflated all twelve cones with air and I filled each buoyancy chamber with the requisite ten litres of seawater. I strung the stills together, tying one end of the flotilla to the lifeboat and the other to the raft.” (Martel, 172). This is another way he had to survive.
Pi after this traumatic experience still manages to pull himself together and start a family. He put what really happened and put it in the past and if he ever thought about it he would use the animal story to retell it to himself to make himself feel better about it. He was Pushed mentally and physically as well as his religion, but he had to adapt and change his morals in order to survive.
Kennadi Boese
ReplyDeleteContemporary Lit
Tunink
2 October, 2020
Life of Pi Blog
The idea of survival is a major component in the novel. What does this novel project about what it means to survive?
In the book Life of Pi there are multiple types of survival shown. Pi went through many struggles more than just physical that he has to push through and overcome. He has to survive alone at sea, survive losing his family and survive the mental struggles that all of this gave him. With having to survive alone at sea he had to learn to fein for himself and with that having to build a raft to get away from richard parker and keep himself alive. Even when times got the worst when he lost all his food and had to push himself to kill fish even though it was against everything he believed in he had to do it to survive and keep his only companion alive. He had to survive losing his family which would have made him lose himself completely but he knew that surviving and being able to achieve all he wanted would be worth it. It's made very clear how strong he is just based on how he handled everything he went through and didn't just give up. Lastly is mental survival. Most people after experiencing that level of trauma that he went through tend to just lose themselves and almost feel as if there is nothing to live for and somehow he continued to live his life and tell his story which is such a testimony to how much of s survivor he really is and it's almost like in the end he came out stronger than he would've been without this.
The idea of survival plays a major component in the Book life of Pi and has a couple main ways it is shown throughout the book. The first way it is shown is the most obvious way, basic instinct. For Pi a lot of the things he did was out of instinct, it came to him naturally. Pi needed to adapt to the new environment that he was put in in order to survive. He had to be smart and use the resources around him in order to ensure the survival of him and Richard Parker. For example Pi says, “I read instructions carefully as the survival manual told me to. I inflated all twelve cones with the air and I filled the buoyancy chamber with the requisite ten litres of seawater. I strung the stils together, tying one end of the flotilla to the lifeboat and the other raft.”
ReplyDeleteAnother example would be that Pi had to realize that he needed to change his ways of eating as in him being vegetarian because in order to survive on the boat he had to learn how to hunt animals at sea because when it came down to making the decision of his beliefs or death he made the decision to survive. Pi states, “I quickly lost my revulsion at touching sea life..I did whatever was necessary to hold a fish down until I could reach for the hatchet to chop his head off.” Pi obviously did not want to eat or survive this way, but in order to survive he adapted to what he needed to to make sure he was eating, drinking and surviving.
In the book Pi’s physical needs dominate his religious needs, but he never doubts his belief in God during the time on the boat. No matter how alone and upset Pi was with the world and with the loss of his family and others. Pi pushed through on a boat lost at sea with himself and a tiger named Richard Parker.
Naomi Lawver
The Book Life of Pi by Yann Martel covers a story of a young Indian boy who loses everything as he and his family are making the move to Canada. They travel via ship on the sea and disaster strikes, the ship sinks killing almost all passengers. The aforementioned young boy, Pi Patel, was one of the sole survivors. He was stripped of everything he knew.
ReplyDeletePi obviously lost many tangible things, such as his clothes, his family, and any other possessions left on that boat, but the intangible items are of more importance. Pi was stripped of his childhood. This 16 year old boy was a castaway with little to no hope, no one to support him, no one to raise him, he was alone. This type of trauma instantly removes any memories other than sadness and darkness. Pi even claims in the book that he would not return to India because it would only bring "sad memories". Every time this boy will be reminded of his lost loved ones, he will remember the accident. He will remember the 277 days stranded with no one looking for him, stranded in the Pacific Ocean. This loss can never be compensated for, no amount of money, no amount of happiness, and most importantly nobody can ever make up what he has lost. This brings an unimaginable amount of pain and stress upon an innocent 16 year old boy, completely stripping him of any childhood in every sense of the word.
With a rude removal of childhood, comes a semi-decent exchange for a young boy like Pi Patel. Now that Pi has overcome his near impossible journey, he can no longer be considered weak or immature, and he never will be. The things he was able to do on that boat have made him a man, the things he saw on that boat have toughened his skin to a point that no man should ever reach. He broke many of his moral beliefs just to survive, things that he told himself he would never do were done on that boat. Pi has proven that not only can he fend for himself, he will do whatever it takes to succeed. Sure, what happened to him was a tragedy, but to be able to know that you can overcome such an insane obstacle is proof in itself that you can achieve anything.
John McGinley
When Pi says, “Only because you’ve never seen them,” when the two Japanese officials interview Pi about the sinking of the Tsimtsum, he told them his story. The officials replied with how they need a believable story, a story where the insurance company believes, and a story where if people read the report it makes sense. This exchange about human understanding of what is real and possible is very interesting because it's a true topic in our society. Everybody used to say seeing is believing, it was even in a Disney movie. In the past, everybody used to think that something they didn’t see with their own eyes isn't real. Now I would say that only about half of those people still believe that. I think that society has adapted into thinking you can believe in something that you never see or thought you would see. Although, that is only for some people. In the exchange between Pi and the officials, Pi calls them out on the fact that those two individuals don't believe in something they have never seen before. Then Pi goes on to prove them wrong about the fact that bananas can’t float. He shows them how they can be wrong by only believing what they can see. In the end, the human understanding of what is real and possible is mostly based on if they can see it with their own eyes. Humans are selfish and they don’t take in other people’s stories or experiences, such as Pi’s story. Even in some cases they don’t care about anything unless it's right in front of their own eyes. The exchange between Pi and the officials is a perfect example of how almost everyone in the world only believes what they see which shows us that the human understanding of what is real and possible is mostly based on seeing.
ReplyDeleteThe interrogation between Pi and the two Japanese officials near the end of the novel brings to light the difference between reality and fantasy. The exchange reveals the possible reality of Pi’s time spent at sea. Pi believes he was surviving alongside Richard Parker for the duration of his struggle as well as Orange Juice, a hyena, and a zebra in the beginning. This is the story he told the Japanese officials, they found it impossible to believe. This could not possibly be true to them for they have not seen anything like it nor can they logically imagine it.
ReplyDeleteThe first moment of distrust in the exchange was when Pi said Orange Juice floated towards the lifeboat on a pile of bananas. One Japanese official said that was impossible because bananas do not float. He was proved wrong when they tested a banana in a pool of water. This goes to show how humans can only completely believe what they see. Pi was very religious, he followed three separate religions, Hindu, Christianity, and Muslim. Many people don’t understand how he could believe in so many things that he could not see or logically explain. However Pi’s extensive belief in religion helped him in his endeavor. He made it a point to pray no matter what and it brought him a kind of peace and hope he otherwise would have died without.
When Pi began speaking about his endeavor on the carnivorous island the officials once again questioned the truth behind it. They say there is no such thing, no one has ever seen it. The officials could not logically understand that the island has any truth to it. As they heard the rest of Pi’s story they said it was impossible which in return Pi gave them a completely different story with no animals instead they were replaced by humans. The same events had occurred, Pi then asked which they wanted to believe. It comes done to which story the officials along with the reader want to believe. Both have equal chances of being true because Pi had been alone, there was no proof of which was true. For Pi, a young boy who had lost his family, he could not fathom the losses he faced so he believed in an alternate reality.
In the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel the idea of survival is a major component. Life of Pi illustrates the difficulty of surviving stranded at sea while also showing the psychological effect it can have on a person.
ReplyDeletePi patel, a religious boy from India, is on his way moving from India to Canada when disaster strikes. For an unknown reason the ship he was on sank causing him to lose all of his valuables which included his family as well as the animals from the family zoo. This leaves Pi stranded on a lifeboat with the only surviving animal, a tiger named Richard Parker.
Pi is stranded with a dangerous animal with limited supplies and he is aware that he needs to start getting creative to survive. His first obstacle would be Richard Parker. Richard Parker is far too dangerous and if Pi is not careful he could be killed almost instantly. To overcome this Pi decides he needs to build a raft to distance himself from the animal but quickly realizes that all of his supplies are on the lifeboat and needs easy access to them. After realising this Pi decides to “tame” Richard Parker. There are two established sides on the lifeboat, one for Pi and the other for Richard parker.
Supplies are running low so Pi has to get creative. The lifeboat supplied him with solar stills, a device that turns saltwater into freshwater, that Pi would set up to collect fresh drinking water. The boat also provided a fishing hook so Pi repurposed his raft into a fishing raft where he could catch fish. Pi also read that turtle blood was a good source of water so he would catch a turtle any chance he got. Towards the end of the book Pi is exhausted, blind, and hopeless but he manages to beat the odds after finding land in mexico.
In the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi gets traumatized by a sinking boat that kills most of his family. Only his mom survives. Later she then gets murdered in front of Pi. Pi doesn't talk about his family much afterwards and almost seems to forget about them in a way. I believe that we cannot criticize Pi for not talking about the loss of his brother and of the rest of his family.
ReplyDeleteWhen you are in an accident where something traumatic happens to you, you tend to try and forget those moments, so they aren’t as painful. The whole book where he told the story about the animals in the boat with him, was a mental block, and a story that he can grab a hold of and actually cope with his emotions. The real story of what actually happened was too hard for him to think humans could be so inhumane that he had to make them animals to help himself survive the mental block.
When Pi tries and blocks out thinking about his family it’s just a way to cope with his emotions and the way that he is feeling. Pi doesn’t think he can handle the fact of knowing his family is gone without blocking them out of his mind.
Pi shouldn’t be blamed for forgetting about them it was just a way to cope with his emotions in a different way.
Jocelyn Lees
The two Japanese officials who interview Pi don’t believe that he actually landed on a man-eating island. When they say that carnivorous trees and fish-eating algae do not exist, Pi responds, “Only because you’ve never seen them.” What does this exchange say about human understanding of what is real and possible?
ReplyDeleteWhen people say “Only because you have never seen them,” this says a lot about the human understanding of real and possible. Humans tend to need confirmation that something they hear is fact and the only way to truly to that is to see it with your own eyes. This is shown in many aspects of human life.
One example of this is nature. Many people would not have believed that an elephant was real until they saw it, this is why zoos were built. People across the world never saw one of these animals but with the accessibility of zoos, they can see with their own eyes and begin to realise that these things are real. If you were to tell a Native American that in asia there were 10,000 lbs animals with huge tusks they would not have believed you. This is why they would use elephants as tools in their army even though they couldn’t fight very well and because the opposing army would not know what the animal is and didn’t know its capabilities they would retreat thinking the massive beast would kill them easily. This relates to the book because the reporters didn’t believe that Pi was telling the truth about the island or even the animals. They did not believe becuase they did not see what Pi saw and nor has anyone in human history. This does not mean that this floating island is not true, it means that it could be ready to be discovered.
Another example of this is religion. Many people don’t believe in the bible, the Qur’an, or any type of religion because they never got to see the prophets themselves and hear the things the prophets said. Some choose not to believe in anything just based on this principle and will never change their mind becuase they will never be able to meet the people who the bibles are talking about or the people who wrote the bibles. This may be why Pi chose to love all of the Gods, because he would never know which one to trust, he would trust them all. Without being able to, plain as day, see the “correct” religion Pi chose to love them all becuase they all have their faults but they also all have certain things that may make sense to him.
In the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Pi’s story was shown as a miracle of God and the test of survival. The Author told the story in three different ways, The first part was about Pi’s life before his greatest tragedy. His life before was a lot about him finding his faith and building his character,It also talked about a how he lived in a zoo where it was the reason they had to get on the ship in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWas Pi and family got on the boat he didn’t know this where is story actually begins.The question that I have chosen was Besides the loss of his family and possessions, what else did Pi lose when the Tsimtsum sank? What did he gain? To me the Pi lost his faith and himself in the beginning of the second part of the story because of what just happened with him loosing his family and being lost at sea. He Lost himself because he couldn’t believe of what just happened and had no idea what to do with himself, plus in Pi’s first story he was on board with an adult tiger.Pi had little water and food so he was going insane and there was very little that he could do to prevent it.The main thing he lost was his faith because he thought no way God would let this happen to him but deep down he knew had to keep faith strong. The Author helps show the Pi is struggling with his faith was when the storm his when he was on the raft with richard parker and calls richard parker “GODS CAT” and how the storm they were in was the power of God and how it was a test.
The Test the Pi had to go through was a true merical and towards the end the Author Yann Martel showed that Pi not only lost his family but himself and most of all his faith. With Pi past with faith helped keep the spark alive and helped him gain Himslef and his faith back.
In Life of Pi, Pi does not forget about his family all too quickly.
ReplyDeleteSome may believe that Pi completely forgot about his family, simply because he never mentioned them throughout the book until the Japanese interviewed him. Although, these people don't understand that it wasn't that Pi forgot about his family, he was just trying to figure out any possible way to help cope with his losses. So to answer the question, yes, the alternate story at the end does explain Pi's silence, and also explains how and why Pi seemed to "forget" about his lost family members. And since this was what Pi used in order to help himself feel better, Pi can not be criticized for remaining silent about his mother or brother.
This is because Pi had to live on a boat by himself for way too long, and the thoughts of his family dying and not being there with him would've just ate him alive, maybe leading to Pi not feeling the need to live anymore. So all in all, Pi didn't forget about his loved ones. Instead, he used an unusual method of recreating the story with animals in order to not be hurt emotionally by the traumatic events that took place at the beginning of the book.
“Only because you’ve never seen them.” Pi’s answer to two Japanese officials after they do not believe his story. Pi’s interview, and the reaction of the Japanese officials, is a prime example of how the majority of people do not believe in what they do not know. What people think is real and possible is based on three things, past personal experience, one's personal logic and others experiences’.
ReplyDeletePi was stuck on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days with a tiger named Richard Parker. When he first tells his story to the Japanese officials they say they do not believe his story, the first reason they give for this is that an orangutan couldn’t float in on bananas, they reason for this being bananas can’t float. Pi tells them to test it and sure enough the banana floats. They do not say much else except for “Look at that. They really do float.” This proves that their understanding of what is possible is not accurate right when they begin talking to Pi about his story. Yet this does not prove Pi’s story is true it just gives the reader a grasp for it being possible.
The Japanese officials next ask Pi about the algae island Pi came across on his journey. They start off by saying there is no way something like that exists and the island is “botanically impossible.” Pi’s initial response to them saying that none of that island could exist is “Only because you have never seen them.” This shows that Pi can see that because they have never come into contact personally or even heard of the things that Pi claims he saw, such as carnivore trees and fish eating algae that creates fresh water, that they can not fathom it to be real if at all even possible.
Near the end of the interview the Japanese officials ask Pi for what really happened as they do not believe his initial story. Pi then asks “So you want another story?” They say yes so PI tells a more realistic story in their eyes, involving humans instead of animals. This story says who got to the lifeboat; which is Pi, Pi’s mother, a cook, and a sailor, and what happened after they all got on the boat. This story was violent and ended up with everyone dying except for Pi. The twoo stories line up quite well, yet the investigators use the second story as the accurate one. This is just because it is believable to them, even though the story was more horrendous they could view it as realistic, because they have heard similar stories, it wasn’t based on animals and there wasn’t anything that didn't make sense logically, and therefore saw it as real possible and the true story.
These are all spectacular examples showing the reader of The Life of Pi that human understanding of what is real and possible is based off of either personal experience, others experiences’, logic, and sometimes, especially in the case of religion, belief.
Schwenkler, Pierce
DeleteIn the book Life of Pi there is a great amount of time focusing on survival. Pi living with very limited food or water, having to live with a tiger who ends up being himself, and having his whole family die along the way shows how deeply he must have been set on surviving this event and proves so by his constant attitude of trying to better his situation and never giving up.
ReplyDeleteWhen Pi is the only human survivor left from the ship he falls into a tiny lifeboat and floats out to see, although he is sailing with some animals at the time they dont look like they would be something to eat so he learns how to fish and turn ocean water into freshwater. He also changes from being a vegetarian which was a religious thing for Pi.
Pi when he falls into the ships with all the animals at first does not have a spot on the boat, the boat belongs to the tiger Richard Parker who Pi does not want to start off on the bad foot with. Eventually Pi grows brave enough to try to use turtle shells as a shield and a whistle as his weapon, and he tames Richard Parker and makes him share the big boat so Pi doesn't have to sleep on a tiny self made raft.
When the ship goes down at the very beginning of the book, he knows that none of Pi’s family has survived the sinking, that they are all dead and he was left on his own with all of these animals to survive. This incredible story is told about how Pi conquers several fears and that with the support of his friend Richard Parker that he can survive. Later in the book however, we learn that none of the animals on this boat were actually animals; they were people, the tiger being Richard Parker himself and the Orangutan who got beheaded was his mother. This must have affected his survival because he had to mourn with this death as he himself was almost dying.
In conclusion, In the Life of Pi, Pi has many ways to show his survival nature and I think what this novel wants you to learn is that surviving is all about living with yourself whether that be the constant alone Pi went through of him having to grow past the decisions he made to live.
Pierce Howell