Characters and Plot
Life of Pi is based off a man named Pi Patel who lives in the heart of India. Pi Patel is a very curious and interesting man in many ways. For example throughout the book Pi become acquainted with 3 different re;religions and than when he confronted about it he says he wont pick and proclaims to the priest from all three churches saying all religions are true and he does have the freedom to express what ever religion he wants. (Martel 69). Pi and his family are deciding to start a new life and move to Canada. As they embark on a long journey across the Atlantic Ocean on a Japanese ship called the Tsimtsum. On the journey after a unexpected turn of events the Japanese ship sinked and Pi ends up alone with a Bengal tiger, a monkey, and a hyena eventually ending up with only the tiger left. Pi has one thought in mind. He needs to survive. Pi learns how survive not only from nature itself, but also the Bengal tiger. Throughout the book there are many characters but two main ones. First there is Richard Parker who is the Bengal Tiger that undergoes the long journey for survival with Pi and Pi Patel the main character who is a man of many religions and the sole survivor of the sinking of the Tsimtsum. Pi endures over a year long trip as a castaway at sea until he eventually shows up on the Mexican coast.
Themes and Symbols
Throughout the book, Life of Pi, the central theme is to push on no matter what the circumstances are. I say that because Pi kept on pushing no matter what even when life through him a curve ball and put a Bengal Tiger in his life boat for over a year or when he was traveling and a boat ran into his raft and still didn't see him (Martel 234). The monkey is his mom, the zebra is a sailor, the cook is the hyena, and Pi is the tiger (Martel 311). All these animals in the story represent different actual people that were on the boat with him. Or were they? Life of Pi is broken up into two stories the first is with him surviving with the tiger, and the other one is a alternate story he told the Japanese Investigators. No one knows which one is true but that is up for you to decide as Pi says.
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