Life of Pi: Chapter 41 - 45

Along with Pi and the zebra, two more "guests" enter the lifeboat, a hyena and an orangutan named Orange Juice. As it begins to turn dark and become nighttime, Pi begins to worry as he is stuck on the ship with a hyena, an animal with deadly jaws that will eat almost anything. He eventually finds the hyena tearing at the zebra's leg. The concept of zoomorphism is brought up again with the orangutan and the hyena. Pi wonders if the two will get along as what kind of interaction between the two is unknown.

Life of Pi: Chapter 36 - 40

This marks the end of Part I and the beginning of Part II. Yay! The author meets Pi's children, Nikhil and Usha and comments that Pi's story "has a happy ending." Part II returns to Pi's point of view. In this section we finally learn that Richard Parker is actually a Bengal tiger who ends up on his lifeboat. The Tsimtsum, the ship Pi and his family ride on, ends up sinking during a storm. To make matters worse, the animals on the ship escape. When Pi is pushed onto the life boat, a zebra ends up falling into the boat as well, breaking its leg. This section really highlights the beginning of Pi's struggles.

Life of Pi: Chapter 31 - 35

Mr. Kumar, the biology teacher, and Mr. Kumar, the Muslim baker, eventually meet each other at the zoo that Pi's father owns. While both men are very different, with one being an atheist and another a Muslim, they both marvel at the animals at the zoo such as the zebra. Pi also describes zoomorphism - "where an animal takes a human being, or another animal, to be one of its kind." An example would be how dogs would sometimes be used as foster mothers for lion cubs. This concept brings up again the theme of fact versus fiction. Fiction allows one to forget the harsh lonliness of reality and "guarantees social well-being."

Life of Pi: Chapter 26 - 30

Another short section. Here we learn about how Pi's family deals with his triad of religions and how they eventually move to Canada. Despite their hesitations, Pi eventually gets a prayer rug (for his Muslim faith) and a baptism (for Christianity). Due to the political climate in India, Pi's father decides that the family should move to Canada. Pi describes the reason for people to move is that they feel that nothing will change where they live and that the only way to give their children a better life is to find somewhere else where they would be happier and more successful. I find this true as my own parents moved from the Philippines to America so that my sisters and I would have a better life.

Life of Pi: Chapter 21 - 25

Although Pi enjoys practicing three religions, we learn what happens when the three religions collide. When Pi and his parents see "the three wise men," I thought "Oh gosh, this isn't going to end well." The men argue about their religions and tell Pi that he must choose only one. Pi, however, simply just wants to love God and accept all the religions. I couldn't help but laugh at Ravi's comment - "At the rate you're going, if you go to temple on Thursday, mosque on Friday, synagogue on Saturday, and church on Sunday, you only need to convert to three more religions to be on holiday for the rest of your life." Anyway, I found it interesting how he described agnostic thinking as "dry, yeastless factuality." I think it really describes a lack of imagination and dedication to fact that they have, and how they "miss the better story."

Life of Pi: Chapter 16 - 20

In these chapters, the three religions that Pi follows are brought up. Pi was born a Hindu, but later decides to become a Christian after meeting Father Martin and then a Muslim after meeting Mr. Satish Kumar. I love how he compares the three religions when he says "Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims." People often focus so much on the differences between their religion that they forget how similar they can be and that whats important is they believe in something that gives their life a new meaning. I like that Pi is able to appreciate the different values and rites each religion offers.

Life of Pi: Chapter 11 - 15

This short section goes further into the behavior of animals, as well as jumps back to present time and details the author's thoughts. Pi describes the importance of territory to an animal. He reasons that a lion will not kill you and rip you to shreds because he is hungry. He will kill you because you are invading his territory. He also goes into dominance. A circus trainer enters the ring first to establish that it is his territory. Animals that have low social ranking will often have the most to gain by getting close to the owner as it provides protection from others. The author remarks on the various religious items in Pi's house, such as the Bible, paintings of various Hindu gods, and a photo of the Kaaba.

Life of Pi: Chapter 6 - 10

These chapters describe Pi's biology teacher, Mr. Kumar, his experience with a tiger, and the nature of animals. Pi feels close to Mr. Kumar, despite the fact that he is an atheist. I like how he described atheists as being "brothers and sisters of a different faith" and that he is able to feel kinship to Mr. Kumar despite their differences. Later Pi talks about how he witnessed a tiger kill a goat, and how his father warns him about the danger of animals. The novel injects bits of zoology into the chapters, such as flight distance, "the minimum distance at which an animal wants to keep a perceived enemy" and how animals don't want to "escape to somewhere but from something." Judging from the cover and the back cover, the experience with the tiger and the information about animal behavior will be important later on.

Life of Pi: Chapter 1 - 5

Wow time to blog again. Oh joy! The novel I have decided on is "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel. I found it really interesting that it began with an author's note, where the author gives us background on his life and how he meets up with Pi Patel, although he is a fictional character. I think mixing his real life and his fictional story adds a nice twist to the novel. The story centers on Piscine Patel, an Indian man who reflects on his life when he was younger. Named after a french pool, he eventually tells everyone to call him "Pi" for short as his old peers used to make fun of him, calling him "Pissing." I still don't know a few things about the novel, such as why he had to go to a hospital in Mexico and who Richard Parker is. A college perhaps? Possible symbols that can come up are the symbol of water and of animals, two things important to his childhood.

Alright worked on my essay for an hour, from about 11:30 to 12:30.