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."