The Algae Island In Life Of Pi

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The Life of Pi is an interesting novel, in which the protagonist, Piscine Patel, finds himself stranded in the Pacific Ocean with a 450 lb. Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. Or was he? The novel presents two stories to the reader, one in which Piscine, commonly referred to as Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with animals, and one story in which Pi finds himself stranded in the same setting, but with human counterparts, and a much more gruesome ending. The true story is the one with humans for three reasons. Carnivorous islands do not exist, Pi would not be able to survive with a Bengal tiger, and overall, the second story makes more sense. The first reason why the second story in the life of Pi is the true story, is because carnivorous islands do not exist. It is speculated that instead, the island is a symbol of Pi’s lack of faith. (Shmoop Editorial Team. "The Algae Island in Life of Pi." Shmoop. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. …show more content…
Many elements of the first story are filled with holes, almost all of which are too big to be filled with logic alone. It is likely that Pi fabricated his situation with fictitious characters to reduce the pain that is associated with telling the story. Pi’s mother was the orangutan, while the cook was the hyena, and the Taiwanese sailor was the zebra with the broken leg. Many of the primary points of the first story are impossible rendering most of it nothing more than a symbol of what truly happened. The Life of Pi is a novel which, at sometimes, is confusing due to the two versions of Pi’s life presented. Version one displays the survivors of the sunken ship as animals, and in version two, the animals are humans. The story that actually happened was the second one, because carnivorous islands do not exist, Pi would not be able to survive with a tiger in a lifeboat for seven months, and the second story makes more sense

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