Eventually, Pi even begins eating in the same way as Richard Parker, aggressively tearing into the flesh of any fish he can get his hands on and gobbling up every morsel. Keeping in mind that Pi is a strict vegetarian and then relating that knowledge back to his ravenous consumption of meat can refer back to the analogy of Richard Parker being connected to God. As it was, Pi admits that “without Richard Parker, [he] wouldn’t be alive today to tell . . . [his] story” (164), yet when they were finally safe Richard Parker leaves without even looking back. To me this greatly signifies that Richard Parker was God’s way of showing Pi how to survive, the motivation for him to do what it takes and put his pride aside in order to live. Which is of course why Richard Parker would leave as soon as Pi was safe, not because he was a real tiger, but because Pi no longer needed God’s vessel. As well, I think that the reason for the prolonged reveal of Richard Parker’s identity was intentionally used by the author to create some wonder and let us assume that perhaps he was a man, because in doing so the whole story becomes much more
Eventually, Pi even begins eating in the same way as Richard Parker, aggressively tearing into the flesh of any fish he can get his hands on and gobbling up every morsel. Keeping in mind that Pi is a strict vegetarian and then relating that knowledge back to his ravenous consumption of meat can refer back to the analogy of Richard Parker being connected to God. As it was, Pi admits that “without Richard Parker, [he] wouldn’t be alive today to tell . . . [his] story” (164), yet when they were finally safe Richard Parker leaves without even looking back. To me this greatly signifies that Richard Parker was God’s way of showing Pi how to survive, the motivation for him to do what it takes and put his pride aside in order to live. Which is of course why Richard Parker would leave as soon as Pi was safe, not because he was a real tiger, but because Pi no longer needed God’s vessel. As well, I think that the reason for the prolonged reveal of Richard Parker’s identity was intentionally used by the author to create some wonder and let us assume that perhaps he was a man, because in doing so the whole story becomes much more