Throughout the story, animals playing a symbolizing role was drastically used in The Life Pi by (Yann Martel). For example, the Hyena represented the Cook, the Orangutan represented Pi’s mother (Gita) , and Richard Parker represented the evil side of Pi.
Thinking of the Hyena’s characteristics, it’s safe to say the Hyena reflects to the Cook in the “true story”. The Hyena and the Cook both portray selfishness. The cook was determined to sacrifice Pi for his own wants and needs, when he pushed Pi onto the boat. Similar to the Cook, the Hyena was showing signs of selfishness when it killed the Zebra and the Orangutan for its own benefits. The Cook makes the second story more dreadful than anything else. In a reader's point of view they …show more content…
The Orangutan was very protective, sacrificing, and portrayed motherly instincts throughout the story. When Pi had seen the Orangutan floating on the island of bananas Pi said, “How bitterly glad I am to see you. You bring joy and pain in equal measure. Joy because you are with, but pain because it won’t be for long” (Martel 123). Pi was overwhelmed with joy and happiness when he found out that the Orangutan was alive, but on the other hand, Pi was upset because he knew their future together wasn’t bright. This shows how one would feel after discovering that a close family member is alive, after a horrendous incident. The Orangutan was reminding Pi of his mother. Pi’s mother (Gita) had two other son exactly like Orange Juice, “Orange Juice also was a mother with two fine boys.” (Martel 140). Since the Orangutan and Pi’s mother share so many similarities, they should be a reflection of each other in the alternate stories. Also, after the Hyena murdered the Orangutan, Pi was tremendously heart …show more content…
Richard Parker symbolized the madness and barbarity inside of Pi, when Pi first steps foot on the boat he’s a decent civilized human being, but during all this time Richard Parker is under the tarpaulin, unseen from Pi. When Pi meets the blind man, Richard Parker comes all the way out from under the tarpaulin and in effect to this Pi eats the blindman. Richard Parker also represents Pi’s animal like instincts. After the blind man was attacked by Richard Parker Pi begins to eat the blind man. The way he is acting is cannibalism, which has shown the complete savage Pi has turned into. Instead of Pi taking the blame for all the sins he had committed he used Richard Parker as a force field to hide his dignity. When the lifeboat landed at the shore of Mexico, that’s when Pi’s turbulence train came to a stop. As soon as the lifeboat touched the beach, “Richard Parker, companion of my torment, awful fierce thing that kept me alive, moved forward and disappeared forever from my life” (Martel 310). The quote shows that “savage Pi” is finally gone with Richard Parker and it will not
Thinking of the Hyena’s characteristics, it’s safe to say the Hyena reflects to the Cook in the “true story”. The Hyena and the Cook both portray selfishness. The cook was determined to sacrifice Pi for his own wants and needs, when he pushed Pi onto the boat. Similar to the Cook, the Hyena was showing signs of selfishness when it killed the Zebra and the Orangutan for its own benefits. The Cook makes the second story more dreadful than anything else. In a reader's point of view they …show more content…
The Orangutan was very protective, sacrificing, and portrayed motherly instincts throughout the story. When Pi had seen the Orangutan floating on the island of bananas Pi said, “How bitterly glad I am to see you. You bring joy and pain in equal measure. Joy because you are with, but pain because it won’t be for long” (Martel 123). Pi was overwhelmed with joy and happiness when he found out that the Orangutan was alive, but on the other hand, Pi was upset because he knew their future together wasn’t bright. This shows how one would feel after discovering that a close family member is alive, after a horrendous incident. The Orangutan was reminding Pi of his mother. Pi’s mother (Gita) had two other son exactly like Orange Juice, “Orange Juice also was a mother with two fine boys.” (Martel 140). Since the Orangutan and Pi’s mother share so many similarities, they should be a reflection of each other in the alternate stories. Also, after the Hyena murdered the Orangutan, Pi was tremendously heart …show more content…
Richard Parker symbolized the madness and barbarity inside of Pi, when Pi first steps foot on the boat he’s a decent civilized human being, but during all this time Richard Parker is under the tarpaulin, unseen from Pi. When Pi meets the blind man, Richard Parker comes all the way out from under the tarpaulin and in effect to this Pi eats the blindman. Richard Parker also represents Pi’s animal like instincts. After the blind man was attacked by Richard Parker Pi begins to eat the blind man. The way he is acting is cannibalism, which has shown the complete savage Pi has turned into. Instead of Pi taking the blame for all the sins he had committed he used Richard Parker as a force field to hide his dignity. When the lifeboat landed at the shore of Mexico, that’s when Pi’s turbulence train came to a stop. As soon as the lifeboat touched the beach, “Richard Parker, companion of my torment, awful fierce thing that kept me alive, moved forward and disappeared forever from my life” (Martel 310). The quote shows that “savage Pi” is finally gone with Richard Parker and it will not