Yann Martel’s Life of Pi tells the story of a young boy, Piscine Molitor Patel, who loses his entire family and most of the animals he grew up with at the zoo his family owned, when the ship taking them to Canada sinks. Sailors threw Pi onto a life boat that held a tiger, hyena, and a zebra, which ended up saving his life instead of distracting the animals with “food” so the sailors could get on the boat safely and survive. Within his first few weeks of being on the boat the zebra and hyena both were eaten by the tiger and it was just Pi and the tiger, Richard Parker on the boat for over 200 days. Martel’s use of imagery and comparison convey the mental and physical strength it took for Pi to survive on a lifeboat with not much food or water
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He started questioning God even more and could only hope that a boat would come by and see them; however, Pi eventually gave up on being saved after about a month and a half out on the ocean without seeing one. The main cause of their suffering was due to “The scarcity of fresh water” (283). The lack of fresh water took a toll on both Richard Parker and Pi. They both became dehydrated and were weakened because of it. The weaker Pi got the less he was able to fish and catch food for the both of them. This caused them to become even weaker. At one point in the book, Pi even went blind because of he was not getting enough food and the nutrients that come from it. The diet he had to live on didn’t help either. Since Pi’s body had been weakened enough that he couldn’t pull turtles or dorados out of the water, Richard and Pi could only eat small fish. Whenever Pi was able to catch food, Richard Parker got “the lion share” (284) of it because Pi was afraid Richard Parker would attack him. With all the struggling Richard Parker and Pi faced Pi still thought they should “fight no matter the cost of battle” (186). Pi was the only person out of his family that was able to survive the ship sinking. So, he didn’t want to give up on the life God had spared
He started questioning God even more and could only hope that a boat would come by and see them; however, Pi eventually gave up on being saved after about a month and a half out on the ocean without seeing one. The main cause of their suffering was due to “The scarcity of fresh water” (283). The lack of fresh water took a toll on both Richard Parker and Pi. They both became dehydrated and were weakened because of it. The weaker Pi got the less he was able to fish and catch food for the both of them. This caused them to become even weaker. At one point in the book, Pi even went blind because of he was not getting enough food and the nutrients that come from it. The diet he had to live on didn’t help either. Since Pi’s body had been weakened enough that he couldn’t pull turtles or dorados out of the water, Richard and Pi could only eat small fish. Whenever Pi was able to catch food, Richard Parker got “the lion share” (284) of it because Pi was afraid Richard Parker would attack him. With all the struggling Richard Parker and Pi faced Pi still thought they should “fight no matter the cost of battle” (186). Pi was the only person out of his family that was able to survive the ship sinking. So, he didn’t want to give up on the life God had spared