Canada Reads

Yann Martel once said, “Survival is a state of mind”. In The Life of Pi, Yann Martel uses the theme of survival. Mans duality is demonstrated through facing his fears, psychological survival, and constructed reality. At the beginning of the novel, Pi’s father instills a lesson is to be learned around big animals such as Bengal tigers. Pi’s father makes Pi and his older brother watch as a goat is thrown into the cage of the tiger as a meal. Growing up at the Pondicherry zoo, Piscine had a love…

Over time society has come to recognize certain objects, like the Red Cross, flashing lights, and hospital signs, as being the universal symbols of aid. However, many of these symbols do not necessarily need to be tangible objects in order to represent something greater, but can be a concept even as subtle as a colour that, when repeatedly shown in certain contexts, comes to symbolize the same as an ambulance responding to an emergent call. Some of the strongest symbols in literature include…

Introduction Life of Pi is situated against the tumultuous time of Indian history known as the Emergency. Life of Pi is suffused by a pervasive liminality. The teenaged Pi is in movement between mainlands, in the middle of religions, and in the middle of youth and adulthood, which implies that the novel is likewise a bildungsroman. The story is a kinder, more hopeful decision contrasted with the more "sensible" story. Pi is content with his life living in the zoo with his crew. He grows up…

The two crucial stories told by Piscine Molitor Patel, the main character of the novel Life Of Pi written by Yann Martel, contain completely different characters as well as different versions of events that took place while Pi was lost at sea. The differences of these two stories unite to form a commentary on religion, specifically religious tales, and the power of storytelling. In addition to their differences unveiling observations related to people’s beliefs, the similarities between the two…

Chapter two of Into the Jungle introduces Alfred Wallace in the Rio dos Uaupes in the Amazon, where he had been staying for about four years discovering and collecting new animals, plants, and specimen. However, on his journey back to England in 1852, a tragic fire on the ship led him to lose almost all of his discoveries. Even though he was able to salvage some of his findings and had even been able to sell some of his specimens because of his agent Samuel Stevens, he still had an urge to go…

knowing that it might attack because it’s hungry. Yann Martel’s novel, Life of Pi, describes one full story of a kid who’s lost in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a tiger, and a kid whose family passed away when they were on a boat on their way to Canada for better job opportunities. The story with animals is more believable because it talks about Richard Parker eating a hyena and a French castaway, Pi eating sea animals, and Pi having to train Richard Parker. Richard Parker eats a…

Wondrous but Fearful Tyger William Blake’s “The Tyger” in Songs of Experience, written in 1794, describes the Tyger as “fearful” while appreciating its beauty. During this time, Blake was one of the first people to see a tiger; this inspired him to write “The Tyger” and paint the creature as a majestic but fierce being. Although the origins of the Tyger are questioned, the creator is referred to as “he” implying a male divine creator. While examining who or what created the Tyger, in addition…

monsters, a four hundred- fifty pound Bengal Tiger and your mind. Pi Patel was an innocent sixteen year old indian boy, caught in a spiral of unfortunate events. Pi was first devastated when his parents said the family was selling the zoo and moving to Canada. Then, the ship (Tsimtsum) sunk in the Mariana’s Trench don’t think it sank here. He luckily survived, even after being trapped with Richard Parker (the Bengal Tiger) for two hundred twenty seven days in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.…

Life of Pi, written by Yann Martel in 2001 displays how reality and faith shape each other and how each person has their own reality. While forming a central idea of how faith and belief can shape one's reality, Martel's crafting and organisation of the book leads readers to understand that Pi uses metaphorical animals representing him and other passengers on the lifeboat. Through these symbolic animals Pi relays his story while simultaneously buffering himself from the reality of the events…

The tiger will never lie down with the lamb. The lamb must learn to run with the tigers. In life, you can either be a monster, or a man; and the monster always wins. To be a man is to be the lamb, innocent and dictated. To be a monster is to be the tiger, running freely and being independent. In the Tiger’s Bride, Beauty is a lamb, but she must learn to run with the tiger. In the tiger’s bride, beauty starts as an innocent girl who is consumed with pleasing her father and doing whatever…