Life on a lifeboat isn’t much of a life!!

This section of Li of Pi opens with Pi and his family boarding the Tsimtsum and journeying to Canada. Pi is awakened out of his sleep by a loud noise from the ship. Pi’s investigative nature causes him to explore the ship to see what was going on with the ship. Pi decides to take matters in his own hand when he unsuccessful wakes up Ravi and skips over his parents’ room. This action is a motif in the story. Pi is stepping into to manhood and exploring things independently from his family. (A motif is a frequently recurring theme or idea in a work of literature.)


The reader soon finds out that Pi is forced to become a man way before his time. The booming sound leads to the Tsimtsum’s demise. Once Pi comes to the realization of what is going on with the ship, it is too late. With the rising water approaching, Pi finds the crewmen to ask about his family and to see what he needs to do. The crewmen fling Pi into a life jacket and throw him overboard and he lands into a life boat. Suddenly a zebra jumps into the life boat alongside Pi. Then Pi begins to address Richard Parker, who is in the water trying to get into the life boat. Martel finally reveals that Richard Parker is a Bengal Tiger. Immediately the tone of the novel changes, as I read this part I began to fear for Pi’s life. (Tone is similar to mood, it relates to the overall feeling a story creates in the reader.) “Had I considered my prospects in light of reason, I surely would have given up and let go of the oar, hoping that I might drown before being eaten.”

Later on in the novel, more animals appear on the boat. Pi discovers that a hyena is also aboard and Orange Juice, monkey from the family zoo, later sails up to the boat on a bunch of bananas. Pi is very relieved to see Orange Juice and has sympathy for her. Both Pi and Orange Juice seem to have similar reactions to the situation they are in. They both are sad about the loss of their family and are seasick. Pi is amused by how much Orange Juice’s reactions are like his own human reactions.

Pi is forced to deal with the brutality of the hyena’s behavior as he begins to attack the zebra and Orange Juice. Pi is able to deal with these situations because of his knowledge of animals from living at the zoo and talks with his father. For example, Martel describes Pi thinking about the hyena’s diet and hunting schedule. Pi knows that hyenas will eat anything they come across. I believe this prior knowledge helps to keep Pi safe and gives him the ability to anticipate oncoming danger from the antagonist characters, Richard Parker and the hyena. (The antagonist is the most prominent of a story’s characters who oppose the hero in the story.) Also Pi seems to be fueled by his fear; accepting his own death makes his fear less paralyzing and enables him to take action. This demonstrates another important theme in Life of Pi, the will to live. Keep living and keep reading!!