I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a great story of triumph and the test of human will. Pi was able to survive a ship wreck, loss of family, dehydration, famine, wild animals, loss of sight, and cannibalism. It is very clear that Martel is trying to stress to the reader that living creatures will do extraordinary and unexpected things to survive. However, they will also do barbaric acts when faced with the same circumstances. For example, the hyena’s treachery and the blind Frenchman’s turn toward cannibalism show just how far creatures will go when faced with the possibility of extinction. Another theme that was present in the story was the connection between Pi and Richard Parker. (This is the deep structure consisting of the text’s ideas and truths, which the writer tries to convey through the action and exposition of the story.) At the end of the story, Pi realizes that he and Richard Parker is actually aspect of his own personality. This realization is made aware to the reader when Pi is retelling his story of despair to the two officials from the Maritime Department in the Japanese Ministry of Transport. They don’t believe his story, so Pi replaces the animals with people. Could this story have been an extreme hyperbole??? (Exaggeration or overstatement of the truth) I assume that Pi has made up the story about the animals as a coping mechanism and a way to disconnect with the horrible things he had to witness. Martel uses theses parallel stories to show the symbolism between animals and humans. (Person, place, thing that is in a text, used to represent something else.) Furthermore, he drives home the point that we humans are not so different from animals after all. Deprived of the luxuries and conveniences we have built up for ourselves in modern times, we resort to our basic instincts and animalistic roots.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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!!
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!!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
“He Seems to be Attracting Religions the Way a Dog Attracts Fleas”
In this section of the novel, Pi explores different religions. Pi describes his earliest memories as a baby being connected to Hinduism. He goes into to detail about the Hindu philosophy of life and how he embraces it. “That which sustains the universe beyond thought and language, and that which is at the core of us and struggles for expression, is the same thing.”
One day on vacation, fourteen year old Pi begins his long journey of Theology. Pi discovers a church during this vacation and goes in out of curiosity. He meets Father Martin and he explains to Pi the beliefs of Christianity. During this conversation, Martel describes an exchange between Pi and Father Martel. “He patted me on the head. It was more of a thump, actually. His hand went BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM on my head." This is an example of onomatopoeia. (A use of words whose sound defines its meaning.) Pi develops a relationship with Father Martin and decides to become a Christian.
At the age of fifteen, Pi describes his experiences with a Muslim baker and mystic, Mr. Kumar. Pi and Mr. Kumar began talking but Mr. Kumar interprets their conversation to pray. Pi is fascinated with Mr. Kumar’s ritual of praying. Pi returns the next day to ask Mr. Kumar about his religion. Pi then begins to attend mosque regularly.
Pi’s parents become very confused when discovering that he is practicing all three religions. This behavior causes rising conflict among Pi, his parents, and the three religious figures. (The primary source of tension within a story.) His mother has some hesitation about discussing religion with Pi after he asks to be baptized and request a pray rug. But, Pi explains to his mother that his only purpose is to love God. Pi’s early practicing of multiple religions is foreshadowing of him becoming involved with religious studies. (The author giving hints of what will come later in the story.) I love the way the author shows the different religions through the eyes of a young boy. He helps the reader develop empathy for other religions that he/she may have never encountered before. (The act of placing yourself “in the shoes” of another and forcing yourself to imagine how that person must feel.) I feel that Life of Pi is a great tool to help students understand and see multi-cultural characters that may have not been exposed to before, in engaging and entertaining way.
One day on vacation, fourteen year old Pi begins his long journey of Theology. Pi discovers a church during this vacation and goes in out of curiosity. He meets Father Martin and he explains to Pi the beliefs of Christianity. During this conversation, Martel describes an exchange between Pi and Father Martel. “He patted me on the head. It was more of a thump, actually. His hand went BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM on my head." This is an example of onomatopoeia. (A use of words whose sound defines its meaning.) Pi develops a relationship with Father Martin and decides to become a Christian.
At the age of fifteen, Pi describes his experiences with a Muslim baker and mystic, Mr. Kumar. Pi and Mr. Kumar began talking but Mr. Kumar interprets their conversation to pray. Pi is fascinated with Mr. Kumar’s ritual of praying. Pi returns the next day to ask Mr. Kumar about his religion. Pi then begins to attend mosque regularly.
Pi’s parents become very confused when discovering that he is practicing all three religions. This behavior causes rising conflict among Pi, his parents, and the three religious figures. (The primary source of tension within a story.) His mother has some hesitation about discussing religion with Pi after he asks to be baptized and request a pray rug. But, Pi explains to his mother that his only purpose is to love God. Pi’s early practicing of multiple religions is foreshadowing of him becoming involved with religious studies. (The author giving hints of what will come later in the story.) I love the way the author shows the different religions through the eyes of a young boy. He helps the reader develop empathy for other religions that he/she may have never encountered before. (The act of placing yourself “in the shoes” of another and forcing yourself to imagine how that person must feel.) I feel that Life of Pi is a great tool to help students understand and see multi-cultural characters that may have not been exposed to before, in engaging and entertaining way.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Suspense, Drama, and Bears.... OH MY!!!
In the beginning, I have mixed emotions about “Life of Pi“. Yann Martel starts the book off with a description of three toed sloth , describing their daily life. I found the opening part of this book to be boring. The extensive description of the sloth made me curious about what the sloth had to do with the story at hand. After reading more of the book, I noticed Yann Martel was using a digression technique with the story of the sloth. (Digression is a temporary departure from the main subject to address a separate idea or event within the story.) Yann Martel was showcasing Pi’s love for animals and demonstrating his knowledge of zoology. Martel also used this technique in the first fifty pages of the book with the hospital scene. It seems that Pi is in the hospital and is in a very serious condition. Martel does not disclose why and what happened to Pi to result in him being hospitalized. Once I am pulled in by the hospital scene; Martel skips to another element of the story, Pi’s childhood.
The description of Pi’s childhood makes this novel more interesting to me. I love the why the author, slowly gives you clues about the main character of the story, Piscine. In most novels, readers find out the main character’s name by the first page. In “Life of Pi”, the reader finally gets the main character’s name at the end of the chapter three. It is also very interesting the way Martel tells the underlying story behind Piscine Molitor Patel’s name. The main character Piscine describes how he receives his name, his school experience, and life at the zoo. Piscine suffers teasing over his name from his fellow classmates. The children associate the way his name sounds to the word “pissing”. So Piscine has a brilliant idea to change his name to Pi. Pi also goes into to great description about the animals in his father’s zoo. This is my favorite part of the book. I love the descriptions of the animals and the techniques that Martel uses to draw the reader in are brilliant. On page thirteen, We learn that Pi’s father use to be a hotelkeeper. Martel connects Pi’s father past occupation with his current occupation as a Zookeeper with an extended metaphor . ( Metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things in which no word of comparison, like or as, is used.) Martel describes the animals as if they are hotel guests. “ The guests never leave their rooms; they expect not only lodging but full board, they receive a constant flow of visitors, some of whom are noisy and unruly.” I found this thought to be quite humorous. During this comparison of hotel keeping and zoo keeping, Martel uses another literary technique, personification. (Personification is a literary device that describes an animal, object, or idea as if it had human characteristics.) This made the animals in the story more relatable to the reader and a comedic element.
After the first fifty pages, I’m very interested in seeing what happens in this novel. Although “Life of Pi” gets off to a slow start, the mysterious elements and quick witted literary techniques pulled me in. I look forward to reading more and sharing the book with each and every one of you.
The description of Pi’s childhood makes this novel more interesting to me. I love the why the author, slowly gives you clues about the main character of the story, Piscine. In most novels, readers find out the main character’s name by the first page. In “Life of Pi”, the reader finally gets the main character’s name at the end of the chapter three. It is also very interesting the way Martel tells the underlying story behind Piscine Molitor Patel’s name. The main character Piscine describes how he receives his name, his school experience, and life at the zoo. Piscine suffers teasing over his name from his fellow classmates. The children associate the way his name sounds to the word “pissing”. So Piscine has a brilliant idea to change his name to Pi. Pi also goes into to great description about the animals in his father’s zoo. This is my favorite part of the book. I love the descriptions of the animals and the techniques that Martel uses to draw the reader in are brilliant. On page thirteen, We learn that Pi’s father use to be a hotelkeeper. Martel connects Pi’s father past occupation with his current occupation as a Zookeeper with an extended metaphor . ( Metaphor is a comparison of two unlike things in which no word of comparison, like or as, is used.) Martel describes the animals as if they are hotel guests. “ The guests never leave their rooms; they expect not only lodging but full board, they receive a constant flow of visitors, some of whom are noisy and unruly.” I found this thought to be quite humorous. During this comparison of hotel keeping and zoo keeping, Martel uses another literary technique, personification. (Personification is a literary device that describes an animal, object, or idea as if it had human characteristics.) This made the animals in the story more relatable to the reader and a comedic element.
After the first fifty pages, I’m very interested in seeing what happens in this novel. Although “Life of Pi” gets off to a slow start, the mysterious elements and quick witted literary techniques pulled me in. I look forward to reading more and sharing the book with each and every one of you.
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