Compliment a specific feature or element (symbols, word choice, pacing, exposition, characterization, conflict, chapter length, narrative structure...or choose your own from a literature website) of Yann Martel's great novel Life of Pi. Show at least three specific examples of Martel's use of your selected feature or element. Quote each of your three examples. Write 314+ of your own words.
84 comments:
Phillips Period 7
I really enjoy when the author uses some of the chapters as a way for him to describe his experience meeting Mamaji. Even though Richard Parker is not present in the beginning, you can feel his presence in the book swallow you whole. Mr. Martel uses similes to the point I should not have to comment on any of them for I, myself, cannot choose which my favorite is. Here is one I found humorous,
“The coolness was as pleasing as having a mint in your mouth.”
This simile can be found on page 50 in the book. What I found so profusely funny about it was that I have had several experiences like that. For instance, when I meet someone whom has something to say and is engaging in the conversation, that is my mint. Then there are his metaphors. The metaphors in this book can be considered both imagery and metaphoric, that just maybe in my mind, for I have quite the imagination. (I did not mean to toot my own horn.)
“Truly I am in a sacred cosmic womb, a place where everything is born, and it is my sweet luck to behold its living core.” Located on page 48 of Life of Pi. Beautiful and simple like that of the poetry of Professor Hicks.
When Martel has Pi speaking of his experience in a Christanian temple—he uses the personification of Pi’s heart to explain the excitement and yet the peace the main character feels in this place, found on page 48 also.
“It is my heart that commands me so.”
Yes, it is the heart that moves us in doing great acts of self rightousness and so on. It leads this boy into growing into a man with three religions. I love this book because the author himself is a bloody genius for keeping someone like me engaged in such an adventure.
Trey Martin Pd. 3
One element that I want to comment about, but am not using as my main topic, is how Patel makes chapters that are from the perspective of the unknown author that is interviewing Mr. Patel. For me I have always liked this unknown factor, it just makes the book more interesting and intriguing. We would like to believe that the interviewer is Yann, but we cannot make a confirmation. The element that I really like though is his descriptive word choice. For example when the interviewer is describing the different symbols and statues that are in Mr. Patel’s house. (pg. 45) “His house is a temple. In the entrance hall hangs a framed picture of Ganesha, he of the elephant head. He sits facing out—rosy colored, pot-bellied, crowned and smiling—three hands holding various objects, the fourth held palm out in blessing and in greeting. In the living room, on a table next to the sofa, there is a small framed picture of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, flowers tumbling from her open mantle. Next to it is a framed photo of the black-robed Kaaba, holiest sanctum of Islam, surrounded by a ten-thousandfold swirl of the faithful.” This part gives us an even closer connection to Pi, and gave us a clearer vision of his devotion to his faiths.(pg. 125) “A strip of hide came off the zebra’s belly like gift wrap paper comes off a gift, in a smooth edged swath, only silently, in the way of tearing skin, and with greater resistance.” Even though this part makes us quench when we read it and want to put the book down and never read it again, I think it was very much needed, and even though tragic very true to the story’s tragedy. (pg. 126) “The animals were three feet apart, wide-open jaws directly facing. They put all their energies into their cries, their bodies shaking with the effort. I could see deep down the hyena’s throat.” This part was very powerful to me, so powerful that I felt as if I was right there watching the battle go down. The whole description of the battle was to me one of the best parts of the book so far.
Groninger pd 2
The most important and best thing about this book is its conflicts which I think are the deeper underlying meaning of this book. “I felt like a small circle coinciding with the center of a larger one”(62). This is talking about when Pi is walking home and comes to accept the different aspects of different religions and sees how everything is in harmony and peace where “Atman met Allah”(62). Later on in the book when Pi is on the boat he sinks low in his faiths. “It came as an unmistakable indication to me of how low I had sunk the day I noticed, with a pinching of the heart, that I ate like an animal, that this noisy, frantic, unchewing wolfing-down of mine was exactly the way Richard Parker ate”(225). This shows that he has sunken low in his beliefs because God does not hold animals accountable for their sins and actions. I think another way that he does this is when he is telling the second different story where he witnessed his mothers murder and ended up being a cannibal and killing another person. I wonder if the psychological damage caused him to imagine it was a hyena killing a zebra. Along with the struggle for survival that plagues the boy and creates so much internal conflict, he potentially creates the entire story to hide himself from the truth and his inner conflict. This creates a huge doubt for the reader which made me wonder if he made up the story with the animals to be able to deal with his troubled self and the inner conflict from the horrible actions he does which, in his religions they would not allow a person who did such things to have a clean conscience for eating another human being and then taking a life. “I know what you want. You want a story that won’t surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won’t make you see higher or further or differently”(302). This creates another deeper meaning for the reader to look deeper into the stories and their possible meanings which was a great way to interest and draw the reader in while making them question different things and think harder about the book.
Engebretson, pd 6.
The element that I will gladly compliment about this book is Yenn Martel's attention to details. His keen sense to detail not only makes the story easier --and more fun for the reader-- to read, but also it helps put a very distinctive image in your head. The short chapters also support this detailed novel. In chapter 38, Pi is trying to recollect on how it is the ship crashed and what exactly happened --or atleast what he thinks. "The ship shook and there was that sound, the monstrous metallic burp. What was it? Was it the collective scream of humans and animals protesting their oncoming death? Was it the ship itself giving up the ghost. I fell over. I got to my feet. I looked overboard again. The sea was rising. The waves were getting closer. We were sinking fast." (104) For me, this passage helps me put my perceived image in my head, and also stirs up curiousity in me in wondering how the ship actually crashes.
Yenn also uses his detail when he talks about the grueling experiences with the multiple animals on board with him. "The zebra's broken leg was missing. The hyena had bitten it off and dragged it to the stern, behind the zebra. A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump. Blood was still dripping." (120) This quote sorta supports that when it comes to fate vs. evil, evil prevails. The most grueling animal description of all to me is the one describing the "virgin mary," Orange Juice and her beheading. "Orange Juice lay next to it, against the dead zebra. Her arms were spread wide open and her short legs were folded together and slightly turned to one side. She looked like a smilian Christ on the Cross. Except for her head. She was beheaded. The neck wound was still bleeding." (131-132)
My favorite part about this fascinating book is without-a-doubt Yenn Martel's use of adjectives through his descriptions. This book is full of amazing imagery --and other literary devices-- that throughout this novel, have constantly sparked my imagination.
Mitzel, Pd. 6
One part of the novel that is absolutely amazing is Yann Martel's attention to detail. Every chapter may be short but it is that way for a reason. Everything is done to help the reader dig deeper into the novel and explore what you can learn from it. Some chapters I felt myself bored while I read them but the word choices and explanations drew me in and made me read further.
On page 33, Martel goes into detail about how is father taught him and his brother a very powerful lesson. That lesson will live inside him every day he sees a tiger. "Mahisha, our Bengal tiger patriarch, a lanky, hulking beast of 550 pounds, had been detained." Just that line makes you worry and wonder what is about to come. I read further going into…"I want you to understand that you are never--under any circumstances--to touch a tiger, to pet a tiger, to put your hands through the bars of a cage, even to get close to a cage. Is that clear?" (great foreshadowing also). Needless to say, this is the scene when the goat gets attacked. We can picture every moment of it. The orange and black stripes darting across the floor/pages.
Pages 43-45 talk about lion taming and all that goes into "training" a lion. "So you see, if you fall into a lion's pit, the reason that lion will tear you to pieces is not because it's hungry--be assured, zoo animals are amply fed--or because it's bloodthirsty, but because you've invaded its territory." These are the first lines of chapter 13, making you want to know more about lion taming. I always see the lion tamers at the zoo and wonder how they do not die. It is a question every kid and adult asks. Yann Martel is telling me the answers to how everything works in these few pages. It's all about establishing that the ring is their territory, not the lions. The tamer knows how to control the social rank and uses brain over brawn. The trainers job is all psychological, using "erect posture, calm demeanor, steady gaze, fearless step forward, strange roar.."
Finally, on pages 120-123, the hyena attacks the zebra. The gore and details in this chapter makes many feel sick to their stomach. "Its mouth bright red and it was chewing on a piece of hide." "The zebra's broken leg was missing. A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump. Blood was still dripping." There is no way to throw the animal off the boat with all the animals aboard. Imagine the stench and rotting flesh after days of the hide being broken down from the sun. Blood would be everywhere on the floor of the boat and there would be nothing you could do. In later chapters, the hyena strikes again, this time taking Orange Juice. These scene is more graphic then the one with the hyena.
Yann Martel's talent for detail is extraordinary. Everything his says makes you want to read more and more. He makes me think about many questions and explore more then I already know. He is an amazing author.
Randolph period 6
Throughout Life of Pi, foreshadowing is used often. In the first 86 pages Yann Martel does nothing but foreshadow what his journey in the lifeboat will be like and many of the events that will take place on it. For example on page 40 of chapter 10, he talks about animals don’t like to be in unsuitable enclosures. “Every animal has particular habitat needs that must be met”. Later on in the book, Pi is faced with being the animal in the unsuitable habitat of a lifeboat. Animals that are in an unsuitable habitat get restless or just lope around in a sour mood. When Pi was trapped in the lifeboat he was unhealthily lying around and his body was beginning to shut down. Another example of foreshadowing is when Pi’s father forces him and his brother to watch Mahisha devour a goat. After watching the goat be devoured Pi’s brother looked at him and said, “Just wait till we’re alone. You’re the next goat!”(page 39). Pi is on the boat he is left alone with a 450 pound tiger where he is actually the next goat. At any point the tiger could make him the goat and devour him. Finally, how Pi trains Richard Parker and keeps him from attacking is also foreshadowed on page 39. “Getting animals used to the presence of humans is at the heart of the art and science of zookeeping.” This foreshadows that Pi will have to get an animal used to his presence in order to survive. In each chapter up until chapter 37, Yann Martel uses the separation of chapters to foreshadow something new. Because he creatively foreshadowed all of the events on the boat, when we read about life on the boat we can see the relativity of his life before the shipwreck and see how he is mentally prepared for it.
Hauck pd. 6
An element in the novel that has stuck out the most to me is when Yann Martel gives extreme lifelike characteristics to animals. Within the first ninety pages, one of the biggest talked about subjects was Pi’s love and passion for animals in the zoo. He fought for them and expressed what they became to him. Throughout the book it is very easily told that Pi felt as if the animals were quite possibly his closest friends and expressed his knowledge, not only facts about them but the feelings and emotions they have. “It’s a question of brain over brawn. The nature of the circus trainer’s ascendancy is psychological. Foreign surroundings, the trainer’s erect posture, calm demeanor, steady gaze, fearless step forward, strange roar (for example, the snapping of a whip or the blowing of a whistle)- these are so many factors that will fill the animal’s mind with doubt and fear, and make clear to it where it stands, the very thing it wants to know.”(44). But, at some point in the story line, Pi admits that even the closest things can be an unknown when he realizes that Orange Juice, the female ape he had known since she had been brought to the zoo and who was considered a great friend which he knew so much about, was actually a mystery of actions when put into a survival situation, where Pi discovered an entire new side of her which he had never known to exist. “As she matured into her full wild self, I observed her at a distance. I thought I knew her so well that I could predict her every move. I thought I knew not only her habits but also her limits. This display of ferocity, of savage courage, made me realize that I was wrong. All my life I had known only a part of her.”(130). Aside from the emotions and closeness that the author shows between Pi and the animals, he also shows great brutal detail in pain and death among the animals in the story. When the wounded zebra in helpless attack by the hyena, he doesn’t show it shortly and sweetly. He provides extreme graphic visual words that make you feel more human emotion towards the animal. “Then, with only a snarl for notice, the hyena went amok. It hadn’t moved from its cramped quarters all day. It put its front legs on the zebra’s side, reached over and gathered a fold of skin in its jaws. It pulled roughly. A strip of hid came off the zebra’s belly like gift-wrap paper comes off a gift, in a smooth-edged swath, only silently, in the way of tearing skin, and with greater resistance. Immediately blood poured forth like a river. Barking, snorting and squealing, the zebra came to life to defend itself.”(125).
Hallstrom pd. 6
An element of Life of Pi that I really enjoy to read is the extreme foreshadowing that Yann Martel uses to attract the reader and force the reader to continue reading. The details that Yann Martel uses are extremely fascinating and his words force me to continue reading the book whenever I have a slight amount of free time. The pages before page 97 are all pages that have foreshadowing towards what is going to happen to Pi and his family later on in the book. He uses such vivid foreshadowing that you can predict without even trying to understand what he is going to write about in the upcoming pages of the book. An example of foreshadowing on page 34 is the very first paragraph that says “Tigers are very dangerous, I want you to understand that you are never—under any circumstances—to touch a tiger, to pet a tiger, to put your hands through the bars of a cage, even to get close to a cage. Is that clear?”(34). This is perfectly foreshadowing the fact that at some point in the book there will be a tiger and a human in very close proximity of each other (such as on a lifeboat maybe). Another example would be “I woke up to what I was doing. I yanked on the rope. ‘Let go of that lifebuoy, Richard Parker! Let go, I said. I don’t want you here, do you understand? Go somewhere else. Leave me alone. Get lost. Drown! Drown!’”(99). This quote is foreshadowing the fear that Pi has of tigers after realizing that he was helping a tiger onto the lifeboat that he was on in the middle of the ocean after the Tsimtsum had sank to the bottom of the ocean. Pi also thought about the fact of how long would Richard Parker have to be on my lifeboat if I indeed helped him onto my lifeboat and how long will I survive against Richard Parker considering that he is a carnivore and could tear Pi limb from limb. This example of the fear that Pi has of Richard Parker is phenomenal to say the least. And the respect that Pi has for this ravage beast that is one of the world’s best predators. “We left Madras on June 21st, 1977, on the Panamanian-registered Japanese cargo ship Tsimtsum.”(90). This quote is foreshadowing in a way for saying that they left for their fateful endeavor that would be the last thing they will ever do in their lives. The way that most of the zoo animals and Pi’s father, mother, and siblings. The last time they will ever be together.
Jordan Edwards p.7
Life of Pi is definitely the best story we have read this year. Even though the introduction of Pi and his life prior to the shipwreck is a bit lengthy the book is very good overall. Martel does an extremely good job of specifically describing things such as the zebra’s death and the other sight and sounds that Pi experiences. One of the things that Yann does the best job on though, is that he keeps the book moving along. He does not overly describe one particular event or keep the reader bored with the life on a lifeboat. There is always something new that seems to pop up at the just the right time to keep the reader interested. Mr. Martel also uses a lot of very creative, original similes. For example when describing the hyena attacking the zebra he says, “A strip of hide came off the zebra’s belly like gift wrap paper comes off a gift, in a smooth edged swath, only silently, in the way of tearing skin, and with greater resistance.” Life of Pi has an amazing plot to it because every detail that Yann tells us seems to be important in some other part of the story. Pi’s extensive knowledge of animals is extremely helpful to him throughout the book. By doing this Yann makes it possible for Pi to actually survive this ordeal. Also when Martel talks about how someone goes about training tigers it comes up later in the story as with many other subtle details. Yann Martel makes this story seem like it could have actually taken place even though it did not. To me this is one of the best ways to write a fiction book. The author needs to make it either completely unrealistic or else on the border of could have happened.
Paul Pd.3
The main thing that I enjoy about the book Life of Pi and am very willing to compliment is the extremity of his attention to detail. This detail draws you into the book and makes you one with the character’s eyes. I believe this is the main reason so many of us students like it, is because it makes us feel like we are there and we can truly experience what Pi is going through.
One of my favorite parts so far is the detail he uses when he is telling us about the zoo he lived in as he was leaving for school. He says, “Every morning before I was out the main gate I had one last impression that was both ordinary and unforgettable: a pyramid of turtles; the iridescent snout of a mandrill; the stately silence of a giraffe; the obese, yellow open mouth of a hippo; the beak-and-claw climbing of a macaw parrot up a wire fence; the greeting claps of a shoebill’s bill; the senile, lecherous expression of a camel.(Pg. 14-15)” When I read this I was in awe because I felt like I had just walked through a zoo. Also it made me keep reading and get involved with the story because, not going to lie, I was jealous that he got to see this every single day he went to school in the morning. The detail is what makes this excerpt of literature so beautiful because it paints an image in your mind and makes your mind wonder and explore.
Another part where Martel uses beautiful detail is on page 76-77 when he describes his prayer rug, where he prays, and his baptism. In this example of detail I believe it shows his passion to his religions. The way he writes about the rug shows deep attachment to it, the way he describes the places he picks to pray, and the way he describes getting baptized just shows the emotion and how much he cares. One such example is when he says, “The patter, in gold lines upon a background of red, was plain: a narrow rectangle with a triangular peak at one extremity to indicate the qibla, the direction of prayer, and little curlicues floating around it, like wisps of smoke or accents from a strange language.(Pg. 76)”
A third and final example of his detail is the way he talks about everything while trapped at sea. A great example is when he is describing the way he is holding a flying fish “The way I was holding it, it looked like a scoop of loathsome fish ice cream sticking out of a wool blanket cone.(Pg. 182)” This just goes to show the extent of his detail because he really doesn’t need to explain how exactly he is holding it but since he does is helps you relate and think things like “I held a fish like that while fishing one time with my dad when I was little” and it makes you care about the character and you can understand a little bit more about what he is going through and how he made it through.
Erickson Pd. 2
In “Life of Pi”, I really enjoy the extreme details that Yann Martel places attention to this fantastic novel. His details add a sense of creativity to the reader. Many authors will not create details that will create a vivid, clear picture embedded into your mind. His novel is uniquely created. His chapters are different lengths for many reasons. Martel places chapters that include the interviewer’s thoughts on Pi. This helps us know Pi a little bit more than what Pi is actually telling us. I have never come across a book that includes chapters from an interviewer. On the boat, Martel gruesomely describes the hyena eating the zebra from the inside out. You really feel sorry for the zebra because of the way Martel describes him suffering. “The victim bore its suffering patiently, without showy remonstrations. A slow and constant grinding of its teeth was the only visible sign of distress.” (120). The grinding of teeth is a sound that most humans are annoyed by. He places a sound that rings in your ears and causes you to cringe. On page 172, Pi is talking about having to urinate. Pi informs the reader that his urine “glowed in the sunlight, looking like a glass of apple juice.” This makes me feel like it was tempting for him to drink. I love apple juice so if I had this picture embedded into my mind I would feel that apple juice would be pretty darn tasty. In this case, that apple juice would be absolutely disgusting. This description provides the reader an idea on how desperate Pi is to have his thirst quenched. Pi is informing the reader on page 108 about how he is fearful of Richard Parker. Richard Parker is a “fierce, 450-pound carnivore.” This provides the reader a better reason for Pi to be deathly afraid of Richard Parker. He also includes that “his claws are as sharp as a knife.” This shows that in a matter of seconds Pi could be brutally murdered by Richard Parker if he does not tame him. Yann Martel provides a great educational novel for students. He shows many examples of imagery and foreshadowing—and many other wonderful literary devices—that help the reader get a more descriptive view of what Pi experiences on the life boat. I enjoy the descriptions that Martel provides in this novel.
Mork pd. 2
I really enjoy how much he uses foreshadowing. Some examples are the how dangerous the tigers are and how you show your boss. How dangerous tigers were when Pi’s dad showed him and Ravi to be careful around the tigers and then all of a sudden that was the most dangerous animal that was on the stranded lifeboat with Pi. Also it made Pi more aware that he should probably keep Richard Parker fed so he wouldn’t become vicious. Next with the lions it said how he would walk into the cage first to show the lions that it was his territory because he was there first. Pi used this in the lifeboat in that he was in the boat first. On a different level I liked how Martel used a lot of Christ references with OJ in that he sacrificed himself for the zebra and also when he was murdered his arms were spread out like Jesus on the cross. Another thing I have liked so far is in that how descriptive Martel’s words can be and that it is more interesting and you can feel as if you were there. I like how he can make it seem more real and easier to picture. (Pg.120-123) "Its mouth bright red and it was chewing on a piece of hide." "The zebra's broken leg was missing. A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump. Blood was still dripping." It make me nauseous when thinking about it but it helps me to realize what Pi is going through. (pg. 126) “The animals were three feet apart, wide-open jaws directly facing. They put all their energies into their cries, their bodies shaking with the effort. I could see deep down the hyena’s throat.” I truly did feel as if I was there witnessing the battle. I just really enjoy how descriptive he is.
Nick Larsen
Pd3
My favorite feature about Life of Pi is without any doubt his incredible imagery. Yann Martel really knows how to put all of these vivid images with endless detail into the readers mind. Every little part that he writes about is described so well it as if he is literally in your mind painting images. Martel is an artist with words. “He shows me family memorabilia. Wedding photos first. A Hindu wedding with Canada prominently on the edges. A younger him, a younger her. They went to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon…” (86). These words puts me in the authors shoes and lets me see the exact images that are displayed inside the house. He even goes into detail about the expression on the faces within the pictures and you can grasp emotions from this. We feel the happiness in the wedding photos and also can get a mental image of the younger Pi. “She’s also Indian but has a more typically Canadian accent. She must be second generation. She’s a little younger than him, skin slightly darker, long black hair woven in a tress. Bright dark eyes and lovely white teeth. She has in her arms a dry-cleaned white lab coat in a protective plastic film. She’s a pharmacist….” (80). From this descriptive master piece we can achieve the setting and also the perfectly mind drawn image of this lady. It even describes what she is holding and goes into detail about every feature she has. Yann has just taken the blank canvas in our minds and made it art worthy of being next to the Mona Lisa. “There is a shrine in the kitchen. It is set in a cupboard whose door he has replaced with a fretwork arch. The arch partly hides the yellow light bulb that in the evening lights up the shrine. Two pictures rest behind a small altar: to the side, Ganesha again, and in the centre, in a large frame, smiling and blue-skinned, Krishna playing the flute. Both have smears of red and yellow powder on the glass over their foreheads…” (46). I am at this shrine. I can see what is there exactly how Martel puts it. He has just inserted me into this world he has created and his vivid details never cease to amaze me. For the rest of this exciting novel I am absolutely ready to have more painting and pictures injected into my head.
Stepheni Herrman
pd.3
When reading this novel I have found myself liking the use of great detail, clever and vivid similes. I love being able to picture a perfect scene in my head. It helps me to learn the book and know what is going on a lot better. It also allows me to put myself in the characters position a lot better. The more detail and comparisons the easier it is to become one with what is happening and get the whole effect from what the author is trying to get to you. This novel is a deep ocean full of an endless line of imagery.
Page 119 – “warmth came only when the sun, looking like an electrically lit orange, broke across the horizon, but I didn’t need to wait that long to feel it. With every first ray of light it came alive in me: hope.” I am not exactly for sure why I particularly like this passage but it may have to do because I love the color orange and the sun! So it was personal maybe. The detail of this gave me a good picture in my mind and it is easily relatable. We all know how it feels when the sun warms you skin and how it feels fresh. I like it.
Another part would be Page 121-“ She was deeply slouched and holding on to the gunnel with both her hands, her head sunk very low between her arms. Her mouth was open and her tongue was lolling about. She was visibly panting. Despite the tragedy afflicting me, despite not feeling well, I let out a laugh.” Again I get a good mental picture from this. And I like it when an author can write so well that I feel like I am also seeing what pi has. I laughed out loud when I read this. I love laughing and being able to laugh after reading what had happen to pi is good. It brings you back to the simple things and I like that.
Page 161- the few paragraphs about fear. I like how Martel gives fear human like characteristics. The way he explains fear almost makes you have to put a face on it. He uses many similes to help describe fear. Everything Pi says how fear makes you feel is completely true. You have to put yourself in a situation in which is being described to be able to understand fully and I like that. It was very cool and entertaining.
Zins, p. 7
One element of Life of Pi that I like a lot is the way the author of the book comes in sometimes and tells us more about what Pi’s life is like now after being on the boat for 227 days. “’ The worst of it,’ he says, ‘is that I can hardly remember what my mother looks like anymore.’”(87) This brings us into the world of Pi and the aftermath of the trauma that he went through. These chapters put us into his life and bring us closer to the character of Pi. We get to know Pi on a more personal level with these chapters.
I also enjoy the foreshadowing he does in almost every chapter. My most favorite one is when Pi’s father shows Pi and Ravi how dangerous the tigers are and he throws a goat into the pen with a hungry tiger. Once the boys see the danger in a hungry tiger Ravi tells Pi that he is the next goat. Then Pi ends up on a boat with a tiger, not yet hungry, but soon to be. The foreshadowing in the book is subtle yet powerful and the reader is constantly turning pages to see what Martel is alluding to in every single chapter in the novel.
Martel also does an amazing job with his descriptions of every little detail in the novel. Like the way he describes Richard Parker when he first discovers him on the boat after three days “I beheld Richard Parker’s head. It was gigantic. It looked the size of the planet Jupiter to my dazed senses. His paws were like volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica.” (132). It is details like these that put a very clear picture in the readers head and helps them visualize every aspect of the novel down to the amount of stripes on Richard Parker’s back. Details are the only real looking glass into what Pi really sees on his journey through the Pacific Ocean.
Rohrbach Period 6
One thing I found interesting was when Pi was waiting for Mr. Kumar so Pi could show Mr. Kumar around the zoo. When he shows Mr. Kumar the zebras and he was fascinated by how they where not horses with stripes painted on instead of them being born with the stripes. Mr. Kumar asked “What happens when it rains” and Pi said
“Nothing” then Mr Kumar said “The stripes don’t melt” and Pi said “No.” I really liked this part in the book because it shows how people who had a good education but there teachers still did not know certain animals lived like a zebra. Right after Pi showed Mr. Kumar and Mr. Kumar to the zebras he pulls out a carrot from his pocket and broke it into two pieces and gave one to Mr. Kumar and Mr. Kumar, one Mr. Kumar held out his hand to the zebra nearby so the zebra could bite the carrots with it’s teeth but he held onto the carrot until the zebra broke the carrot in half and ate it, then gave the rest to the zebra but the zebra used its lips instead of it’s teeth. The other Mr. Kumar held out his hand but when the zebra took the carrot with his teeth Mr. Kumar did not hold on very tight so the zebra took the carrot out of Mr. Kumar’s hand and ate it. This was one of my favorite part of the book so far because even when you grow older you can never got tired of going to the zoo and enjoy the animals there. When you like certain animals it is like being a kid every time when you see the animal no matter how old you are. No matter what you can always enjoy the zoo even if you are a little kid or a sixty year old person the zoo is the most important place to enjoy a nice relaxing day with family.
Hanson, 2
What I find exceptionally compelling about Yann Martel’s writing is his ability to give the reader no other choice than to imagine what is happening within the book. He masterfully uses things as simple as similes and turns them into imagery that you can feel because you imagine it so close. A few of my favorite parts of the book that are fabulous examples of this are the following:
“It was surging from below like a riotous crowd, raging, frothing and boiling” (103).
This paragraph ads a lot because it gives so much personality to the ocean. He says that the waves move like they are described and that they cannot be tamed. In this case he is giving his writing three literary devices in one single sentence. He uses simile, imagery, and personification. By using all three of those he really captures the readers mind and forces them to put themselves in an identical situation as Pi is in.
“Had Orange Juice been a male, had she loomed as large on the scales as she did in my heart, it might have been another matter. But portly and overfed through she was from living in the comfort of a zoo, even so she tipped the scale at barely 100 pounds” (130).
I especially like this one because Martel goes to so much effort and uses unbelievable amounts of description just to describe the size of a silly monkey. He could have just said the big/huge orangutan but he insisted on going so much farther. That is what makes him such a great author, because he knows that will grip the reader.
“It had a two-foot-wide hole in its body, a fistula like a freshly erupted volcano, spewed half-eaten organs glistening in the light or giving off a dull, dry shine, yet, in its strictly essential parts, it continued to pump with life, if weakly” (128).
I like this one for very much the same reason. He goes into so much detail about what the zebra is looking like while it is slowly dieing. He then goes on to describe how horrified he was as he witnessed this entire event happening.
Shabino pd. 6
The best part about this book to me is the in depth descriptive detail he uses throughout the book. When he uses such detail it captures my attention and entrances me to read more and find out what could happen to Pi next. Being stuck on an ocean for two hundred and twenty-seven days, you would think bringing out such vivid detail would pose a challenge to any author. Yenn Martel pulls it off flawlessly. “Salt-water boils-red, angry, disfiguring-were leprosy of the high seas, transmitted by the water that soaked me” (192). This happens after Pi’s clothes disintegrate. These in depth details of the difficulties he faced on his life changing voyage keep me thoroughly entertained and entice me to keep on reading. The use of describing the boils on Pi gives us a sense of pity for Pi and it really connects readers to the book and the character. “It had a two-foot wide hole in its body, a fistula like a freshly erupted volcano, spewed half eaten organs glistening in the light or giving off a dull, dry shine, yet, in its strictly essential parts, it continued to pump with life, if weakly” (128). This is describing the horrid remaining life of the zebra after the hyena has eaten half of its insides. The imagery this description gives you is almost enough to make you sick yourself. I can honestly say this is one of the best and most horrid descriptions I have ever read and it’s only for an animal. “With her incongruously small legs and massive torso, she looked like a refrigerator on crooked wheels” (126). Yenn Martel puts enough care in each of his characters no matter how minor and short their appearance in the novel. It is a show of dedication to his novels when he can make a description of a character you are introduced once in the novel such as Pi’s wife earlier in the book.
Abby Moschell
Period 3
So far in this book I have found the description of everything to be outstanding. I can really get a clear picture in my head of what he is seeing and experiencing. I also love that the chapters are so short and to the point even with all the description. I almost feel that Pi is the author not Martel. When the ship is going to sink all the description Martel gives makes me think about the Titanic and how he must have felt and what he may have seen. When he says “Thank God I’ve found you. What is happening? I am very scared. There is water at the bottom of the ship. I am worried about my family. I can’t get to the level where our cabins are. Is this normal?” it makes me think of the Titanic because even though Jack did not have any family with him he was still worried about all the poor people at the bottom of the boat. One of my favorite parts of the books is when the hyena rips the zebra’s insides out. The description in this part almost makes you want to fend for the poor zebra that can’t do anything to fend off the predator “A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump blood still dripping… a slow and constant grinding of its teeth was the only visible sign of distress”. (120) you feel so much pain for the zebra because he is so innocent. When the zebra is done feasting on the poor zebra and decides to attack Orange Juice. Martel gives a great description of how the hyena looks “After an intense stare at Orange Juice, the hairs on its neck and shoulders stood up and its tail rose straight in the air… The hyena’s roar filled the higher range of what my ears could hear” (126). I think the description throughout this book has made me want to keep reading unlike some of the other books we have read.
Tayler Elster
Period 3
Yann Martel uses many different techniques in his book Life of Pi that are meant to keep his readers intrigued. But what I enjoy most is his ability to use highly descriptive detail about the events happening throughout the novel. The hyena eating the zebra’s insides is still by far the clearest event that has probably been imprinted into my mind permanently. I literally thought I was going to be sick when I read about the “hyena reached over and gathered a fold of skin in its jaws. It pulled roughly. A strip of hide came off the zebra’s belly like gift-wrap paper comes off a gift, in a smooth-edged swath, only silently, in the way of tearing skin, and with greater resistance. Immediately blood poured forth like a river” (pg 125). Also I love how he turns the animals into humans by giving them human characteristics. When the hyena is torturing the zebra Martel makes Orange Juice almost like a human being. She stands up for the zebra and tries to protect it like a mother would for her child or like any human would try to do when they see a fellow human being tortured by somebody else. “Orange Juice did not view these doings indifferently” (pg 126), says Pi when the hyena dissected the zebra for the tastiest inner organs. And for the rest of that day and part of the next, Orange Juice and the hyena have a ferocious roaring contest to distinguish who would be in charge. Finally Orange Juice beats the hyena on the head to make her point clear. However, the hyena will not take this fight lying down and attacks Orange Juice at the throat and rips her head off. Pi was devastated. She was not just a monkey to him; she was a companion who had feelings, even seasickness. Martel’s use of descriptive words made it easy to really relate to Pi and what is happening in the book. If he had said “My family and all the animals have died with the ship sinking” instead of “Everything I value in life has been destroyed” (pg 98) we would not have known just how loving and attached he became to the animals throughout his childhood.
McNamara Pd: 3
Yann Martel in Life of Pi has a wonderful way of using such vivid detail in general and more specifically through the use of literary devices. These details attract my attention because it has always been easier for me to read a novel that gives excellent descriptions of the plot and also when describing the characters. Literary devices add a whole ocean of difference when I read novels, because they add individuality to writing because we as readers never know what more creativity is to come. In this novel there stands to be an abundance of detail that is easily noted by a reader. For example:
“A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump blood still dripping… a slow and constant grinding of its teeth was the only visible sign of distress” (120). These vivid details make the reader naturally feel very sorry for the zebra; because what has he really done to deserve this?
“It was as I was breathing deeply and concentrating on making my nausea go away that I saw Orange Juice.” (121). Martel uses these vivid details to attract the readers attention and with this certain sentence in the novel it definitely makes me feel as if I am apart of the story also.
“A few seconds later, so close to the boat I could have leaned down and grabbed it, a large sea turtle appeared, a hawksbill, flippers lazily turning, head sticking out of the water.” (123). These details about the sea turtle really made it feel like I was out there with them and made me wonder about what would happen next.
These details that Martel use greatly add to the character of this novel and make it the most interesting book that we have read.
Mariah Nachreiner
Period 3
While reading Life of Pi I found the description of everything to be very exact and vivid. I am able to paint a clear picture in my head of what he is seeing and experiencing. One of the best examples of this would be when the hyena is eating the zebra from the inside out. When I read this scene the details seemed so real I could practically see the scene happening, feel the zebra’s pain, and smell the rotting of the dead body. “A strip of hide came off the zebra’s belly like gift wrap paper. Immediately blood poured forth like a river. The hyena climbed onto its haunches and started pulling out coils of intestines and other viscera. After devouring half the liver, it started tugging on the whitish, balloon-like stomach bag” (page 125). Another technique from Yann Martel I have noticed throughout the novel is the use of a lot of symbolism. The symbols in the novel allow the reader to relate the novel to other novels, historic events, or memorable occurrences. One of the most memorable examples in the novel is the fight between the hyena and Orange Juice,” Orange Juice lay next to it, against the dead zebra. Her arms were spread wide open and her short legs were folded together and slightly turned to one side. She looked like a simian Christ on the Cross” (page 131-132). This example is full of vivid details that will make your stomach turn. It is also almost an exact replica of Christ dying on the cross. Throughout the novel there are a lot of Christ-like references. I think Yen Martel put a lot of this in the novel because he wants us to remember Pi is always questioning his own religion. I also found Yann Martel constantly foreshadowing throughout the novel; such as the scene where Pi talks about how the circus tames their lions in chapter 13. “The ring master must establish that the ring is their territory and not his. The trainer must remain super alpha” (page 43-45). This description is quite important later on in the novel when Pi is stranded on the lifeboat with a tiger, Richard Parker. Pi’s only choice is to tame the lion on the boat or else he will be eaten. .
Halter pd. 6
When I first read about the ship wreckage I was locked into it and could not put the book back down. After I finished reading the last chapters on the wreckage I could compare a lot of that to life today, witch intrigued me even more. The ship wreckage was brilliantly written in the novel Life of Pi. It was smoothly chaotic with its different paragraphs starting differently and not connecting but yet completely making sense and smoothing together for the finishing connection. This reminds me of High school. How when the bell rings to tell the students o go to the nest class. All nine hundred students run out of those single class doors spilling out into the hall ways in massive chaos, yet all have the same goal making It to the next class efficiently and on time if is a chaotically smooth process. Just like the paragraphs no body starts in the same class or has the same class schedule but in the end we all graduate (hopefully). The parts in the wreckage were Pi could not get to his family’s cabins to wake them and save them from the sinking ship and he was in fear. It reminded me of every day life, because we face hard challenges every day and most of the time we need to realize that we are not in control of everything and some situations are just out of your hands. Pi had to face the fact that he could not reach his family and he did indeed try to find help but ended up off he side of he boat. I then realized that in some situations like that you do not have time to go threw your emotions and we all have to cope, we just cannot fully and completely cope about something right on the spot. We normally have to take it all in first.
Brian Fickbohm Pd. 7
For this blog task I will examine three symbolic figures and ideas; Richard Parker, Pi’s three different religions, and pi (the mathematical symbol). The first, Richard Parker, he definitely represents our (‘our’ meaning humanity) fear, but he may also represent our obstacles to overcome in order to survive; and perhaps he represents our hunger, for when Richard Parker is in the bout with Pi, Pi is always hungry, as Richard Parker always consumes anything Pi may catch. Richard Parker may also represent our regret, Pi certainly must regret saving Richard Parker from drowning, not only because he is now going hungry but also because he is in danger of being eaten by a tiger. Richard Parker himself could be ferocity, brutality, consumption, wildness, the Freudian ID; he is a very vicious carnivore that is large enough to consume full animals in one day and has no rules as to what or whom he eats, he is the embodiment of the Freudian ID.
The second is Pi’s three religions, the combination of these three religions could be Yann Martel’s way of saying that everybody is correct with their religion, as long as you believe and have faith, it does not matter which god or how many gods you worship. Yet, at the same time Yann Martel could be saying that humanity is hypocritical with their beliefs or ideals; we say that this criminal is terrible because he is a homeless person that stole from a restraint, yet we would never give a crumb nor a coin to the person so to prevent them from starving to death, or becoming desperate enough to steal food.
Last, the third symbol, pi, which could represent the vastness of the Pacific, pi has nearly infinite numbers in it and the Pacific ocean has nearly an endless swarm of water, fish, and other organisms that make their home within the depths of the Pacific.
Brianna Bly Pd. 6
Yann Martel’s Life of Pi has been both inspiring and entertaining. I love the descriptive and creative wording he uses throughout his novel. He uses all kinds of literary devices and symbolism that makes his work all the more fun and enjoyable to read. One of my favorite parts in the book is when Pi is describing his father’s zoo. Pi states that the zoo “was a huge zoo, spread over numberless acres, big enough to require a train to explore it, though it seemed to get smaller as I grew older, train included. Now it’s so small it fits in my head. You must imagine a hot and humid place, bathed in sunshine and bright colours.” This excerpt is so vivid that I can picture this zoo in my mind. He goes on to talk about the animals and the scenery, and it was during this portion of the story that I really felt like I was Pi walking around the zoo looking at everything it has to offer. I can also relate to his statement about the zoo growing smaller as he grows older. As we observe and adjust to the things around us, we start to overlook these things and allow them to shrink in our view. They grow smaller in our minds because they are less of a mystery and we start to believe we’ve already seen every detail they have to give us. Another portion of the story I thoroughly enjoy is in the beginning when the sloth is being described. I find it very humorous when he states that the sloth “is not well informed about the outside world.” This animal shares the same qualities as some people I know very well, and it amuses me to think there are other creatures out there who behave in the same manner. I have never shown much interest in learning about sloths, but Yann Martel has perked my interest and made me want to continue reading about these sleepy and laidback animals. The last excerpt I’m going to talk about is the part in the story when the Americans examine the animals. Pi describes these men as “pink, fat, friendly, very competent and sweated profusely.” Then he goes on to say, “Poor animals. They must have thought they were being drafted in to the U.S. Army.” It is a humorous and informing part in the book that gives the reader vivid details on what these men do, and how they go about checking the animals. Yann Martel deserves a lot of praise for writing such a fascinating novel, and I’m extremely excited to continue on and to finish the story.
What I liked about the novel is that Yann Martel likes to use a lot of symbolism in the novel. Symbolism is crucial in the novel because without it people won’t understand what you are talking about and can’t visualize what you are saying. It is also important because it adds structure to the novel. Also, it adds flavor to the novel and adds power to what you are saying. Symbolism can be anything from a simile to a metaphor, and also could be an allusion that references something in the novel as well. For example a simile: “blood started flowing through my veins like cars from a wedding party honking their way through town” (143). This simile means that his body was coming to him really fast and he was going to pass out because his sense of well-being was uneasy because of the tiger and he thought he was not going to live on the lifeboat because he thought that either the hyena or the tiger was going to eat him. Another example of a simile is: “the level of noise was so uniform that we slept like babies” (101). This simile means that the level of noise was so quiet that Pi could sleep easily on the boat and not be distracted in any means. In this case, you have to imagine how babies sleep all the time, and once they are out they are down for the count for a long time. So, just imagine Pi being a baby sleeping and that is what you would have to imagine in this part of the novel. I am surprised that Pi was able to sleep that well because I thought that he would have nightmares and dreams about getting eaten by the tiger or the hyena and just making it alive in general. A good example of a metaphor is: “My heart was chilled to ice” (98). This is a good example because he is saying that his heart was chilled not literally but by something. It was the waves that were really high and he got the chills not literally from being scared of the waves.
Thelen period 3
Where to begin? Yann Martel creates an atmosphere that civilization has been trying to create for years, serenity. He has given birth to a character that takes all the life’s positives and made them his own; this being each part of different religions he likes and he has combined them to make them work for his life. What if society could do this too? Would we be more tranquil and at peace with ourselves and others? I am in awe with the way Yann creatively invented a way for Pi to be at peace with God and nature. “’What is your religion’ I asked. His eyes lit up. ‘It is about the Beloved.’ He replied”.(pg 60). Humans nature instinct is to compete, wither we think we are or not. Religions have turned into teams and try to prove that their side is the winners, causing multiple flaws in faith and religion. Instead of ignoring religion and it’s flaws all together, Pi takes the parts he cherishes and can connect with and make them one. I honestly have been inspired by this and hope I can mold my own form of religion, Faith has a deep meaning in this novel. Pi has faith in the Creator, faith he will survive and faith he can come out strong with the aid of his beliefs. “’Religion will save us’, I said. Since when I could remember religion had been very close to my heart.”(pg 27).Instead of turning away from The Almighty-whatever his name may be for you, just because he does not fit the cookie cutter mold we are lead to believe will make the best cookie, does not mean we should not bend it a little bit to make our treat enjoyable. We need to find the right ingredients to make something spectacular, just like Pi. Martel makes religion bearable and adjustable, which many would disapprove of. “But religion is more than right and ritual”. (pg 48). He pushes the spiritual limits to express that just simply believing is what will get you through; it does not matter what specific belief you hold. With the use of animals and other spectaculars, Martel leads us to believe that you can find God, faith, and beauty in anything, not just a Church.
Danielson pd. 3
Yann Martel has a way of creating this vast world where the reader can really bring the book to life through imagery. The vivid details that he uses, the great mental picture he helps you paint without forcing anything on the reader. The possibilities are endless when such a fantastic writer helps the reader. For example:
"The zebra's broken leg was missing. The hyena had bitten it off and dragged it to the stern, behind the zebra. A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump. Blood was still dripping." (120) the description in this passage is extremely vivid and I can picture myself there looking at this grotesque anomaly. The zebra is helpless but Yann does not let it suffer for long and soon the zebra dies.
“The patter, in gold lines upon a background of red, was plain: a narrow rectangle with a triangular peak at one extremity to indicate the qibla, the direction of prayer, and little curlicues floating around it, like wisps of smoke or accents from a strange language.” (Pg. 76) this almost turns into art more that writing, it is expressed with all reality and is fully visual.
“Salt-water boils-red, angry, disfiguring-were leprosy of the high seas, transmitted by the water that soaked me.” (192) I can picture the sea with a red tinge, waves crashing down constantly on top of each other, creating an inhospitable environment the Pi seemingly overcomes.
Yann Martel can create a flow of words that when read, change entirely from words to art, or a picture in the readers head. With out an author to put words together the world would be with out books and with out book there would be no readers, this proving that authors can not exist with out readers and books with out authors. Readers are the key to an author’s success and Yann knows that, he shares his gift with his fans and his fans are blessed with joy.
Garner Pd. 2
The element I most enjoy is Yann Martel’s ability to bring the reader into the story. His words are so descriptive that you feel as if you are witnessing the events first hand. In order for a reader to feel like they are present they must be able to produce a picture or clip in their mind and for them to be able to do that the author must be clear and skilled with their wording. Yann Martel accomplishes this without doubt. I did not really get into the book until the excitement of Pi on the life boat with a couple animals. This is when the most description occurs. “It was a placid explosion of orange and red, a great chromatic symphony, a colour canvas of supernatural proportions, truly a splendid Pacific sunset, quite wasted on me.” (pg. 124) Outstanding adjectives and words used to turn something as simple as a sunset into a beautiful image that we wished we had seen with our own eyes. “The sharks were makos—swift, pointy-snouted predators with long, murderous teeth that protruded noticeably from their mouths.” (pg. 124) That undoubtedly was more interesting than saying there were sharks in the water. This line is making a personality for these ocean creatures and we are forced to hate them. We have never met them in person, but from the description they are a terrible species. “A strip of hide came off the zebra’s belly like gift-wrap paper comes off a gift, in a smooth-edged swath, only silently, in the way of tearing skin, and with greater resistance.” (pg. 125) I actually scrunch up my face and get a icky feeling stomach when I read this part. You feel like you just witnessed a murder and can almost touch it. I read this and begin to smell a putrid smell that I imagine would be coming from the mangled zebra. His words are very intriguing and allow the reader to create their own images in a way that keeps them interested.
Garrett Bratland Period 3
The main thing I would like to compliment Yann Martel on is his use of detail throughout the novel. The most memorable use of detail throughout the novel is when he is beginning to hit severe starvation. “My fantasy meals grew to be the size of India,” (211). Right here, we can tell that Pi is not only starving at this point, but that his hunger is so large, he is having a hallucination of sorts. He is so hungry, he is just imagining all of his favorite foods to be the size of this very large country—and he feels he can eat it all as well.
Another memorable use of detail in the novel is towards the beginning. Here, Pi’s father takes the boys into the tiger’s den to show them just how dangerous a Bengal tiger really can be. “Mahisha, our Bengal tiger patriarch, a lanky, hulking beast of 550 pounds, had been detained. As soon as we stepped in, he loped up to the bars of his cage and set off a full-throated snarl…” (33). I took this as foreshadow. They get a lesson on how wild a wild animal can really be—tamed or not. How ironic that after this particular showing, Pi happens to find himself stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger that takes up about one-third of the boat by himself?
Another use of descriptive words that draw the reader in, even if his choice of words are graphic—like on page 125—they still bring the reader a sense of wanting to continue reader deeper into the meaning. “Immediately blood poured forth like a river.” When I read this part, I felt queasy for a moment. To just imagine a river flowing with blood made me cringe. I pictured the Big Sioux River—a familiar river to us—flowing with blood rather than the water.
Yann Martel has a very gifted sense of writing style. He does whatever it takes to keep the reader interested all throughout the novel. He also does the same throughout Beatrice & Virgil. It may take the man a long time to finish his novels, but when he does, they are very well written and descriptive masterpieces.
Koens Pd. 3
I love Yan Martel’s extravagant attention to detail and imagery. The attention to detail has made me fall in love with “Life of Pi”. It is not so often that you find authors explaining everything in such vivid detail throughout the whole book; I say this having read through page 268. Martel’s constant, pushing details seem to force me deeper into the book and keep me locked in and reading on and on. Martel goes into marvelous detail on page 97 he writes: “The ship sank. It made a sound like a monstrous metallic burp. Things bubbled at the surface and then vanished. Everything was screaming: the sea, the wind, my heart.” Martel uses this description at the beginning of a chapter and part two. This was an excellent start to being in the ocean. It really showed how everything came to be in the ocean. Then on page 163 Martel goes into talking about Richard Parker and says “The growl they use for purposes of threatening has yet another guttural quality. And tigers hiss and snarl, which, depending on the emotion behind it, sounds either like autumn leaves rustling on the ground, but a little more resonant, or, when it’s an infuriated snarl, like a giant door with rusty hinges slowly opening—in both cases, utterly spine-chilling” (163). I love this because it defines how the different types of growls sound. The average reader would not really know what they sounded like because how often do people see tigers, not very. People only see tigers in zoos and at the circus and there you do not her all the types of growls a tiger has. Detail in this book is essential to the experience of 227 days in the ocean. With the detail it makes me feel like they are there more than if there was no detail. Without the detail this book would not be nearly as good and would not catch me and drag them through the book fast. The detail only makes me want to keep reading; it hooks me and soon it’s an hour later and I’m a lot farther than I planned on reading. Going through plenty of sunsets on the ocean Pi describes one: “It was a placid explosion of orange and red, a great chromatic symphony, a colour canvas of supernatural proportions, truly a splendid Pacific sunset, quite wasted on me” (124). Yan Martel exquisitely describes so many breathtaking views. Some are gorgeous and some are disturbing. From beautiful sunsets to gory intestines coming out of a zebra’s stomach, Martel paints a picture in everyone’s head of these sights. Though some are disgusting Martel beautifully describes every aspect throughout the books joyous and sad times. I think that detail is one of the most important aspects of writing stories. It adds so much imagery and sense of being in the book which makes me like a book.
Kalo pd.2
What I like about the life of pi is how he how talk about the different religions. I think its really cool how he shows us tell us about different religions, and about each religion. I think its really cool how he pointed out all the religions, because we would never learn about some of those religion, so showing and telling us about those religious was a unique thing that no one else would do. When Pi would talk about his religions , he would always have another one, one day he would follow that religion and then the next day he would be following another religion.” Ganesha sitting cross –legged next to the computer, a wooden Christ on the Cross from Brazil on a wall, and a green prayer rug in a corner”. This counteracts against different religions with a cross on the wall, but with a prayer rug on the floor showing he has two religions he is following, but also when people find out that he was born and raised most of his life ; people become very skeptical on what religion Pi actually was. Pi describes Hindu as “sculpted cones of red kumkum poweder and baskets of yellow turmeric nuggets, because of garlands of flower and pieces of broken coconut. So is this stertotypical? No not necessarily because he is just telling them how they are like their religion, so when Catholics have crosses on their walls and prayer beads on their nightstand , no one is judging them, it is just the way their religion is and we cant help that. It is just the way society works, so we need to treat everybody the same even though we might have different religions , shouldn’t matter .
Amanda Batzler Pd 7th
Yann Martel shows that he has a sense of humor throughout his novel Life of Pi. There are many qualities in the novel that help to make it the best novel we have read all year. This is the best novel because there is vivid detail, it is somewhat relatable to real life, and there is humor to lighten the mood. Every novel needs some humor in order to add enjoyment or ease the message of the novel. There are many instances when Martel uses wit to include more to the novel.
When Pi’s dad takes him and his brother on a tour of the zoo that they see daily this is an example of hands on parenting but it also has a funny side to it. His dad takes them around them around the zoo to different animal habitats and explains to them in vivid detail what that specific animal could do to them if they let down their guard. The part that makes this so funny is that he keeps his plan away from his wife and that he uses an extreme technique to scare his kids away from handling the animals.
A story about a boy stuck on a boat with a tiger has to have some humor in it because it is not every day that you dear about a tiger being trapped on a boat. This tiger is massive compared to the small boy. Pi might have grown up around animals in the zoo but no one could be prepared for a scenario like this. One of the funny parts about Pi and Richard Parker being on the boat together is when Pi is trying to think of a way to make it of the boat safely. He continuously thinks about the different ways to get Richard Parker off the boat so that he can get some sleep. He realizes that there is no way that he can get rid of Parker because either way he will over power him so his plan will have fallen apart.
We read books and watch movies to escape. We wan't to go on adventures to far away lands with magical creatures. Or we want to have a realistic situation to relate to about high school drama. But in the end we want entertainment. Yann Martel does an amazing job at this in Life of Pi. With every page I turn I feel like I am on the boat with Richard Parker. I think he owes this to the use of litterary devices, especially similies. Every page has "like" something on it and it gives us a good source of information to imagine the situation. My favorite examples of this are on page 161, "Already your lungs have flown away like a bird and your guts have slithered away like a snake." When your scan these words you feel your stomache twist and slowly drop just like he said. The paragraph continues with, "Now your toungue drops dead like an opossum, while your jaw begins to gallop on the spot." His choice in saying gallop instead of chatter or another cliche verb that deals with the mouth just shows how he has the talent to paint the picture in our mind. "Your muscles begin to shiver as if they had malaria and your knees to shake as though they were dancing." I can't relate to having malaria but what I do know of the disease it's horrible and that has an effect on the reader. I'm glad we do the literary devices in class because with out the compation I wouldn't have been able to full appreciate the master pice of Yann Martel's Life of Pi.
Winterringer 2
Something I really noticed about the novel Life of Pi is Yann Martel’s specific choice of words. Usually a few specific words an author chooses to use don’t really jump out at me, but this novel is different. Almost immediately, before the “real” book even begins, the author uses a very peculiar word. Rarely, if ever, does one see the word “Bamboozle” used in literature, and I cannot recount a single time I have used it in conversation. After I had read that particular sentence, I read it again to be sure that “bamboozle” was the word that was really written. It was. Although I knew what the word mean in a broad sense (I have no idea how) I decided to look the word up to get a better understanding of it, because it was just so odd. But the fact that Martel uses words like that, which, according to him, are used in India, makes the novel so much more… at the risk of sounding like a cheesy book reviewer… Immersive. It causes you to really feel like you’re there and to get a much greater sense of the setting. Also, the author uses other words that contribute to the setting. Most of the words are seafaring words that would not be familiar to a kid from South Dakota; a sate hundreds of miles from any significant body of water. All these words really add to the authenticity of the book, and make it seem so much more real to the reader. Words such as “gunnel”, “tarpaulin”, and “davits”. I really appreciate the authors use of authentic words in the novel, because, for me at least, it really adds to the realism of the novel and can really help me visualize what’s going on. I feel that people enjoyment of the novel would be lessened if Martel were worse at choosing words for his novels. It would make them much more difficult to get in to and could possible go as far as making parts sound corny
Nicki Steffen Prd. 6
I love Yann Martel’s studies of many different subjects. The way his detail from religions to his curiosity in zoology, sparked something interesting in me. He fist starts by explaining how he came into knowing so much about animals mainly sloths. Which sloths can be related to religions, on page 3, “there are two toed sloths and there are three toed sloths, the case being determined by the forepaws of the animals, since all sloths have 3 claws on their hind paws”. The similarity in three toed sloths and two toed sloths, and religions is that there are many different religions that come from the same origin of one major religion. The sloth with three toes could be the origin animal and then the two toed sloths were the adaption. While Christian is a major religion but there are Catholics, Lutherans, Methodist, and Presbyterians, and they are all considered Christians.
On page 5, “Sometimes I got my majors mixed up”. The majors he went into are on either sides of the spectrum. How would he get them mixed up? His interest in religion is displayed in his work with animals. Religion studies and Zoology are very similar because you need to believe both in evolutionism and in creationism to fully understand both. A miracle of life, an animal, can remind someone of God just by one glance. How he created man and how animals evolved. There will always be discussions between philosophers and religion majors.
On page 6, “If Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, one day favors me bountifully; Oxford is fifth on the list of cities I would like to visit before I pass on, after Mecca, Varanasi, Jerusalem and Paris”. Which all of these cities are very religious cities around the world. All of those cities not only are very religious but each one has their own zoos I bet and even their own circuses.
Bruggeman 2
One part of this novel that strikes me as pleasantly unusual is the directness that Yann Martel conveys. He does not beat around the bush or dance around the subject speaking in ways that hardly anybody can understand. He will tell you upfront what has happened or is happening. I noticed that he does this usually in the very first words of a chapter. For instance, chapter 34’s very first line is “Father said, ‘We’ll sail like Columbus!’”(88). This comes right after a chapter of Martel telling us about speaking with Pi about his mother. Quite unexpected. Probably the best example of this is the beginning of part two, chapter 37. “The ship sank” (97). He tells us immediately what happened. Some may think that this is not a very good or effective technique to keep a reader interested, although used sparingly and in the right places, I believe that it gives the reader a spark of wonder. They will want to read on to read more of what happened and how it happened and possibly more importantly, his reaction to the event. If an author chose to slowly build up to a certain event, the reader may grow tired of waiting to find out what will happen and gradually lose interest. Mr. Martel does a splendid job of keeping the reader occupied and providing the reader with a very real perspective. At the beginning of chapter 45, the tone is set “I was cold"(119). It sets the chapter up for describing his struggle of the elements. He will go on to explain how the sun warms the day and its disappearance cools the night. However, the cold is not only a feeling—it is an idea that is currently being acted upon. The hyena’s ferocity has left a cold, sharp tension lingering over the boat. Mr. Martel is the first author to delight me with this direct of an explanation.
The entire Life of Pi Novel has kept me captivated from the start because Patel explains how he’s not only writing this book for the reader, but also for himself. “This book was born as I was hungry” says Martel, irony at its finest in my eyes. You see Martel would be struggling in the future for food if he had not wrote this novel; He would also be struggling to progress in his life. He was hungry for the bright ideas to make themselves into words on his papers till they became a beautiful book.
I also love how Martel hits you with a life changing plot, and then explains how it occurred. For example, the very first words of part two in the novel, are “The ship sank.” How does one respond to something like that? I mean for god’s sake, the last chapter of part one was explaining how “This story has a good end.” All I could think was “What the hell just happened?” I honestly reread that sentence 4 times, just to make sure I was not mistaken. Another example is when Pi’ is staring at Richard Parker while on the boat, and in a flash, Pi’ is struck in the face with an overwhelming, mysterious force on page 180. I was freaking out! I thought for sure that Pi’ had been struck by Richard Parker, and was for sure ‘cat food’. I wasn’t the only one who felt this was the end for Pi’, Pi’ himself, also dazed and confused, thought for sure it was Richard Parker, but soon the climax of hysteria resolves itself by doling out comic relief. The mixture of how Martel makes you love and fear for Pi’, with the always intriguing and powerful plot has had me hooked on this novel since beginning.
One chapter I really love in this Novel is chapter 23. In this chapter, I came to my own conclusion of why Pi’ chooses to be multi-religious. Pi’ struggles to follow his religious views and still survive while on the boat. (On page 183, Pi’ has problems taking an innocent fish’s life because it goes against all his morals.) In my eyes, Pi’ has chosen to be multi-religious so that he fits into any environment that he faces; For if Pi’ could not adapted to his environment, he would struggle to live in the everyday society or even the climactic scenes on the boat. This is exactly like any animal, if you take it out of its environment and put it in an environment that it has never experienced or adapted to, it would die. Pi’ avoids death by believing in god in many ways. So I guess what I’m loving is Yann’s amazing ability to make probably every scene of the entire book meaningful, and symbolize an influential life changing experience.
Sickler, Period 6
So far in reading Life of Pi, I have been quite impressed and inspired by Yann Martel. His vivid choice of words motivates me to incorporate better word usage in my own essays. Along with a fascinating story-line, Yann Martel’s detailed, picturesque-words keep me wanting more of his short-chaptered book. With the aid of metaphors and similes, his attention to detail never seems to end. When the author had made a stop to Pi’s house, was one of the first big-detailed scenes that stuck out to me. “His house is a temple. In the entrance hall hangs a framed picture of Ganesha, he of the elephant head. He sits facing out – rosy-coloured, pot-bellied, crowned and smiling…In the living room, on a table next to the sofa, there is a small framed picture of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, flowers tumbling from her open mantle” (Pg. 45).
One vivid scene that comes to mind is the murder of the zebra, by the ferocious hyena. “A strip of hide came off the zebra’s belly like gift-wrap papers comes off a gift, in a smooth-edged swath, only silently, in the way of tearing skin, and with greater resistance. Immediately blood poured forth like a river. Barking, snorting, and squealing, the zebra came to life to defend itself...The zebra’s attempts at self-preservation only whipped the hyena into a frenzy of snarling and biting. It made a gaping would in the zebra’s side…It started pulling out coils of intestines and other viscera” (Pg. 125).
Another scene quite similar to the one before exemplifies equally exquisite detail: “I was feeling dizzy, but since the capital moment of my life was coming up this dizziness only added to my sense of frightened sublimity. I raised my hands to the level of my chest – the weapons I had against the hyena. It looked up at me. Its mouth was red. Orange Juice lay next to it, against the dead zebra. Her arms were spread wide open and her short legs were folded together and slightly turned to one side. She looked like a simian Christ on the Cross. Except for her head. She was beheaded” (Pg. 132)
His descriptive details set this book apart from most other books, including the three we have already read. I am truly excited to see how Yann will continue to captivate me throughout the rest of the reading.
Ellis pd. 2
I highly enjoy Yann Martel’s detail he gives us in the novel. I will comment on the scene when orange juice is arriving to the life boat “She came floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light, as lovely as the Virgin Mary. The rising sun was behind her. Her flaming hair looked stunning.” (111). This helps me realize that Pi still does have a motherly figure in his life and its great to tie religion into the novel so well. “ The zebra’s broken leg was missing”(120). I may have a cruel sense of humor but it did make me chuckle. Martel makes us hate the hyena and he does a good job of it but just thinking of a zebra and its leg just gone and missing on a life boat makes me laugh in a horrible way. Yet it is funny and cruel of me. “Orange Juice, with huffs and lip-smacking noises, turned away, and the hyena lowered its head and retreated behind the zebra’s butchered body”(127). This is a horrible scene you have a zebra with its body everywhere just laying there, and then you have a whacko monkey and hyena. Probably the most annoying and terrible witnessing scene for Pi I know for a fact anyone would feel uncomfortable in that situation. Martel does such a great job of explaining in detail everything to the mouth of the monkey to the butchered zebra laying there. Religion is once again coming in this part and a very sad scene since orange will be dieing very very soon. This book is full of amazing imagery and gives everything in such good detail it makes my imagination go crazy with how he is able to put everything in words with the story and when he is talking. He is probably one of the best author’s and I will keep enjoying his novels.
Neuberger—Pd. 3
Symbols are prominent throughout the novel. They help the reader to dig deeper. I feel like once I understand a symbol or motif I understand that specific part of the novel better. One of my favorite symbols is when Pi is listing off where all of the animals are going to. And he says, “And two animals were being shipped to the Canada Zoo. That’s how Ravi and I felt. We did not want to go.” He feels as if his parents are treating him just like another animal within the zoo. The question whether animals are human comes into play; or are humans animals? Just like the animals are stuck in a cage, the Patel family is stuck on this boat. They do not have many choices. And a domesticated animal is much like a human. They are fed and cared for every day without having to fend for themselves.
“She came floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light, as lovely as the Virgin Mary. The rising sun was behind her. Her flaming hair looked stunning.” Pi is encourages readers to think harder about this detailed arrival. When growing up, Pi was given the chance to hang out with Orange Juice in her cage; she was definitely a mother figure to Pi—just like the Virgin Mary is to Jesus. Pi explains her arrival as if he was seeing his own mother floating up numerous bananas. He feels a huge sense of relief, as if an angel has fallen. The picture in the illustrated novel portrays Orange Juice as if she is wearing a halo.
“If seems orange—such a nice Hindu colour—is the colour of survival because the whole inside of the boat and the tarpaulin and the life jackets and the lifebuoy and the oars and most every other significant object aboard was orange. Even the plastic, beadless whistles were orange.” Pi does an effective job of relying to the reader that all supplies used to protect Pi on the lifeboat are orange. Everything that is orange could be used to save his life. Ironically Richard Parker is also orange. He has protected Pi this whole time from the hyena. I believe foreshadowing is also being portrayed in this section. In the near future Richard Parker is going to protect Pi again—and again. Pi has finally realized that he needs Richard Parker to survive and Richard Parker also needs him. They will use each other to survive so that Pi will have a beautiful wife and two successful kids in the future.
Murtha pd. 6
There are many aspects of Life of Pi that enjoy but the most prominent is how he paints a vivid picture with his descriptive words. It is obvious that he worked on this piece of art for a great length of time because of how each sentence is so unique from the rest. He is so descriptive that at times you cannot but help to feel as if you are about to spew all over yourself but are unable to start this fantastic journey that Pi is actually living. When Martel goes into detail about the zebra’s long and gruesome death he includes details that involve the reader as if they are right next to Pi. “The victim bore its suffering patiently, without showy remonstrations. A slow and constant grinding of its teeth was the only visible sign of distress.” (120). The reader can hear the grinding, the sound causing excruciating pain. Martel also helps us to understand the older Pi and his family so that we care for him more. Yann sculpts a intense image of Pi’s wife so that we might better understand Pi himself. “She’s also Indian but has a more typically Canadian accent. She must be second generation. She’s a little younger than him, skin slightly darker, long black hair woven in a tress. Bright dark eyes and lovely white teeth. She has in her arms a dry-cleaned white lab coat in a protective plastic film. She’s a pharmacist….” (80). The reader does not really need to know this much about Mrs. Patel but Martel shows us much about Pi’s character by describing her to us. Even though he is now a resident of Canada he still likes to have that Indian feel that he lost when his family perished. This also helps to describe how cautious Pi is. What better way of staying healthy or escaping death than to be married to someone who can give him any prescription that he needs. Yann’s beautiful words also help to make the animals more realistic and more human at the same time. “She was deeply slouched and holding on to the gunnel with both her hands, her head sunk very low between her arms. Her mouth was open and her tongue was lolling about. She was visibly panting. Despite the tragedy afflicting me, despite not feeling well, I let out a laugh.” (121). In this passage he is describing Orange Juice in a matter that makes us feel sorry for her. She may not be the main character but she is a mother of two and is obviously in distress. It also shows how optimistic Pi is because he was able to laugh even though it may have caused the hyena to pounce on him and tear him to shreds. These descriptive details aid in making this more than a story but rather a hidden memory that the reader is reliving. It is as if we are thrown into this utterly impossible situation and we must see, smell, feel, taste, and hear every detail that Pi is experiencing.
Tyler Hasen pd. 6
My biggest compliment to Yann Martel is his keen way of writing down every distinct detail. Within every chapter and every page there is overflowing detail. This is the first book that has ever drawn me in with the use of details. Typical books get long and boring and have vague detail. Life of Pi is unique, his chapters are short but have immense detailing and even if the chapter becomes long, he keeps reeling you in with all the detail.
At a young age Yann is taught a very harsh lesson about tigers. On page 33 Yann gives us details about the lesson. "The cages were empty- save one: Mahisha, our Bengal tiger patriarch, a lanky, hulking beast of 550 pounds, has been detained." I would be quite afraid if my father had a large tiger detained to teach me a lesson! "I want you to understand that you are never- under any circumstances- to touch a tiger, to put your hands through the bars of a cage, even to get a close to a cage. Is that clear?" Those words are very stern; you can feel the stiffness in his words. The tiger then goes on to devour a goat, very gruesome and shocking. This scene bears immense foreshadowing. Later on in the book he uses more great detail. On page 55 he gives us 2 pages of a list of the objects in the locker. "192 tablets of anti-seasickness medicine. 124 tin cans of fresh water, each containing 500 milliliters, so 62 liters in all. 32 plastic vomit bags. 31 cartons of emergency rations, 500 grams each, so 15.5 kilos in all. 16 wool blankets. 12 solar stills." The list goes on and on. He does this to let the reader know exactly what he all had to work with. He found immeasurable joy out of everyday manufactured goods and had to tell us every last one of them- amazing how much he could remember after all those years. On page 156 he explains with detail a storm. "It was noisy. On the rain catcher the rain made a drumming sound, and around me, coming from the darkness beyond, it made a hissing sound, as if I were at the centre of a great nest of angry snakes." You feel as if you are right there beside him. The sound he explains makes your ears believe they actually are hearing it- bringing you deeper into the novel. Yann Martel has invested many hours of time putting detail into this novel, which with no doubt sparks life.
Sorensen pd. 3
What I love most about the book “Life of Pi” is all the details he uses when describing the different animals and the three different religions he believes in. When I do literary devices I use a lot of details. I loved how he explained that thirst was the worst death compared to hunger and suffocation. I loved when he compared it to Christ on the cross. “Christ on the Cross died of suffocation, but His only complaint was of thirst” (135). That so far is the most memorable detail in the book for me. I also love how he is all three religions at once. He has guts to stand up and be different and believe in all three religions. A quote I found very intriguing and made me laugh a little was when he was defending how he can believe in all three religions and said, “All religions are true, I just want to love God” (69). I would not have the courage to believe in all three religions. This novel is not only helping my analyzing skills it also is teaching me about the different animals and about their culture. Another part of the book I loved was when he was talking about the most dangerous animal in the zoo. When he said that we humans were the dangerous animal in the zoo I was very interested in reading on. “An arrow pointed to a small curtain. There were so many eager, curious hangs that pulled at the curtain that we had to replace it regularly. Behind it was a mirror” (31). That last sentence made me laugh. I love how Yann Martel uses details that make the readers laugh and learn from. I have never read a novel like this before. When I first began to read this novel I was so bored and felt like there were too many details that the entire book was telling us facts. Now that I am further into the novel the details and facts is the best part. I love this book!!!!
Drenth Pd. 2
The element that I will compliment about this book is Yann Martel’s similes. I like being able to picture something with similes. It helps me understand objects and animals better when Yann uses similes. Having so many similes gives the book humor at times and it helps the readers picture what he is describing easier. Readers can picture how big something is. For example, when Pi was describing Richard Parker, he said, “His paws were like volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica” (132). We, readers, can visual how big tigers paws are. Most of us have not actually been that close to a tiger. We have seen tigers, but we have not been face to face with it. It becomes more like reality when he uses similes. Using similes also gives readers the ability to visualize what Pi is describing. For example, when Pi is making his raft, he says, “My raft looked like a game of tic-tac-toe with an O in the centre as the first move” (149). The raft is sort of hard to visualize with all the detail he gives to us. I do like how many details there are in the book, but sometimes it just becomes too hard to visualize. With using this simile to describe his raft, we can actually picture what it looks like. We also can visualize what he described with his simile. Some similes help us compare how hard something is. For example, when Pi is crawling, he says, “I felt I was climbing the side of a volcano and I was about to look over the rim into a boiling cauldron of orange lava” (136). The similes helps the readers see how hard it was for Pi to crawl. Without this simile, we readers might think that Pi crawling was not that hard. With this simile, we can see that it was harder for Pi to crawl than we may have thought.
Isaac Hanson, Pd. 3
Yann Martel is an outstanding author who uses certain writing features to grab the reader's attention. The most effective feature that I feel Yann Martel uses the best is his use of imagery and vivid details. Vivid, descriptive imagery is a very powerful feature and Yann Martel's use of this paints a picture in the reader's mind. It helps the reader place themselves in whatever event is being described. These vivid descriptions also intrigue the reader and interests them in wanting to learn more. You are left with no choice but to imagine...
“I enjoyed my meal as I watched the sun's descent in a cloudless sky. It was a relaxing moment. The vault of the world was magnificently tinted. The stars were eager to participate; hardly had the blanket of colour been pulled a litle than they started to shine through the deep blue. The wind blew with a faint, warm breeze and the sea moved about kindly, the water peaking and troughing like people dancing in a circle who come together and raise their hand and move apart and come together again, over and over” (175).
This paragraph allows the reader to imagine what the world around Pi actually looks like from his view. This whole paragraph uses imagery. Yann Martel can take a not-so-interesting object, like the ocean and the sky, and transform them into a painting in the reader's mind. That is what makes this book so much fun to read.
“The moon was a sharply defined crescent and the sky was perfectly clear. The stars shone with such fierce, contained brilliance that it seemed absurd to call the night black. The sea lay quietly, bathed in a shy, light-footed light, a dancing play of black and silver that extended without limits all about me. The volume of things was confounding—the volume of air above me, the volume of water around and beneath me” (177).
I like this paragraph for the same reason as the previous paragraph. This paragraph, once again, forces the reader to imagine what Yann Martel is describing. Yann Martel's descriptions of the sky, moon, and ocean almost take your breath away. We would not normally view these things in such ways, but Yann Martel goes beyond the realm of imagery.
“I carefully peeked over the gunnel. [Richard Parker] was lying on his side. His den was a foul sight. The dead mammals were heaped together, a grotesque pile of decayed animal parts. I recognized a leg or two, various patches of hide, parts of a head, a great number of bones. Flying-fish wings were scattered about” (188).
Yann Martel could have simply said that there were dead mammals piled up in Richard Parker's den and left it simply at that, but with his use of imagery the reader gets so much more out of this passage. He almost makes some of his paragraphs unbearable to read. To me, that is what makes this novel so interesting and intriguing. Without Yann Martel's use of vivid, descriptive imagery, Life of Pi would not grab the attention of as many readers and it would simply be boring, but thankfully he has mastered the use of imagery and descriptive details so readers can enjoy an outstandingly written novel.
Petersen_6
I will have to give compliments to Yann Martel on the style of chapters used in Life of Pi. Usually chapters in a book are a set amount of pages throughout the entire book, for example Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Mr. Martel uses shorter chapter lengths mixed with longer chapter lengths. The short chapters make the reader feel accomplished in that they finished the chapter in a reasonable amount of time, thus making the reader want to go on with the book. The shorter chapters are also the most important pieces of information given in the book. They give almost like a boost effect to the book and the story that Pi is telling.
Chapter 14 is a smaller chapter of the book and it contains details about the phenomenon of animal training. It is foreshadowing how Pi will deal with Richard Parker on the boat but we do not realize it quite yet.
Once the reader gets to a long chapter it is so interesting that the reader is captured by depth of the reading.
Chapter 59 is a longer chapter but it is so delightfully written that it captures us and lures us in the reading more than we would have thought so in the first place.
The chapters that are italicized help a lot with the understanding in why certain things happen the way they do in the book. Without these chapters with the author telling us what is happening in the current time we would have an incredible misunderstanding to how the book started and that the book already has a happy ending or even that Pi has a family and a healthy life but a life that involves Richard Parker even if Pi did not intend him to. The orange cat and the different style of names, like the story how Richard Parker got his name must have gave him a different perspective on names. He is always prepared with the cupboards never empty at all like the world is about to end.
Chapter 2 , and 15 give us excellent examples of these author written chapters that are about the real world of the book. They explain how things happen and why out of the story that is being told by Pi. Many people love this style because no other book really is written like this and it motivates us to read further with the shorter chapters and the extreme detail in the longer chapters.
Henning pd. 7
"Darkness came. There was no moon. Clouds hid the stars. The contours of things became hard to distinguish. Everything disappeared, the sea, the lifeboat, my own body. The sea was quiet and there was hardly any wind, so I couldn't even ground myself in sound. I seemed to be floating in pure, abstract blackness." (118) I felt as if I was seeing some picture that Martel painted right before my eyes rather than him just describing the scene. Yann Martel uses tons of imagery throughout this novel. His use of imagery definitely helps to outline a picture in my mind. When he uses descriptive words it helps me to connect with the novel so much more. I feel like I am actually on the boat with Pi Patel and Richard Parker. Martel's use of such animated words inspires me to use more dynamic vocabulary throughout my next essay. Yann Martel also uses quite a bit of foreshadowing in his novel. ""Tigers are very dangerous," Father shouted. "I want you to understand that you are never - under any cirumstances - to touch a tiger, to pet a tiger, to put your hands through the bars of a cage, even to get close to a cage. Is that clear? Ravi?" Ravi nodded vigorously. "Piscine?" I nodded even more vigorously. He kept his eyes on me." (34) This excerpt is foreshadowing because Pi's father is teaching him to never have any interaction with the tiger pretty much. That was a good lesson their father taught them because then Pi get's stranded on a boat with Richard Parker the tiger for 227 days out in the middle of nowhere. Yann Martel incorporates a lot of symbolism and literary devices throughout Life of Pi. The use of his symbolism, similes, and metaphors has also helped to illustrate pictures for me while reading his novel. "Surrounded by a mass of black spiders that crawled around her like malevolent worshippers." (112)
Bachman Pd. 3
The columnist who was dead set on finding the "real" explanation for the sinking of the Tsimtsum, and it is obvious of Pi's approach on the story, but out of the two stories that Pi told, which do you think was meant to be the real one? This was just my interpretation on it, but it seems that the first story that takes up 70% of the book seems to be completely symbolic. As the lifeboat progresses through the Pacific, the world that Pi Patel is seeing becomes stranger and stranger. For example: “This was the terrible cost of Richard Parker. He gave me a life, my own, but at the expense of taking one. He ripped the flesh off the man’s frame and cracked his bones.”(255)another man in the middle of the ocean on a lifeboat who dies at the mercy of his tiger that hadn't laid a paw on Pi, also there is the man eating acidic island with millions and millions of meerkats. “I made an exceptional botanical discovery.”(256) Obviously the writer is showing a strange image when he his painting this out, but I think that the full conclusion is wrapped up when he say that Richard Parker never once looked back. “Then Richard Parker, companion of my torment, awful, fierce thing that kept me alive, moved forward and disappeared forever from my life."(2850 He was expecting a glance or nod to show that this was really over. No taking this from a metaphorical perspective, this has great meaning. Richard could be completely symbolic the whole time, and this means that second story was true. The tiger then would stand for one of four things: Pi's past, Pi's future, Pi's journey, or something within, something spiritual, as this is a very spiritual (although in my opinion inaccurate) book. The Japanese columnist thought that Pi was the tiger in the first story, but then who would be Pi? Because of Pi’s religion in the end, the tiger was not spiritual, and because of his clinging to the past, the tiger was not that either. This just leaves Pi’s journey and his future. If the second story was true and Pi did kill the chef, then he never had the adventure which means Richard Parker had to symbolize Pi’s future, the future he was supposed to have but never did. Knowing this completely changes the meaning of the algae island and the Frenchmen, not to mention the whole 250 or so days out at sea. And it is fitting that a tiger should symbolize his future after he had lived in a zoo so long.
Austin Hanson
prd 2
The usage of symbols in the novel Life of Pi is one of the most important aspects of the novel. The symbol for survival throughout the novel is the color orange. Orange engulfs much of what Pi possesses. He gives us a list which includes, “10 or so orange life jackets, each with an orange, beadless, whistle attached by a string…2 buoyant orange smoke signals…2 mid-sized orange plastic buckets…2 buoyant orange plastic bailing cups”(145). All of these things help Pi survive. The life jackets help Pi stay afloat in his raft and the whistle helps Pi train Richard Parker to obey him. The smoke signals will help people spot him. Also Richard Parker is the color orange and he helps Pi survive by being there and getting food for him and many other small things that help Pi stay alert and alive. The final example of orange in the novel is Orange Juice the orangutan which fights off the hyena as best as she could but to little success and this gives Pi emotional support to keep on fighting. As he says, “orange Juice’s stirring defense brought a glow to my heart.”(130)
Another symbol in the book is Piscine Molitor Patel’s shortened nickname, Pi. Which he gave himself after, “the words would waft across the yard to my ears, unprovoked, uncalled for: ‘Where’s Pissing? I’ve got to go.’ Or: ‘You’re facing the wall. Are you pissing?’ Or something of the sort.”(20) It is a letter in the Greek alphabet that also contains alpha and omega, terms used in the book to denote dominant and submissive creatures. Pi is also an irrational mathematical number, used to calculate distance in a circle. Often shortened to 3.14, pi has so many decimal places that the human mind can’t accurately comprehend it, just as, the book argues, some realities are too difficult or troubling to face. Using Pi as the main character’s name attributes not only to a realistic person but also to an allegorical person with many different layers. The use of these symbols in the novel attest to how the book makes you strive to find deeper meaning and want within the novel.
Logan p.3
Yann Martel was blessed with not only the ability to write books—but the ability to write prize winning books due to his unheard of descriptions and detail. Detail is like the jewelry to a carefully coordinated outfit—without it your outfit would be boring and lifeless. Yann Martel adds genius adjectives to help the reader paint a picture similar to the one he envisioned when writing this novel. Reading a book is not like watching a movie; a book gives the reader the freedom to create their own thoughts while a movie makes it much more effortless for a viewer to imagine. Being such a visual learner the detail Yann Martell produces makes it easier to read and comprehend what is taking place in each chapter. Life of Pi was awarded the Winner of the Man Booker Prize; I feel that Yann’s great attention to detail made this book stand out amongst many others. On page 157 Yann talks about a frightening night he spent on the raft. “…and the rocking of the boat became more pronounced and erratic...the sea was warmer than the rain, but it meant that not the smallest part of me stayed dry that night…” (157) Reading this a reader can literally imagine themselves on a boat, completely drenched, and scared about the future. Martel also describes when the rat climbed onto Pi’s head and Richard Parker’s reaction—making all readers forget about taking a breath in such deep suspense. “Richard Parker’s eyes had followed the rat…he dropped to the floor of the boat with ponderous ease…he was making to jump onto the tarpaulin…I was about to die.” (152) When reading this all I thought about was that I was only half-way through the book; he cannot die now! Back when Orange Juice was still alive, a specific scene surprised Pi along with the reader as well. Orange Juice decided to stand up and let out a roar. “But with her giant arms lifted in the air, she looked impressive…and began to roar…it was a deep, powerful, huffing roar.” (126) With this amount of detail I can visualize Orange Juice proudly making himself heard and Pi just watching in awe. I am thankful for Yann and his precious time he focused on writing with such detail—with this detail I will dominate the book and the final test.
Angerhofer
period 7
Though Martel has been able to grasp the minds of many readers around the work through many features and elements in “Life of Pi,” I believe that his vivid description is by far the most appealing to me as the reader. Reading this description helps paint an image in my mind of what it must have been like and things that Pi encountered on his unfortunate yet beneficial journey through the Pacific with Richard Parker, the unwelcome second mate. I find it interesting that Martel wrote the story in the setting he did. A boy and a tiger stranded on a lifeboat would be a seemingly hard topic to write on for many authors. You would think that one would eventually run out of ideas. That is why I love this book, because of the limited action and everything, Martel is able to bring the story to live through ultra vivid detail. Statements like “Richard Parker kept out of sight. The sharks prowled but did not lunge. The waves splashed me but did not pull me off.” (107) help bring the book alive for me. When I read novels, I like them to be very straight forward and descriptive, like “Life of Pi” is. This keeps me highly motivated and interested in the book. There are many things Martel says that grasp my attention: “The bright orange tarpaulin was held down by a strong nylon rope that wove its way between metal grommets in the tarpaulin and blunt hooks on the side of the boat.” (106) Also, chapter eighty, more than any other, was able to literally but me in the boat with Pi and see exactly what he saw by saying “I was huddled behind a turtle shell, shielding myself from the flying fish. I had a gaff with a piece of net hanging from it extended into the open.” (219) “A spurt of blood sprayed the tarpaulin. I reacted quickly. I dropped beneath the hail of flying fish and reached for the Dorado just ahead of a shark. I pulled it aboard. It was dead, or nearly there, and turning all kinds of colours.” (220) This vividness is in my opinion, the number one reason that Martel has sold the number of books he has. He knows what readers of every age want: a well written book with lots of vivid detail and full description, and he does a marvelous job of doing so.
Janaye Sjoberg Pd. 3
Complimenting the novel is not difficult to do because Yann Martel is an ingenious writer. Martel not only writes this story of Life of Pi but he paints an undeniably vivid picture for the reader that it puts you in Pi’s place and forces you to think about what you would do when restricting yourself to only a lifeboat. Martel easily constructs a picture for each individual reader by using many different elements. One that I personally think makes his novel so intriguing is how descriptive he is when telling this story. He uses many similes and metaphors to help enhance this particular element. One example that I vividly remember and also makes me sick to my stomach is when the hyena is eating the zebra from the inside out. When the hyena is tearing away at the zebras skin Martel describes this atrocious scene, “as if it was like a gift-wrap paper that [that] comes off a gift, in a smooth-edged swath, only silently, in the way of tearing skin, and with greater resistance.” Also more of an emotional part with Pi thinking about his family is when he describes what his life would be like without him mom, “to lose your mother, well, that is like losing the sun above you.” This particular part punctures your heart to think about. Most people can relate to the thought of the feeling of losing their mother. It is as simple as Pi put it, without your mother you have no will to live and no life left in you. Just as we need our mother to guide us through life, we need the sun to survive. One other element that can be complimented because it is so unique is how short some of Martel’s chapters are. By having such short chapters it is easy to become more connected. One example of a short chapter that helps you connect and feel Pi’s emotion is chapter 75, “On the day when I estimated it was Mother’s birthday, I sang “Happy Birthday” to her out loud. This easily makes me feel and grow closer to Pi for I start to experience sympathy for him. This book is intriguing that is makes you wonder what Pi is going to do next and also keeps you reading and wanting more.
Aaron Engebretson Period 3
The feature that I honestly love is all of the details that Yann lays on the table. There are many authors that would write, “He went down into the locker and found matches, food, and water.” Yann describes it in a way that you almost believe that if you closed your eyes and thought about it, you would be Pi himself. “192 tablets of anti-seasickness medicine. 124 tin cans of fresh water, each containing 500 millilitres, so 62 litres in all. 32 plastic vomit bags. Etc…” (145). automatically it makes you think, “Is he going to use every single one of those items that he has found? If so, how?” Every attention to detail brings to life the characters that he uses, “The patches of white above the eyes, on the cheeks and around the mouth came off as finishing touches worthy of a Kathakali dancer. The result was a face that looked like the wings of a butterfly and bore an expression vaguely old and Chinese.” (152). I also love the fact that he makes you imagine that you are Pi. He also makes me feel what Pi is going through. When Yann wrote, “But when Richard Parker’s amber eyes met mine, the star was intense, cold, and unflinching, not flightly or friendly, and spoke of self-possession on the point of exploding with rage. His ears twitched and then swiveled right around. One of his lips began to rise and fall. The yellow canine then coyly revealed was as long as my longest finger.” I was completely thrilled as a reader. (152). As I reread this quote while typing it to you I still shiver with excitement and fear. Every time I start to read this book I always get caught up in a part that I think is great. I am not a religious person but reading this book sparks my curiosity.
Schlotman_6
What I loved about the book was the constant battles that Pi had to deal with. At the beginning of the book, his passions conflict with each other. He is abscessed with learning new cultures that it soon ends up having three different paths leading to one point and a climatic collision occurs when leaders of the different religions try to for Pi into making a decision on what to believe. He looks for his parents guidance, but they are not to big into religion so they provide no protection from the three wise men. His final statement is, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God” (69). So, with that statement, he overcomes this mountain and is left to freely love God in his own way. Another conflict he has is overcoming his curiosity. His father noticed that his son was becoming very fond of the unknown and had to deal with it before it became too late! One day he takes his sons out in the zoo and tells them how any animal has its own special way to kill them. The reason that he is doing this to them is to plant the seed of fear in them. His special weapon is a tiger. This time, the “cat will kill the curiosity” instead of “curiosity killed the cat”. He shows Pi and his brother what happens when a goat enters the tiger’s territory. In a gory scene, the tiger destroys the goat. And, to even make Pi more afraid, his brother tells him that he will be the “goat” next. This is actually what happens later on in the novel. Pi ends up in the same situation of the goat and after seeing what could happen, he uses his wit to survive the experience. The final problem that poses a threat to him is the most obvious one of all! His problem is that he has a huge burden with him, and it turns out that huge burden is a 450 pound Bengal tiger! His fear takes control of him early on out at sea with a tiger, but he realizes that the only way he will live is if he can trick the tiger that he is the alpha male on the boat. He uses a whistle as his roar and he makes sure that Richard Parker cannot make anything as his territory. He feeds Richard Parker in hope that he can control the tiger’s appetite and make the tiger see that Richard Parker needs him to survive as well. Well, Pi made it this far with all the conflicts that he had to overcome so why should you have any doubt that he could not solve this one. Thanks to his knowledge from the zoo, he trains Richard Parker and survives through the unbelievable experience.
Derek Bakken 7
In Life of Pi, I really enjoy how Martel uses words to describe characters, things, and events. Martel has been one of the best authors I have encountered, just simpily on how he uses words to describe things. One of my favorite times in the book is when Pi is describing to us how the hyena acts, looks, and goes about its business. One passage is as follows, “In fact, a hyena’s catholicity of taste is so indiscriminate it nearly forces admiration.” I like this passage because it forces the reader to think about and get a mental picture of just how gross and vulgar a hyena can be. Throughout this Pi’s description of the hyena, we start to feel how much Pi may dislike the hyena. “I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not well served by its appearance. It is ugly beyond redemption.” The reader truly gets a sense of what the hyena looks like and that it is in fact not a good looking, majestic animal. Compared to the Bangle Tiger, the zebra, and the Orangutan, the hyena is by far the ugliest of the bunch.
Another section of Life of Pi I really enjoy is when Pi is telling about how his clothes are literally falling away from him. Martel uses some clever writing during this section. ‘My clothes disintegrated, victims of the sun and the salt.’ I like this; it shows just what kind of hostel environment Pi, Richard Parker, and the other animal are having to live through. Martel goes on to describe Pi’s clothing by saying, ‘First they became gauze-thin. Then they tore until only the seams were left. Lastly, the seams broke.’ This gives the reader the idea just how unrelentless the sun and salt is on the Pacific Ocean. And because most of us have never been in a situation where our clothes are literally falling off most people can start to grasp, only if just by a little, just how bad Pi’s situation and environment is.
Jessica Peterson pd.2
I think Yann Martel does a really good job with his literary skills in the book how he can personify animals and make us think twice about how humans and animals are alike in many ways. He talks about the Animalus Anthropomorphicus, which is the animal seen through the human eyes. It means when we look at animals that we do not know we judge them if they are scary or not by our own eyes. We can see a tiger as scary or cute, it may be cuddly or bloodthirsty its all in the human eyes. When you first walk into the zoo there is a sign that says DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE ZOO? Then you lift the sign and it is a mirror pointing back at the person who lifted the sign. This proves we can control any environment we can tame the animals or act like one. Yann also says the sea is without a wrinkle and there is not a whisper in the wind. This is giving the sea and the wind human-like qualities. The author does a very good job at catching our attention too when he teaches his son a lesson by throwing a goat in the lions cage and the lion eats the goat. He taught him the lesson not to mess with animals even though they seem tame they are not. That reminds me of the guy at sea world who was a whale trainer and knew the animal very well and worked with it everyday, but animals that come from the wild still have a little wild in them. Kind of like the saying you can take the girl out of the honky tonk but can’t take the honky tonk out of the girl. Which is the same thing meaning where ever you were born people/trainers can try to take you away from your environment but they can pull your roots from you. There will always be some untamed animal features about any animal.
Sperlich Pd. 6
My absolute favorite part in Life of Pi by Yann Martel, is when he writes, “This story has a happy ending” (93). This is my favorite part for many reasons, including knowing that this story will indeed have a happy ending. When you hear a summary from someone, explaining that there is a young boy and a tiger stuck on a lifeboat, would you automatically think of a happy ending? No. Neither did I, until reading this passage. Knowing that it is a happy ending, I can concentrate more on what is really happening in Life of Pi. Before he writes that passage, he describes his daughter holding an orange cat—an obvious reference to Richard Parker. Pi could not live the rest of his years alive without a “fill-in” Richard Parker. As he writes, “Leaning against the sofa in the living room, looking up at me bashfully, is a little brown girl, pretty in pink, very much at home” (92) Martel gives us good news that Pi will grow old with his family. Pi will overcome his obstacles in being stuck in a boat with a tiger for 227 days. Yann Martel also describes the cat—Moccasin—in young Usha’s arms. Squished in between her little arms with his two front legs sticking straight up and his head sunk is all that is visible. I have read this passage over a week ago and it has still stuck with me. Moccasin’s body is hanging all the way down to the floor and yet he seems quite relaxed—like he is used to being held that way. Yann Martel describes this seen perfectly, so that it sticks with the common reader. It also gives the book a little bit more comic relief. Another favorite passage of mine is, “At each number he softly presses the tip of her nose with his index finger. …” (93). This shows that he truly takes the time away from the author to pay attention to his daughter. And this story has a happy ending.
Francis 2nd
Life of Pi is an exceptional novel and deserves all the praise in the world. It deserves praise from Hindu’s Muslims and Christians alike. It opens your eyes to the ways other cultures and religions practice. Pi being born in India is a strange little human. The more that he is allowed to roam around the town of Pondicherry he is more likely to find something new and useful that he will instantly fall in love with. Pi or Piscine (pissing) is a curious and fun loving religious boy who will find something interesting in the most minute detail of the animals at the zoo his father owned. The book captures our attentions with the three separate religions coming together in one little boy. We than have a dark twist that tests the boy’s religious and physical endurance. Two hundred and Twenty-seven days with a Tiger in the middle of the pacific with nothing to eat but the few fish and turtles that he catches. Richard Parker is the adult male Bengal Tiger that is on the life boat with Pi. Richard Parker is more or less what keeps Pi alive. He is company to the little Indian boy after his family has all perished in the sinking of the cargo ship they were moving to Canada on. This book has multiple twists and turns that toss our emotional range all over the place, just like the pacific does to the life boat during a gigantic storm. The book is gripping from page one to page three hundred and nineteen. Every word works to create a vivid detail that makes you feel like you are there. At the end of this novel there is a separate story that will make you choose how you feel and what you like better. This book never seems like it is fiction it always leaves with awe and gratitude that Pi is alright. Yann Martel is an amazing author and exceptional descriptionist the will take you on a ride!!!
Hauge p6
The way Yann Martel tells the story is one of his own. I feel the most apparent part of this book is the word choice and the description behind what is happening. Instead of simply stating "Orange Juice came floating on bananas as the sun was rising," he writes, "She came floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light, as lovely as the Virgin Mary. The rising sun was behind her. Her flaming hair looked stunning." At first it leaves you to guess what is going on, and later confirms that it was indeed Orange Juice arriving. But it is this style of writing that is just as repeating as pi itself. It doesn't just blatently state the obvious it is told in a stunning manner. It is also this style of writing that helps you better relate to Pi, or makes it easier to put yourself in his shoes as to the way he is actually seeing it at that moment. "My raft looked like a game of tic-tac-toe with an O in the centre as the first move." This give you a better representation of how the boat was set up. It utilizes a common childhood game with the construction of his boat, everybody knows tic tac toe and what the drawn up board looks like. "Night crept up. My surroundings disappeared into pitch-black darkness." The way this is stated makes the reader feel if you yourself is being drawn in by the absolute darkneess he is experiencing. It could have just as easiy said, it became very dark, but that sort of simplicity wouldn't have the same descriptive envelopement of the way Martel writes; chapter after chapter. The way these apparent things are stated, is indifferent to many other novels, I believe this is one of the many features that sets this book apart from others.
Seth Olson Pd.6
I really enjoy the pace of the novel. Most novels either appeal to your senses to make you keep reading or they get a slump where many readers stop reading. Yann Martel knows how to appeal to many different audiences. He keeps it interesting by telling us about the boat in the Pacific then back to meeting Pi Patel. The chapters in all italics are there to add detail to the story and I enjoy this because we can connect to this part easier. At the begging of chapter two he says, “He lives in Scarborough. He’s a small, slim man—no more than five foot five. Dark hair, dark eyes.” This intrigues the reader and can make them relate more towards the novel. For me, a mental picture came into my head and I had this to continue the rest of the novel. Mental pictures help us relate because then we can try to fit them with a personality and almost become friends with the character. This novel continues to impress me by not being to wordy yet giving enough detail to keep us engaged. If it became to wordy I would simply stop reading but if it was only details I would become bored, and ultimately stop reading. A novel must have a perfect balance such as Yann Martel expresses here. Chapter ninety-seven is two words yet gives us endless insight into the conclusion of the novel. The final thing I like about this novel is the endless conflict. There is a tiger on a lifeboat. The picture on the cover makes the reader hooked before they even break the cover. We know that Richard Parker could simply eat Pi for dinner but for some reason doesn’t. This makes us want to read more and find out how he survives and how he manages to keep Richard Parker from satisfying his id.
Schwarz period 7
In Life of Pi, Martel does an excellent job in combining and joining together all the difference pieces and specifically religions of this book. Pi Patel is born an atheist, but raising himself to be whichever religion he chooses. Martel displays this action by having Pi search through Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism all to come to conclusions and trying to merge through all of these opposing views from other religions, concluding to that in their own separate ways, each religion has helped Pi in specific occasions. In opinion, the most important religion to Pi is Christianity, for he has a Bible which he keeps very close to him, "the book on the bedside table is a Bible" (46). Because of being born from a father who is a zoo keeper, Pi is born as an atheist from having his father feed animals that are higher on the food chain with animals that are lower than the high, for example when Pi's father shows him and his brother Ravi a tiger that has not been fed for a few days. When brought in to show that animals that are kept for show can be just as dangerous as animals in the wild. Their instincts kick in and the animalistic mind takes over; the animal only wants to be full and happy. On page 35, paragraph two, the main lesson that their father is teaching them is to always protect themselves and never venture to the animals, "'never forget this lesson'". By showing Pi and Ravi what can happen if they lose their focus and forget that these animals are wild, their father shows them a concrete example of what will happen to them if the focus is lost, not just showing them a story from a newspaper article. In essence, Pi and Ravi's father is showing them that the tiger is one of the most dangerous animals in the zoo, but not THE most dangerous, saying, "DO YOU KNOW WHICH IS THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL IN THE ZOO?" (31).
When Pi is learning all the new religions, he is questioned by his parents, and also the religious leaders of the temples and church. To find out why is he so confused as to why the religious are so different, yet the same in all having a religious leaders, he somehow finds a way to bring together two of the three religions he is focusing on, Mr. Kumar and Mr. Kumar. Both Kumar and Kumar help Pi understand the concept of their religions, Hinduism and Islam. When both are brought together in Pondicherry Zoo, they start to argue as to why their religion is the best, and Pi brings peace as a buffer between them and his peace making skills also help him out later on in the book, which helps him last 227 days on the Pacific Ocean.
Maassen 7
The thing that I most enjoy about reading Yann’s novel is his descriptive detail and how he makes this book seem very realistic but yet everything about the book is irrational. All the details in the book really keep me interested because it is so easy to picture yourself in Pi’s situation. One of my favorite descriptive parts is when Richard Parker kills the hyena. “The flame-coloured carnivore emerged from beneath the tarpaulin and made for the hyena. The hyena was leaning against the stern bench, behind the zebra’s carcass, transfixed. It did not put up a fight. Instead it shrank to the floor, lifting a forepaw in a futile gesture of defence.” (150) When I read this segment I pictured a majestic hellish beast rising from its den. I was thinking if I were Pi I probably would have just jumped off the boat right there thinking that the tiger was going to rip me limb from limb. Another thing that I enjoyed was when Orange Juice tried to fight off the hyena but failed. “Dumb with pain and horror, I watched as Orange Juice thumped the hyena ineffectually and pulled at its hair while her throat was being squeezed by its jaws.”(131) This puts a pretty gruesome image in one’s mind. You can picture how Orange Juice was struggling to survive and giving it her very best effort to beat the hyena off.
The other thing that I liked was how Martel makes this book feel like it is a true story. All the detailed things that are in this story make it seem as if it really happened. In his authors note he gives a reason on how he got this story even though it was not true it makes you feel like it is. Although this book may seem like it is real it is filled with irrational things to tell you that this book is not real. One symbol of this is pi; 3.14 is an irrational number. Also the logic of having 3 religions and surviving with a tiger on a life boat for 227 days is highly irrational.
John McKenzie Pd. 7
The best parts of the book were, in my opinion, when Yann Martel attempted to make the animals seem more human. It makes a book much easier to relate to when one can see a little of one's self in the characters. All four of the major animals, the zebra, hyena, Orange Juice, and Richard Parker all acted very human-like on the boat. In numerous parts in the novel Pi notices that almost every animal exhibits some form of sea-sickness. Orange Juice is numerously referred to as a green orangutan, “Everything about Orange Juice at that moment spelled one word: seasickness. The image of a new species popped into my head: the rare seafaring green orang-utan...The poor dear looked so humanly sick!” (121-122) Yann Martel injects humor into a serious situation. The image of a green orangutan are so out of place with a tiger, a hyena, and a dying zebra that it's hard to not find it amusing. It's also very relate-able to anyone that has seen someone look like they're about ready to throw up. Richard Parker(R.P.) is nowhere to be seen yet in the novel, but his seasickness is abused later by Pi when he tames R.P. When R.P. was seasick his symptoms where very similar to those of Orange Juice, he showed obvious discomfort about the movement of the boat. The hyena is obviously meant to be a disgusting animal, we're not supposed to like anything about it. Yet it displays a very common human emotion, boredom. We've all been so bored at one point that we've done something tedious, monotonous, and pointless just to have something to do. Everyone also has their nervous habits. The hyena displays both at the same time when he runs in circles “yipping” at the top of his lungs. “The animal nervously peered beyond the boat. Beholding a vast expanse of shifting water seemed to be the last thing it wanted to see...all morning the hyena ran in circles going yip yip yip yip yip yip...every lap was identical to the previous one, with no variations in movement, in speed, in the pitch or the volume of the yipping, in the counter-clockwise direction of it's travel.”(113,115) The hyena got no joy out of what it was doing, it served it no purpose in helping it get back to land, yet it did it anyway out of boredom and fear. The zebra also shows human like qualities even as it dies. Very similar to the book we're reading in team, Tuesday's with Morrie, the zebra accepts his fate as Morrie accepts his. They both know they are going to die and try not to make a big fuss about it. Even as it is being eaten from the inside out the zebra still makes very little noise, similar to how even though Morrie is in pain he doesn't make a big deal out of it. “The angle of it [the leg] was completely unnatural. Bone protrued through skin and there was bleeding...From time to time the zebra shook its head and barked and snorted. Otherwise it lay quietly.” (109) Every book is easier to relate to when one can see a portion of one's self or one's life in it and Life of Pi is no exception. Yann Martel does an incredible job of making his characters relate-able and making us care about what happens.
Hamrick, pd. 6
The thing that I notice most in the novel is the way Yann Martel is able to give such amazing detail that literally paints a picture in your mind, and also the way he compares everything using similes and metaphors. Martel’s techniques just make the book so much more enjoyable. With some books, it just gives a vague description about what is happening, and it leaves a lot to the imagination, but with Martel, his words are so specific and thought out that it draws you in to read further.
“The guttural eruptions and long flowing vowels rolled just beneath my comprehension like a beautiful brook. I gazed into this brook for long spells of time. It was not wide, just one man’s voice, but it was as deep as the universe.” (62)
That passage is one of my favorites because it showcases Martel’s skills at their best. He could have simply said something like, “The sound of Arabic is amazing,” but he went into depth to show just how amazing the sound of Arabic actually is. That is the best quality that this novel has.
“It was the gaze of a contented animal looking out from its cage or pit the way you or I would look out from a restaurant table after a good meal, when the time has come for conversation and people-watching” (162)
I seriously cannot even accurately describe how these visuals make me want to continue reading. They are so expressive and eloquent that it amazes me. Every time I read a part like that, it makes me think. It makes me stop and actually think about what is going on. With other books, you don’t really have to think about much, it is the standard: boy meets girl, obstacles strain the relationship, love prevails, blah blah blah…. Martel does a wonderful job keeping the reader entertained while provoking thought at the same time.
Hatle Pd. 7
Everything in this book has to be credited to the author. He had to of thought long and hard exactly how he wanted to put this book together so it all fit so perfectly and in a sequence that always answers itself later in the book. My favorite part of the book is how it jumps person to person. If it was always in one point of view it would be boring and start to drag on, but it always has differing options to keep you intrigued and following each character carefully.
I am sitting in a café downtown, after, thinking.
When he says things like this you have to appreciate why he does puts his own words in the story to tell you his personal feelings and how they incorporate.
I also like the amount of details in this book. It could be bad or good to me. When I don’t like it is when he is talking about his religions. The parts I loved the most with detail is when he is talking about what is going on on the boat. It makes me feel like I am part of his life and sitting there on the boat with him and Richard, watching the waves roll back and forth.
That tide of food, water, and rest that flowed through my weakened system, bringing me a new lease on life, also brought me the strength to see how desperate my situation was.
This passage makes me feel like I should be there helping him or joining just like him into the desperate feeling the need for food. All of which he does purposely when giving details, they all lead to foreshadowing.
Foreshadowing is the third element of his writing I like although frustrating when you cant understand certain things as first you always end up getting some sort of answer from a later part of the book. He seems to come back and answer a lot of unanswered things you might not otherwise ever figure out. Especially in the religion section, the first part of the book is mostly about his religions and I understood nothing but when I kept on reading it smoothed out and I understood why and how he combines his choices of religion.
I love the symbolism in Chapter 33 and in the Interview at the end of the book. In Chapter 33 Mr. and Mr. Kumar meet each other through Pi at the zoo. I love the entire scene. The fact that Mr. Kumar, the atheist biology teacher, the other Mr. Kumar, the bread making Muslim, and Pi occupy each other’s company peacefully within the zoo. The number three is a big motif throughout this book and is also shown here: they are like three prophets of their own philosophy and beliefs – all greatly contrasting each other – and remain at peace in the zoo that represents the world society. Pi himself believes in three different religions at this time. Even with their differences, they all find a common love for something: nature and animals. It is a symbol that shows that we can all coexist with each other blissfully, even with different beliefs; even though man is “the most dangerous animal.”
I also love the interview because it is obviously a religious argument between a man of faith and two atheists (there is the three again – three people conversing). Pi tells his story, which is greatly in resemble to the trials and tribulations of the stories in the Bible, to the Japanese men but they are in denial because they have never seen any of the things Pi claims to have happened. That is a main argument when talking about the validity of the Bible. It is so interesting how Yann Martel created this scenario of a religious debate without making it a literal religious debate. This section seems – for me – to be display of the main point of Christianity as well. Pi is Jesus, who knows already what they believe but instead of stating that he talks and asks those scholarly, critical-thinking questions to the Japanese men to make them think to themselves and try and gain a better grasp on what they really believe themselves. Like Jesus did in John 6:4-24, when talking to the Samaritan women. And to have one really dig deep into his own beliefs and believe in God, hopefully, which is what in a way Richard Parker represents in this section, he is the aloof God, but is accepted in that he does exist by one of the Japanese men in the end; a non-believer converting to believing in God.
These two sections are beautiful and intricate, and supremely clever in my mind, and mean a lot into the entire meaning of the book – and life for that matter.
WC:423
Yann Martel has so many great features about his writing; his similes, descriptive passages, and use of symbols create the perfect story for his novel Life of Pi. I want to focus on his use of descriptive passages throughout his story. Some of the passages create a tense, serious or disturbing situation, but others create a humorous setting, allowing the reader comic relief.
One very descriptive passage in the novel is when Pi is describing Mr. Satish Kumar, he says, “He had a most peculiar appearance. The top of his head was bald and pointy, yet he had the most impressive jowls I have ever seen, and his narrow shoulders gave way to a massive stomach that looked like the base of a mountain, except that the mountain stood in thin hair, for it stopped abruptly and disappeared horizontally into his pants. It’s a mystery to me how his stick-like legs supported the weight above them, but they did, though they moved in surprising ways at times, as if his knees could bend in any direction. His construction was geometric: he looked like two triangles, a small one and a larger one, balanced on two parallel lines. But organic, quite warty actually, and with
Granberg cont.
sprigs of black hair sticking out of his ears. And friendly. His smile seemed to take up the whole base of his triangular head”. This long passage supports his ability to be descriptive and allow readers to visualize what he can see. This passage also supplies comic relief to the novel. Who would not get a chuckle out of a vivid description of a triangle shaped man? I certainly had a nice little laugh.
Another passage that was very descriptive was, “The dorado did a most extraordinary thing as it died: it began to flash all kinds of colours in rapid succession. Blue, green, red, gold and violet flickered and shimmered neon-like on its surface as it struggled. I felt I was beating a rainbow to death.” This passage becomes very vivid in my mind, because of its detail of the colors used in the skin of the fish. The last sentence he uses “I felt I was beating a rainbow to death,” makes me cringe at the thought of a pain going into that fish and the quote shows Pi’s feelings towards animals; he does not like hurting them, but only sacrifices the ones he has to.
Granberg Cont.
The most gruesome passage I have found to loathe in this whole novel at this point is when Pi describes the death of the zebra, “When it was no longer satisfied with the reach it had from behind the zebra, the hyena climbed onto its haunches. It started pulling out coils of intestines and other viscera. There was no order to what it was doing. It bet here, swallowed there, seemingly overwhelmed by the riches before it. After devouring half the liver, it started tugging on the whitish, balloon-like stomach bag. But it was heavy, and with the zebra’s haunches being higher then its belly-- and blood being slipper—the hyena started to slide into its victim. It plunged head and shoulders into the zebra’s guts, up to the knees of its front legs.” This passage was mortifying and after it I almost didn’t want to finish reading, but Yann Martel makes us. He tells us the zebra is somehow still alive, which sparks our interest enough to see what will happen next. Yann Martel may write in a grotesque style, but he does it in such a manner the readers have to find out the outcome.
Yann Martel describes all the scenes with such detail and it enables the reader to picture exactly what he’s talking about. Some of the sentences in Life of Pi are put together so well that it actually seems like someone is reading the book to me or as if I am watching it in a movie and I can actually hear the noises everything would’ve made. “The ship sank. It made a sound like a monstrous metallic burp. Things bubbled at the surface and then vanished. Everything was screaming: the sea, the wind, my heart.” (Pg 97) When the ship is sinking and Pi is desperately worrying about everything and suddenly sees Richard Parker struggling to stay above the water, we can see how scared he is for himself and for Richard Parker. And although Pi is too far away to even be heard by Richard Parker, he is trying to console him and encourage him to survive. Another writing technique of Martel’s is he makes everything so easy to comprehend. I’m not sure if it’s just that he write so much and explains everything in a relatable way, but I understand what he’s talking about when he writes about Pi’s wanting to understand and practice all three religions at once. My favorite line in the whole book so far is“The presence of God is the finest of rewards.” (Pg 63) Although I’m an Atheist, I know how much He matters to those who do believe, so that sentence makes a lot of sense to me. It would be like saying (in something relatively relatable to me) “The ability to hear and literally feel music is the finest of rewards.” because music consoles me and keeps me sane. The intellectual vocabulary Yann Martel uses is also incredible. I had to look up a couple of the words in the passage on page 63- “Words of divine consciousness: moral exaltation; lasting feelings of elevation, elation, joy; a quickening of the moral sense, which strikes one as more important than an intellectual understanding of things; an alignment of the universe along moral lines, not intellectual ones; a realization that the founding principle of existence is what we call love, which works itself out sometimes not clearly, not cleanly, not immediately, nonetheless ineluctably.” That paragraph itself is more complicated than the whole book itself, but re-reading it and defining a couple of the definitions helped. Martel (writing as Pi) is talking about religion and the euphoric feelings one gets from understanding the universe with morals and also the satisfaction one receives when we realize how love works. …“not clearly, not cleanly, not immediately, nonetheless ineluctably.”
Flier 6
This blog task will possibly be the most difficult of the blog task, because it will be very difficult to choose just three elements from the novel. However, I do enjoy the symbolism that is rampant throughout the novel much more than anything. Between Richard Parker, Orange Juice, the zebra and hyena, the sinking of the Tsimtsum and the main symbol, pi (the mathematical symbol). Richard Parker symbolizes the fear and mortality of all of us. It is always lurking around the corner and, unless you keep and eye on it, it will sneak up and attack you when you are vulnerable. Orange Juice was, for a few days anyway, Pi’s mother. She was the loving, strong protective figure on the boat, the only one who seemed to be on his side. Much like Pi’s mother, Orange Juice protects Pi from the hyena. The zebra, to me anyway, symbolizes Pi’s father. The zebra/ Mr. Patel is a majestic being, which prefers to blend in with the crowd. He feels safety in numbers however when the Tsimtsum sinks and his empire sinks with it, he becomes crippled and helpless, showing that if you put your life into one thing, once it is gone you will be left with nothing. The hyena represents Pi’s brother, Ravi. Ravi/hyena ads the Oedipus complex to the novel. In the end Ravi/hyena eats Mr. Patel/zebra and retaliates against Orange Juice/ Mrs. Patel, ultimately causing her death. The sinking of the Tsimtsum symbolized the old life of Pi crashing and sinking. Had Pi put his faith and trust into the material objects, he would be even more lost and confused. Because of his dis-attachment to material objects he realizes that he cannot do anything about his situation other than just survive. He stops trying to control everything (not that he ever started) and just goes with the motion of the ocean.
Wetrosky Pd. 3
As far as I have read, Life of Pi is on track to be in my list of most loved books, if not my new favorite. Everything about it so far is better than I expected: the detail, the thought, the character. The book caught my attention immediately as I started reading the first page of the first chapter. I never would have thought that the lowly sloth could be so interesting. “Sleepiness and slothfulness keep it out of harm’s way, away from the notice of jaguars, ocelots, harpy eagles and anacondas. A sloth’s hairs shelter an algae that is brown during the dry season and green during the wet season, so the animal blends in with the surrounding moss and foliage and looks like a nest of white ants or of squirrels, or like nothing at all but part of a tree.” (4) I love that section because the average person would have chosen something livelier, or some kind of predator. He chose it because he found God in it, and I thought that was pretty interesting. The next portion of Life of Pi that I found interesting was the section when Pi’s father took him and Ravi though the zoo and gave them a lesson on how dangerous all of the animals are. “Don’t think they’re harmless. Life will defend itself no matter how small it is.” (38) It is a pretty simple and generally known fact that any living thing will do whatever it can do to survive, but I just love how Martel puts it into context, and how he words it. In a way it gives me hope that even the weaker have a chance in the world. The part of this book that has had the most emotion for me is chapter 37. To me it is emotional because the imagery that Martel gives in this chapter can help me put myself on the lifeboat and see what is happening. This section made me happy and scared at the same time. How could a human have such love and hope for a dangerous beast like a tiger? “Jesus, Mary, Muhammad and Vishnu, how good to see you, Richard Parker!” (97) Pi loves life. He is so blinded by the fact that all living things are special miracles in themselves, that he doesn’t realize what he has done until it was too late. He had helped Richard Parker to survive, but in doing so, he added an entirely new threat to his life and a major barrier on his survival in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days.
Kramer pd. 7
I believe Yann Martel’s use of detail and mind pondering imagery are what makes this book so graphic, it just grabs you wanting you to read on and on. It feels as if you are on a lifeboat twenty feet away watching everything that Pi goes through on a day to day struggle to survive with Richard Parker. One example is the night when the ship sank Pi is literally thrown off the side of the ship into a lifeboat by the ships crew. “I thought they were going to jump in after me. Instead they turned their heads, looked horrified, and this creature appeared in the air, leaping with the grace of a racehorse. The zebra missed the tarpaulin. It was a male Grant, weighing over five hundred pounds” (105). Yann Martel really shows us how that situation would have been seen through Pi’s eyes. “With the grace of a racehorse,” makes use imagine how gracefully an animal can seem but at the same time be horrifying when free falling right for you. “Nothing goes to waste; even grass upon which blood has been split will be eaten. Hyenas’ stomachs swell visibly as they swallow huge chunks of kill” (116). The anamalistic instinct of the hyena tells itself to leave nothing behind after a kill. We can see in that picture frame in our minds the group of hyenas eating the bloody grass and licking the bones of a dead carcass. Martel is a match maker when it comes to portraying wild animals in such a way that an everyday person can focus the microscope into view. “Like a fury of an all-out battle, with the ear-splitting firing of guns and cannons and the thunderous blasts of bombs. The hyena’s roar filled the higher range of what my ears could hear, Orange Juice’s bass roar filled the lower range, and somewhere in between I could hear the cries of the helpless zebra. My ears were full. Nothing more, not one more sound, could push into them and be registered” (126). You can just imagine the different roars and moans colliding with each other like that of a band playing completely off tune. In my mind Yann Martel makes this book so readable and enjoyable by the way he describes each character, animal or situation in a way so that we can all feel as if we were eating raw sea turtle and tiger feces right along with him.
Sam Rall, Pd. 6
The number one thing I appreciated out of this book was Yann Martel's attention to detail and his vivid imagery used to describe that. He obviously is not even a follower of leaving out the little stuff. He uses the most subtle things to symbolize ideas that contain an even higher meaning. He understands what needs to be done in order to keep readers reading this book, and he excels at putting those factors into this book. For example, among the many instances in which he uses this attention to detail, my favorite happened way at the beginning of the book. On pages 14-15 he describes what a typical morning at a zoo might feel like, “Every morning before I was out the main gate I had one last impression that was both ordinary and unforgettable: a pyramid of turtles; the iridescent snout of a mandrill; the stately silence of a giraffe; the obese, yellow open mouth of a hippo; the beak-and-claw climbing of a macaw parrot up a wire fence; the greeting claps of a shoebill’s bill; the senile, lecherous expression of a camel.” Some of the adjectives he comes up with to use in this paragraph absolutely baffled me. All of these terms are seen as the shiny apple in the tree that inspires someone to keep looking. The second account of his I really appreciated was when Pi was describing the scene in which his boat was sinking. "The ship shook and there was that sound, the monstrous metallic burp. What was it? Was it the collective scream of humans and animals protesting their oncoming death? Was it the ship itself giving up the ghost? I fell over. I got to my feet. I looked overboard again. The sea was rising. The waves were getting closer. We were sinking fast. (104)” He exceeds any expectations of making this experience lifelike by using the absolute best adjectives to force a reader to think that they are in fact sinking with a boat in the middle of the Pacific. Lastly, I really noticed the scene when the hyena attacks the zebra on pages 120-123. "Its mouth bright red and it was chewing on a piece of hide." "The zebra's broken leg was missing. A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump. Blood was still dripping." It gives the reader a squeamish feeling in their gut while at the same time forcing the reader to have sympathy for the zebra and understanding of the hyena. It also states that the hyena peels back the zebra’s skin like gift wrap, and I was unable to think of any more realistic way to describe that sort of phenomenon. Throughout this book, Martel continues to open my eyes to new strategies that can in fact be used to describe such things as the scenes he has put into his own book.
Tayler Frisch pd. 2
Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is truly a novel consisting of vivid imagery. His skill for painting a picture with words is indeed inexplicable. Throughout the novel I have been amazed at how creative Mr. Martel describes things. He does so with metaphors, similes, truth, and immeasurable wit. In chapter 56 he describes fear with such detail that I truly started fearing fear itself. His words create an ample amount of truth. The chapter sucks you aboard the boat right after Pi gets done freaking out about Richard Parker. Chapter 56 is relatively short for a chapter but is wrapped in such detail that it makes the reader connect with Pi’s fear for Richard Parker. Yann Martel starts out by introducing the topic of fear “ I must say a word about fear”, then explodes with thoughts of death described by enticing detail, “ Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease.” (161). This introduction is just a few lines of three paragraphs describing fear. The introduction undoubtedly grips the reader. It makes fear master of death. It is definitely my favorite chapter. Another of Yann Martel’s great skills are his timely comic reliefs. The story of a boy stuck on a boat for close to a year is serious topic. However Martel always keeps the reader smiling in even the most serious of situations. When learning how to survive from the survival manual Pi learns how to make fresh water out of salt water. “The injunction not to drink urine was quite unnecessary. No one called “Pissing” in his childhood would be caught dead with a cup of pee at his lips, even alone in a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific.” (167) Martel uses clever humor like this throughout the novel to keep it from getting to serious. He also makes the character much more likeable. The author’s note is a compelling piece to th e novel. I love how it is directly connected to the story. Yann Martel creates clever humor and introduces topics as to what to expect in the pages to come. When talking to the elder man he hints at making him believe in god. “And it will make me believe in God?” “Yes.” “ That’s a tall order.” “Not so tall that you can’t reach.” Throughout the author’s note Martel foreshadows many things just as he does in the novel.
Niklason Period 6
The feature that I would like to compliment about this book is Yann Martel's attention to details. His very vivid imagery he uses not only puts a specific image in your head, it also make the story a lot easier to read and a lot more enjoyable as well. In chapter 38, Pi is trying to remember how it is the ship crashed and what exactly happened --or at least what he thinks happened. "The ship shook and there was that sound, the monstrous metallic burp. What was it? Was it the collective scream of humans and animals protesting their oncoming death? Was it the ship itself giving up the ghost. I fell over. I got to my feet. I looked overboard again. The sea was rising. The waves were getting closer. We were sinking fast" (104). This gives me a very distinct image in my head of how the ship sank. Martel also uses his detail when he talks about the gruesome experiences with the numerous animals on board with him. "The zebra's broken leg was missing. The hyena had bitten it off and dragged it to the stern, behind the zebra. A flap of skin hung limply over the raw stump. Blood was still dripping" (120). This quote provided me with a very specific image in my head that I would not have achieved if Martel just lightly touched on that part of the story. One of the more grueling descriptions in this book is the one describing Orange Juice and her beheading. "Orange Juice lay next to it, against the dead zebra. Her arms were spread wide open and her short legs were folded together and slightly turned to one side. She looked like a simian Christ on the Cross. Except for her head. She was beheaded. The neck wound was still bleeding" (131-132). Even though it is extremely vivid and gruesome, this description gives the reader the image that Martel was trying to achieve when he was writing. This book is full of amazing imagery and literary devices that paint a picture in my head, which makes the book more enjoyable for me.
Selken Pd. 7
In Life of Pi there are so many instances of great imagery that you can always imagine just what Yann Martel is trying to help you see. He has an impeccable ability to help you see what he is seeing or feeling. The first time that I felt like Martel wrote something really well is when Orange Juice comes floating up on her banana boat. “She came floating on an island of bananas in a halo of light, as lovely as the Virgin Mary. The rising sun was behind her. Her flaming hair looked stunning.” When I read this I can see specifically what he is talking about, right down to the last detail. The next part that I noticed was really great is when Pi is talking about daybreak, “I was cold. It was a distracted observation, as if it didn’t concern me. Daybreak came. It happened quickly, yet by imperceptible degrees. A corner of the sky changed colours. The air began filling with light. The calm sea opened up around me like a great book. Still it felt like night. Suddenly it was day.” This part in the book is showing how Pi is starting to lose hope. Even though day is here, he still feels like it is night. He is struggling to hold onto reality and decipher what is fact and fiction. The third part that I thought was excellent is the scene when Orange Juice get killed by the hyena. “Dumb with pain and horror, I watched as Orange Juice thumped the hyena ineffectually and pulled at its hair while her throat was being squeezed by its jaws. To the end she reminded me of us: her eyes expressed fear in such a humanlike way, as did her strained whimpers. She made an attempt to climb onto the tarpaulin.” This part made me so sad because you see that Pi sees her as almost human with the same expressions and it’s almost like he’s witnessing his own death right in front of him. Throughout the book Yann Martell uses stunning detail that helps the reader truly feel Pi’s emotions.
Kendall Cressman p.7
"If you're not happy with this figment of your fancy, pick another one. There are plenty of fancies to pick from"(243). Pi says this to a new aquaintaince in chapter 90. The mysters person says, "Hmmm. Figment. Fig-ment. Wouldn't a fig be good"(243)? These two blind people meet in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean and they choose to greet eachother with the fig/figment wordplay. This part almost made me laugh in the middle of class while everyone else was busy reading. I can picture the blind Pi throwing his arms to the sky in frustration as the also-blind newcomer is discussing figs in an almost dream-like trance. I found the comedy of this scene invigorating. From this point on I was absorbed into the novel and not released until finishing the Reading Group Guide at the end. I found the tooth-discovery portion of the novel to be disturbingly beautiful. I was anticipating the island itinerary inpart because of my girlfriend who told me I would be shocked in the coming chapters. A better way to tell this portion of the story, I could not imagine. My mouth turned from the open gape of shock, to a parabolic, teeth-flashing smile. I sincerely hope my teeth will not someday become fruit on the branches of the meerkats' treetop home. It takes a great author to make a person's mood shift so drastically from terror to ammusement to sadness to relief. I greatly enjoyed when Pi told his neo-Richard-Parker story. I found it easy to compare the humans in his story to his animal-sailors throughout the novel. It left me wondering whether Richard Parker physically existed, or if he is just a figment of Pisciene's imagination.
Joey Boy Pd. 3
I found chapter 97 of Yann Martel's Life of Pi to be his most intriguing. Although it is the shortest, it is the most meaningful. Chapter 97 reads as such, "The story". I just found it humorous that Martel made a chapter out of his whole story, so technically chapter 97 is the novel. It was so simple, yet so fascinating to me. I literally chuckled at his brief illustration of his entire written work. Another hilarious line that Martel dropped into Life of Pi was none other than one of his many sentences of similes. This sentence of Martel describing a fish made me enjoy how clever he is as an author. It goes, "It was a fish. There was a fish in the locker. It was flopping about like a fish out of water"(180). A fish flopping around like a fish out of water, and Martel gets away with that simile? Haha. My sincere applause to Mr. Yann Martel, for his use of metaphors and similes for comparisons is unlike any other author I have encountered before. He uses them subtly, yet effectively. They paint the picture, and they do not take away from it. The biggest significance of this book is the fact that Richard Parker and Pi Patel are both in the same boat; literally, metaphorically, and physically. In the last chapters of the book we find out that the animals were actually human survivors from the Tsimtsum shipwreck, and that Richard Parker was actually Pi's reflection of himself as an animal. This is made absolutely clear when one of the Japanese investigators solves Pi's equation when he says, "So the Taiwanese sailor is the zebra, his mother is the orang-utan, the cook is...the hyena--which means he's the tiger"(311)! Richard Parker and Pi start in the same boat metaphorically--as in they are in the same ordeal together. They are in the same boat literally. Then at the end of the novel we find out that they are physically each other and that they were always in the same boat--or body--as the other.
The novel has been a really cool experience so far for me, and there a lot of things that I appreciate. First of all, I really enjoyed the authors note. I know that it is technically not a part of the novel, but I do think that it set up a lot of the details behind it. As he explained about his experiences, I felt that it was a great way for us to get to know not only the facts about the book, but why he wrote it and why he spent so long on it. It is nice to hear when a writer can spend 10 years on a piece of work like this, and you can tell. There is not one thing in this book that could be viewed as not good enough to fit, or not special enough for the rest. Martel is such a creative man and I loved hearing about his trip and how it worked with the book. One other thing that I really enjoyed about the beginning part of the novel was how much detail that he put into studying each religion. I know my religion well, but in no means would I have had the patience to go through and study each of the religions to the T. I feel like I was granted the inner peace Pi was while sitting with each of the 3 pastors of each religion. Last but certainly not least, I do appreciate the gentleman, I MEAN LION, Richard Parker. I honestly believe that I myself look at him more as a person then I do a tiger. Martel made him so real and so personable that it is hard to look at him any other way. I understand how Pi and his relationship worked at the beginning of the trip, and I don’t know if I would have handled it any different... O WAIT I probably would have fed myself to the tiger so I could just get it over with! But I love how they are able to work together like a team! They have love, respect, and an understanding for one another and I think that those three things besides his religion that is going to get him through the rough times ahead.
Skich P.4
I really like how they changed the font in the last few chapters. It adds emphasis on the reality of every day life. That with the fact that the font change looks like human writing adds a style of personalization that fits perfectly with how he ended the book.
Here are some quotes to demonstrate my point:
“He thinks we’re fools. Mr. Patel, we’ll take a little break and then we’ll come back, yes?” (292).
“Just give him another one. We have to humor him. We’ll be back in a few minutes…” (292).
“I’ll get them…” (293).
He did say strait out that the font changes was the brief comments that were spoken between Tomohiro Okamoto and Atsuro Chiba in Japanese. The fact that he choose to use different font and bold it, instead of just italicizing it, tells me that he wanted their comments to mean more to the reader than idle chit chat between two collogues. He really wanted to emphasize those parts because he wanted to react to the skepticism he would receive after the release of the book, with the last few chapters, which would alleviate some of the questions about the book from fans. To me this was very unusual and unique among the books that I have read.
Wilson Trent
Period 7
This was a book that gripped me like none other. I found it quite poetic in its very nature and that assissted me -- an aspiring poet and writer -- to read the novel with the ease and flow that no other book has ever possessed. This means that while I am challenged at the art of reading for pleasure, this book Life of Pi could not have been more enjoyable to me. It spoke to me in ways that pages of other books hold silent. The characters leap out at me while other authors' creations stay shackled within. All of this being casual comparison, of course, I simply found this book gripping. To speak of just one portion of this novel that appealed to me, I would answer that it was the flow of the book. The chapters were short and sweet, yet strong, and the literary devices contained within them are large and life-shattering. I liked Pi's analogy of the zoo being so large and then so small it could fit inside his head. That one stood out. Martel was -- is still -- a genius when he created this novel, one that will go down in history -- or at least my history.
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