LIFE OF PI

Yann Martel
 INTRODUCTION TO LIFE OF PI

Life of Pi is an adventure story about a young man, Piscine Patel, who

survives 227 days in a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean with a Bengal tiger,
Richard Parker, after a harrowing shipwreck. The author takes the readers
through Pi’s life story from when he is born in Pondicherry, India, right up to
when he is 42-years-old, living in Canada with his family. The novel focuses
on the 227 days Pi survives at sea, starting on 2 July 1977 up to 14 February
1978, when he is rescued in Mexico. Pi adventures at sea with Richard
Parker explore themes such as religion, spirituality, faith, doubt, survival,
danger, reason, nature and the relativity of truth.

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 AUTHOR’S BACKGROUND

Yann Martel was born on 25 June 1963 in Salamanca,

Spain to Canadian parents, while they were living in
Spain. His novel Life of Pi won the Mann Booker
Prize for best English- language novel written by a
Commonwealth or Irish author. The novel has been
translated into 30 languages and was made into a film
in 2012.

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 1. SETTING, CONTEXT AND TIMELINE
Part 1 of the novel is set in Pondicherry which was renamed Puducherry, a
French colony in India. It is still possible to visit the city and see the
beautiful Franco-Tamil architecture. There was once a zoo in the Botanical
Gardens in Pondicherry and the director of the film, Life of Pi, used the
Botanical Gardens to film the zoo scenes in the movie. However, the zoo in
the novel is mostly fictitious as the Pondicherry Zoo did not have the diverse
species described by Pi. In 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was found
guilty of charges related to her 1971 election campaign. However, because of
the unrest in India, she kept ruling and declared a “state of emergency”
which lasted 18 months and ended in March 1977.

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 1. SETTING, CONTEXT AND TIMELINE
Although India was economically successful, it was a controversial time
period because she took away people’s rights and jailed her opponents. Pi’s
father gets nervous about the possibility of Gandhi taking over his business
so he decides to move from India to Canada. The setting and the context are
important plot devices in the novel. As Pi’s family are zoo owners and
because of the state of emergency, a vehicle is provided for the author to
place the tiger into the lifeboat with Pi, without it seeming contrived. The
focus of Part 2 is Pi’s journey at sea in the Pacific Ocean.
Martel strategically creates a situation where it is just the boy and the tiger
alone at sea. Part 3 is set in Benito Juarez Infirmary, Tomatlán, Mexico. This
is where the first two parts of the novel come together to clarify the events in

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 3. CHARACTERS

- Pi (Piscine Molitor Patel) - Father Martin, the Catholic priest

- Richard Parker, the tiger - The Hindu Priest / Pandit
- The Author - The blind Frenchman, another castaway
- Santosh Patel, Pi’s father - The ship’s cook, a cruel man
- Gita Patel, Pi’s mother - Meena Patel, Pi’s wife
- Ravi Patel, Pi’s brother - Nikhil Patel, Pi’s son
- Francis Adirubasamy, known as Mamaji - Mr Tomohiro Okamoto, Japanese
- Satish Kumar, the biology teacher official

- Satish Kumar, the Muslim mystic - Mr Atsuro Chiba, Japanese official

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PI
PISCINE MOLITOR PATEL

• Narrator, protagonist and main character.

• Son of a zookeeper.
• As a teenager, he renames himself Pi.
• He practises three religions - Christianity, Islam and
Hinduism.
• His faith and knowledge of animal psychology help him
survive 227 days at sea in a lifeboat with a 450-pound
Bengal tiger.
• The adult Pi is described as a small, slim man, with dark
hair and eyes and an expressive face.
• He grows up in Pondicherry but now lives in Canada.
• Pi studies Zoology and Religion at the University of
Toronto.

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RICHARD PARKER
• A three-year-old Bengal tiger who is Pi’s only companion
at sea.
• Captured as a cub and transferred to the Pondicherry Zoo,
which is
• owned by Pi’s father.
• Becomes Pi’s nemesis (enemy/rival) as well as his reason
to carry on living.
• He has a human name as the result of a clerical error in
which the real name of the tiger, Thirsty, and the name of
his captor, Richard Parker, are accidentally reversed.
• In Part 3, a story is presented to the Japanese officials
showing
• Richard Parker as Pi’s alter ego (a person’s alternative
personality).

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THE AUTHOR
• Author and narrator.
• Interviews adult Pi and describes his home
and family life.
• Adds authenticity to the story by reminding
the reader that Pi’s story is the result of an
interview process, not just a made up story.

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SANTOSH PATEL
• Pi’s father ran a large hotel in Madras
before moving to Pondicherry to direct the
Pondicherry Zoo.
• Teaches Pi about animal behaviour and to
respect animals as savage beasts.
• Dies in the sinking of the Tsimtsum

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GITA PATEL
• Reads widely.
• Unlike Pi, she is not interested in
religion.
• Dies in the sinking of the Tsimtsum.
• In Pi’s second story, her alter ego is
Orange Juice, the orangutann

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RAVI
• Pi’s older brother and captain of the
cricket team.
• Loves teasing Pi but the brothers are
close.
• Dies in the sinking of the Tsimtsum.

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FRANCIS ADIRUBASAMY
MAMAJI
• A close friend of the Patel family and former competitive
swimmer. He refers the author to Pi for “a story that will
make you believe in God.”
• Teaches Pi how to swim which is why Pi survives when the
ship sinks.
• Pi refers to him as Mamaji, mama meaning uncle and ji
indicating respect and affection - therefore respected uncle.
• Gives Pi his full name – Piscine Molitor.

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SITARAM

• Pi’s favourite worker at

Pondicherry Zoo.
• In charge of the orangutans

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MR SATISH KUMAR
BIOLOGY TEACHER
• Pi’s favourite teacher at his school, Petit Sèminaire.
• The first avowed atheist that Pi ever meets.
• Pi accepts him as a believer – but of another faith.
• An active communist.
• Sees nature as an illustration of the logic of science.
• Inspires Pi to study Zoology at college.

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MR SATISH KUMAR
BAKER
• Muslim mystic (a Sufi) and baker.
• Ironically, this man of faith has the same
name as Pi’s atheist teacher.
• Pi sees his shop and bakery as a sacred
place and learns to practice Islam there.
• Inspires Pi to study Religion at college.

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FATHER MARTIN
• Catholic priest who exemplifies Christ’s
love.
• Explains that Christ lived the way He did
because of love.
• Inspires Pi’s pursuit of multiple faiths.

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THE ZEBRA, HYENA AND
ORANGUTAN
• Pi’s companions on the lifeboat in the more
‘factual’ story.
• The hyena kills the zebra and the orangutan.
• The hyena is the French cook’s alter ego.
• The zebra is the Chinese sailor’s alter ego.
• The orangutan is Gita Patel’s alter ego.

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MR TOMOHIRO OKAMOTO
• A member of the Maritime Department in
the Japanese Ministry of Transport.
• Interviews Pi in Mexico to find out what
happened to the Tsimtsum.
• Reluctant to believe Pi’s version of events
but after hearing both stories, prefers the
one with animals.

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MR ATSURO CHIBA

• Okamoto’s junior colleague who accompanies

him to Mexico.
• Seems to see a deeper meaning in Pi’s story,
but goes along with whatever Mr Okamoto
says.

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MEENA PATEL

• Pi’s wife - later in life.

• Works as a pharmacist and is a second
generation Canadian (born in Canada)

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NIKHIL PATEL

• Pi’s son - later in life.

• Plays baseball.

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USHA PATEL

• Pi’s four-year-old daughter - later

in life

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AUNTIEJI

• Pi’s foster mother in Toronto,

Canada.

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4. PLOT
DEVELOPEMENT
EXPOSITION
The exposition introduces the setting and the characters.
The Author’s Note presents the fictitious author narrating his
first meeting with Pi. It introduces the time (1996) and the place
of Pi’s present home – Toronto.
Part One provides information on Pi’s childhood in Pondicherry,
his fascination with religion, his understanding of animal
psychology and his training as a swimmer. In addition, the Patel
family moves from their home in Pondicherry on a ship to
Canada.
It is important to note that the exposition foreshadows the events
in
Part Two.

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RISING ACTION
The rising action is the development of the story and includes
events of tension and conflict between characters or within a
character. Pi’s experiences of survival at sea form the rising
action.
Part Two begins with the sinking of the cargo ship, the
Tsimtsum, on which the Patels are relocating to Canada, along
with a few animals – some of which they sell along their
journey. Pi is left on a lifeboat with an orangutan (Orange
Juice), a zebra, a hyena and a Bengal tiger (Richard Parker).
The tension rises as Pi struggles to survive.

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CLIMAX
The climax is that point in the novel at which the
tension is the greatest
- Pi’s experiences on algae island (chapter 92).
The falling action is the aftermath of the climax. The
lifeboat washes ashore in Mexico. Richard Parker
leaves the lifeboat and runs off into the jungle. A
group of villagers rescue Pi and he is hospitalised. He
recovers from his 227 days at sea and is released into
the care of his foster mother in Canada.

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RESOLUTION
The ending of this novel does not present the reader with a
definite conclusion / resolution but invites the reader to choose
“the better story”. The unusual ending does not make the story
any less compelling. The two endings create an internal conflict
in the reader and links to the theme of the nature of storytelling.
In Life of Pi, other techniques used to develop the plot include
Foreshadowing, Flashback, Suspense, Surprise, Anti-Climax and
Timeline.

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 5. THEMES

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- The Nature of Storytelling
- Identity / The Hero’s Journey
- Religion and Faith
- Belief
- Heart vs Reason
- Reality vs Illusion
- The Nature of Survival
- Animal Psychology
- Zoomorphism and Anthropomorphism
- Survival
 THE NATURE OF
STORTELLING
The nature of storytelling itself is woven throughout Life of Pi, as the novel is
told in a complex way through several layers of narration. The real author
writes in the first person, as a fictional author similar to Yann Martel himself
and this author retells the story he hears from the adult Pi about Pi’s younger
self. At the end, in a transcript of an interview which the author provides, the
young Pi tells an alternate story of how he survived his days at sea, giving a
version of events with only human survivors instead of animals. The larger
question raised by the novel’s framework is then about the nature of truth in
storytelling. Pi values atheism as much as religion but he chooses to subscribe
to three religions because of the truth and beauty he finds in their stories. He
also possibly invents the animal version of his story as a way of finding more
truth in his ordeal – as well as staying sane by retelling his gruesome
experience in a more beautiful way.
Pi thinks that the island is a paradise by day but eventually learns that at night
the algae turns acidic and deadly, devouring fish nearby. He discovers a tree
with black and twisted “fruit” that contains human teeth. He comes to the awful
realisation that the island is carnivorous and that it has eaten a human being
before him
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 SURVIVAL
Much of the action of Life of Pi consists of the struggle for survival against
seemingly impossible odds. Pi is stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the
Pacific for 227 days, with only an adult Bengal tiger for company. Therefore, his
ordeal involves not just avoiding starvation but also protecting himself from
Richard Parker. Pi is soon forced to give up his lifelong pacifism and
vegetarianism as he has to kill and eat fish and turtles. In a similar vein Orange
Juice, the peaceful orangutan, becomes violent when facing the hyena and
Richard Parker submits to being tamed because Pi gives him food. In this way
Martel shows the extremes that living things will go to in order to survive,
sometimes fundamentally changing their natures.
The struggle to survive also leads the characters to commit deeds of both great
heroism and horrible gruesomeness. Pi finds an amazing resourcefulness and
will to live within himself and he resolves to live peacefully alongside Richard
Parker instead of trying to kill the tiger. When he leaves algae island, Pi even
waits for Richard Parker to return to the lifeboat before pushing off. From the
start, we know that Pi will survive his ordeal, as he is telling the tale as a happy
adult but his constant struggle to stay alive and sane maintains the tension
throughout the book.
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RELIGION AND FAITH
Francis Adirubasamy first presents Pi’s tale to the fictional author as “a story to make
you believe in God,” immediately introducing religion as a crucial theme. Pi is raised
in a very religious family but as a boy he becomes more devoutly Hindu and then also
converts to Christianity and Islam. He practises all of these religions at once despite the
protests of his three religious leaders, who assert that their religion contains the whole
and exclusive truth. Instead of dwelling on divisive dogma (religious teachings), Pi
focuses on the stories of his three faiths and their different pathways to God. He reads a
story of universal love in all three religions. In fact, it seems that faith and belief are
more important to Pi than religious truth, as he also admires atheists for taking a stand.
It is only agnostics that Pi dislikes, as they choose doubt as a way of life and never
choose a better story.
When he is stranded at sea, Pi’s faith is tested by his extreme struggles but he also
experiences and appreciates the lavishness (abundance) of his surroundings. All
external obstacles are stripped away, leaving only an endless circle of sea and sky and
one day he rejoices over a powerful lightning storm as a “miracle”. After his rescue, Pi
returns to the concept of faith. He tells his interviewers two versions of his survival
story (one with animals and one without) and then asks which one they prefer. The
officials disbelieve the animal story but they agree that it is the more compelling and
memorable of the two. Pi responds with “so it goes with God,” basically saying that he
chooses to have religious faith because he finds a religious worldview more beautiful.
The “facts” are unknowable concerning God’s existence, so Pi chooses the story he
likes better, which is the one involving God.

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 6. SYMBOLS

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7. STYLE
Style refers to how the writer tells the story. In
this case, Martel varies the narration of the story
from the adult Pi, the young Pi and the fictitious
author. Each of these narrations presents an
observation and view of the story
FIRST-PERSON NARRATOR

Pi, recounting his journey at sea, for

example, makes the story authentic and
therefore believable. This conversational
style is also accessible to the reader as it
allows the reader to experience the story
as well.
HUMOUR

Martel uses humour to create interest. An

example of this is his account of Pi’s
interaction with the two Mr Kumars. The
humour allows the reader to connect with Pi.
Think also of his “training” of his teachers
and peers to change the pronunciation of his
name.

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IMAGERY
The use of varied imagery enhances the reading
experience. The imagery is used to stretch the
reader’s imagination and create a sensory
experience. For example, he captures both beauty
and danger in his description of the algae island. In
many ways, this links to the theme of the nature of
the storytelling – the better story is the one that
people enjoy more.

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JARGON AND ANIMAL
PSYCHOLOGY
The author uses particular language that
relates to animal psychology and nautical
jargon (vocabulary specific to sailing). This
creates credibility and therefore makes the
story more believable. As the story unfolds,
take note of how diction (word choice) is
used to create tone and mood.

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VARIED FONTS
The use of varied fonts differentiates the two
narrators and the dialogue between the Japanese
officials. The roman (upright font) is used for Pi’s
narration and for his interview in Part Three.
Italic font is used to express the author’s
observations. In Part Three the cursive font
represents the Japanese dialogue between the
sceptical officials, so that Pi cannot understand
them.

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