.
A different kind of castaway…
Chapter 41: Establishes the situation on the lifeboat with the hyena, zebra and Richard Parker.
- Martel injects some humour into the narrative with Pi reflecting “I never thought that finding myself confined in a small space with a spotted hyena would be good news, but there you go.” Why does he see the hyena’s presence as “good news”? What does this comment say about Pi’s character?
Chapter 42: Orange Juice, a female orangutan, is found drifting in the ocean. Pi pulls the net she is holding onto to the boat and she climbs on board.
- Why does Orange Juice bring both “joy and pain in equal measure”?
Chapter 43: Pi thinks about how hundreds of rescuers must be looking for them. The hyena paces the boat, jumps up onto the tarpaulin once, and begins running around the zebra, yipping.
- On what does Pi base his assumption that hundreds of rescuers are looking for them? What does the reality suggest about the insignificance of the ship in the Pacific and the insignificance of human beings in creation?
- What is emphasised by Pi’s description of the hyena?
Chapter 44: When the sun comes up, Pi still sits on the oar, afraid to enter the boat with the predators. He wonders what the dark will do to the animals before hearing the barking of the hyena and the grunting of the orangutan. Beneath the boat, water predators continue to make noise as well. Pi is surrounded.
Chapter 45: As the sun comes up, Pi searches in vain for a rescue ship. He sees that in the night the hyena has attacked the zebra. It is now eating the zebra alive, having ripped off its back leg. Pi becomes nauseas. When he moves, he witnesses Orange Juice looking sick as well, wondering why she is still safe, not yet killed by the hyena.
- Pi reflects that his “sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival”. How has Pi changed since the ship sank (in these early days of his journey on the Pacific)?
- Orange Juice provides Pi a moment of relief. What is the effect of this stark, and brief, shift in ton?
Chapter 46: Despite all the suffering that Pi will endure, this nigh, his second night shipwrecked, stands out as “one of exceptional suffering”. Orange Juice looks to sea, searching for her sons (or so Pi envisions her). The hyena returns to eating the zebra alive, literally from the inside out. The description is exceptionally graphic. Orange Juice finally challenges the hyena as they roar at one another. The zebra is spurting blood, which attracts sharks, who rock the boat. Pi is left crying.
- What is it about the second night that leads Pi to remember it being a night of “exceptional suffering”?
- Why does Orange Juice react the way she does to the zebra’s demise? How do you interpret these actions?
Chapter 47: The zebra finally dies at noon the next day. The hyena then attacks Orange Juice. The two animals battle, but despite a furious attempt to defend herself Orange Juice is finally, and inevitable, killed by the hyena. The description is again graphic. Pi sees that Richard Parker is still there, waiting beneath the tarpaulin.
- What side of Orange Juice do we see in this Chapter and what does it suggest to us about animal instinct versus human instinct?
- What function does the grizzly details of the death of the zebra and Orange Juice serve in the story? Why has Martel chosen to go into this level of detail?
Chapter 48: This chapter contains the story of how Richard Parker came by his name. Read it to find out.
Chapter 49: Pi realizes that he’s been awake and hasn’t eaten or drank anything in three days. For some reason, the situation with Richard Parker, as hopeless as it seems, enlivens Pi who begins to look for a source of drinking water. He no longer fears the hyena because of the tiger’s presence and he now figures out the prior odd behaviour of the other animals was probably in response to the tiger. He is unsure why the tiger is acting strangely, assuming it’s sedatives or seasickness.
- Pi says that having “lost all hope” he “perked up and felt much better”. Explain this apparent contradiction.
- Pi rationalises that the hyena’s behaviour can be explained because “in the face of such a superior predator, all of us were prey”. What does this suggest about nature and our place within in?
Chapter 50: Here, Pi describes in minute detail every aspect of the lifeboat, from the size to the shape and room Richard Parker is taking up under the tarpaulin.
Chapter 51: Pi peels back the tarpaulin to search the supplies on the lifeboat. He finds food and water. He immediately discards his vegan diet.
Chapter 52: Pi lists the inventory of the lifeboat in precise detail.
Chapter 53: Richard Parker kills the hyena. He turns to attack Pi, but Pi throws a stray rat at Richard Parker who, satisfied with the offering, returns under the tarpaulin. Pi creates a makeshift raft from the lifejackets and leaves the boat.
- Compare the killing of the hyena by Richard Parker with the deaths of the Grant Zebra and Orange Juice. In what ways is this scene different? What effect does this have on how Richard Parker is introduced?
It is now just Pi and Richard Parker left on the lifeboat…
Bringing it together…
These next two questions may seem simple, but they’re not. You will need a good understanding of the previous chapters before you can tackle these two questions. Each question will, at the very least, take at least one full paragraph to begin to explore. Evidence, including quotes, will be essential.
- BIG QUESTION 1: What does each of the animals on the lifeboat come to represent?
- BIG QUESTION 2: What is established about the relationship between life and death in this section of the novel?
