Life of Pi – Final Essay Practise

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Let’s look at some examples…

Below are two examples of high quality text response essays written by past students that were produced under exam conditions. They are on two different topics to do with Life of Pi, and relate to the core themes of belief, storytelling and survival:

 

With each essay, you should pay close attention to the following things:

  • Their structure is clear, simple and effective
  • Arguments are soundly constructed and clearly conveyed
  • Textual evidence is used regularly and fluently to support their claims
  • Their written expression is clear, accurate and easy to understand
  • They remain focussed on answering the essay topic
  • If plot details are provided, then there is a clear reason for doing so

 

 

 Practise Essay Option 1: Belief

The slideshow below provides you with a potential approach to the topic: How is the concept of belief explored in Life of Pi? There is an overview of the concept of ‘belief’, which provides some material which could be of use in crafting an introduction, and then the following five slides provide ideas for subsequent body paragraphs, including potential evidence.

Using these materials as a starting point, and drawing upon your own reading of the novel, craft a response to this essay topic.

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Practise Essay 2: Survival

A key theme explored in Life of Pi, and particularly part two, is the idea of survival. When explaining how the concept of survival, there are many things that can potentially be discussed:

  • The role of SUFFERING: the zebra; Pi and Richard Parker’s physical deterioration and Pi’s mental anguish and questioning.
  • The role of SAVAGERY: the hyena; Pi having to turn away from his previous self and abandon aspects of his humanity; the killing of the flying fish vs. the killing of the dorado, tea turtle, etc.; the blind man.
  • The role of FEAR: the initial days on the lifeboat; the taming of Richard Parker; chapter 56.
  • The role of FAITH: Pi’s use of prayer; loss of faith; chapters 73-74; the island.
  • The role of PURPOSE: Pi’s routines; boredom vs. the beauty brought by nature; caring for and taming Richard Parker.

While most examples of survival are contained in part two, it can also be a good idea to draw links back to how Pi’s experiences in part one allow him to survive in the ocean: for example learning to swim with Mamaji, his experience with animals at the zoo and how this helps him to tame Richard Parker, how his faith and belief allows him to maintain his humanity and sanity. You can link to earlier parts of the text by discussing how Pi needs to overcome some of his previous beliefs and practices in order to survive, such as his vegetarianism.

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Your topic for this essay on survival is: ‘Life of Pi is a story of survival’. Discuss.

You have two options for this practise essay:

  1. Plan and write the essay from scratch, drawing upon your understanding of the novel and the evidence you have been collecting.
  2. Download and use this template essay document to guide you through your response. This template takes you through the steps of writing an introduction, structuring a response and writing a body paragraph.

 

All practise essays are due next Tuesday 25 August.

The Life of Pi Assessment Task will be held on Thursday 27 August at 8.30am in the KWC.

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