Author: Matthew McDonald

 

Your holiday homework to complete over the September break is as follows:

 

Children of Men

You will need to look at two more scenes from the film Children of Men and answer the questions the accompany them:

• Scene Analysis: Hillside Primary School
• Scene Analysis: Pier Point Tower

 

Other Future Worlds

The main part of your holiday homework is to watch two other films which depict ‘Future Worlds’ and complete the following table.

I have put together the following document to assist you in choosing films which you may want to use for this task: Future Worlds Films

Some other films which could work for this task (but which I have not seen and cannot vouch for) include: 12 Monkeys, Her, A Scanner Darkly, Dredd (the 2012 version).

After watching each film, you will need to complete the following table (note that not ever element may be present in each film: Future Worlds Holiday Homework Film Table

 

All of this work is due our first class back.

 

Once we complete this context unit, we will be returning to a brief study of language analysis. It is recommended that you go back over your language analysis notes and revise the material covered earlier this year.

 

 

 

Below you can find the materials from today’s class (and some older work on transition words, in case you’ve lost your sheets!). Good luck with tomorrow’s assessment task – remember that you need to be in the KWC, ready to go, at 8.30am!

 

Mind Map

You can find the Life of Pi revision mind-map from today’s class here: LoP Revision Mindmap

 

Paragraphs

You can find the paragraph/topic sentences from today’s class here:Life of Pi Topic Sentences Revision Activity

 

Transition Words

You can find the list of transition words from our past classes here: Transition Words

You can find the PowerPoint slides that explain how to use transition words here: Transition Words Slides

 

More Practise Topics

Remember that you have a list of practise topics in your Life of Pi handout. A copy can also be found here: Life of Pi Essay Topics

 

 

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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:

• Sample Essay 1: Life of Pi challenges readers to embrace ‘a better story’ and sacrifice ‘dry, yeastless factuality’.
• Sample Essay 2: Life of Pi is a story of survival in the face of extraordinary odds.

 

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.

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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Select FIVE sets of quotes and explain the significance of each one in relation to the nature of storytelling, belief and what makes the “better story”.

All of these quotes come from Chapter 99 in Life of Pi, immediately after Pi tells his story to the investigators.

 

 

Page 292:

Mr. Okamoto: “Mr. Patel, we don’t believe your story.”

“Sorry – these cookies are good, but they tend to crumble. I’m amazed. Why not?”

 

 

Page 294:

“Carnivorous trees? A fish-eating algae that produces fresh water? Tree-dwelling aquatic rodents? These things don’t exist.”

“Only because you’re never seen them.”

“That’s right. We believe what we see.”

“So did Columbus. What do you do when you’re in the dark?

“Your island is botanically impossible.”

“Said the fly just before landing in the Venus flytrap.”

“Why has no one else come upon it?”

“It’s a big ocean crossed by busy ships. I went slowly, observing much.”

 

 

Page 296:

“We have difficulty believing it.”

“It’s an incredible story.”

“Precisely.”

 

 

Page 297:

“The arrogance of big-city folk! You grant your metropolises all the animals of Eden, but you deny my hamlet the merest Bengal tiger! “

“Mr. Patel, please calm down.”

“If you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for? Isn’t love hard to believe?”

“Mr. Patel–“

“Don’t bully me with your politeness! Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?

“We’re just being reasonable.”

“So am I! I applied my reason at every moment. Reason is excellent for getting food, clothing and shelter. Reason is the very best tool kit. Nothing beats reason for keeping tigers away. But be excessively reasonable and you risk throwing out the universe with the bathwater.”

 

 

Page 299:

“Tigers exist, lifeboats exist, oceans exist. Because the three have never come together in your narrow, limited experience, you refuse to believe they might.”

 

 

Page 301-302:

“So you didn’t like my story?”

“No, we liked it very much…We will remember it for a long, long time.”

…

“So you want another story?”

“Uh…no. We would like to know what really happened.”

“Doesn’t the telling of something always become a story?…Isn’t telling about something – using words, English or Japanese – already something of an invention? Isn’t just looking upon this work already something of an invention?…The World isn’t just the way it is, it is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Does that make life a story?”

 

 

Page 302-303:

“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 of further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality”

…

“You want a story without animals.”

 

 

Page 311:

“He was such an evil man. Worse still, he met evil in me – selfishness, anger, ruthlessness. I must live with that.”

…

“What a horrible story.”

 

 

Page 317:

“You can’t prove which story is true and which is not. You must take my word for it.”

“I guess so.”

“In both stories the ship sinks, my entire family dies, and I suffer.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?”

Mr. Okamoto: “That’s an interesting question…”

Mr. Chiba: “The story with animals.”

Mr Okamoto: “Yes. The story with animals is the better story.”

Pi Patel: “Thank you. And so it goes with God.”

 

 

 

When you finish the chapter, answer the following questions:

 

Question 1:
What point in Martel making about stories and storytelling in this chapter?

 

Question 2:
Pi’s objections and arguments are based on logic and reason. When, then, do readers tend to identify with the investigators in this chapter?

 

Question 3:
After reading this chapter, do you feel that you have been ‘tricked’ by the novel? Does this chapter contain the ‘truth’? What is the ‘truth’ that lies behind this story?

 

 

Chapter 92, and it description of Pi’s ordeal on the carnivorous island, forms the longest chapter in the novel and is one of the most perplexing and contentious elements of Life of Pi. When he is at his most desperate, Pi comes across this mile-wide mass of green algae, inhabited by thousands of meerkats, floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When he is suffering the most, it provides him with the security and nourishment that he requires: food, water and shelter. He is able to recover and grow strong again.

However, as Pi recovers, he gradually begins to stop believing blindly in the island as a mere source of sustenance, and instead begins to explore and question. There is another side to the island: it is carnivorous, digesting any life that cannot escape by sundown. It is only when Pi discovers a human tooth from one of the island’s past inhabitants, it having been digested and turned into a flower, that Pi begins to see dark truth behind the island. The island provides sustenance, but not purpose. It can shelter people during a storm and give them what, in that moment, they need to survive, but in the long run it consumes them.

Some people see the island as a test of Pi’s faith. He could live out his days in relative safety, but without hope of becoming anything more, until he too decides to lie down and let the acidic juices consume him; or he could return to the suffering that life provides and have to endure that which seems unendurable in the hope of, one day, having the chance of living a life of meaning. The island appeases Pi’s physical comfort, but leads to spiritual death; if faith is too easy, then you will not be willing to brave the seas in search of something more meaningful and ‘true’.

The island is the last great trial of survival that Pi recounts for us, and there is no one interpretation of what it means and its significance. However, from a narrative perspective it forms the climax of the novel, and pushes the reader to the limit of what they are willing to accept in pursuit of the ‘better story’.

Does Martel use the island as a test of faith for Pi? What is the lesson that it is designed to teach him, and us?

Here is one potential interpretation of the island and what the different elements could signify:

• Pi’s lifeboat = faith
• Island = Religion
• Sea and Sun = harsh realities of real life, scrutinizing your faith
• Trees = clergy/priests/rabbis/imams, etc.
• Meerkats = followers of religion

If you attribute these meanings to each elements in the chapter, what does it now mean? What message does it now carry?

Can you provide a different interpretation?

 

 

Interpretations of the Island

There are many different ways of interpreting and using the the story of the carnivorous algae island. In a novel about storytelling, interpretation and the importance of finding meaning, Martel has, in this chapter, done something quite amazing: a episode that is intricately detailed, can be thematically linked to what is discussed before and after, but which defies concrete interpretation, so that ever person who reads it is left with a different sense of its meaning, purpose, importance and message. No one answer is correct: there is only interpretation based on reasoning and evidence. 

Below are a collection of interpretations of the Island. It can be discussed in a paragraph or a full essay (there have been topics in the past that focus entirely on the island!). Below are some examples of potential responses:

 

Example 1

The island serves as the final trial of Pi’s faith, and shows how while faith, blindly or superficially accepted, can aid or stabilise us in the short term, it does not provide a viable long-term answer to deeper questions of meaning and purpose, and ultimately kills off a person’s spirituality and ability to see the “story” behind their world. The island is introduced in terms steeped in religious significance. It is “brilliantly green”, which Pi explicitly identifies as “colour of Islam”, and his first steps on the island, where although “illusion would not give” Pi still “did not believe”, mirrors the doubt that the disciple Thomas felt when witnessing Jesus’ wounds after resurrection. Likewise, Pi’s initial acceptance of the island and resultant joy is closely linked to his religious belief, with his “every hand raised up to God in praise” and his “heart exalt[ing] Allah”. However, in this early stages Pi’s focus on the island never drifts below the surface: even the algae that he eats is “sweet” and “delicious” on the outside, but “bitterly salty” and inedible closer to its core. In this manner the island is able to stabilise Pi’s and Richard Parker’s lives and provide nourishment when needed most. Notwithstanding this, having blind faith in the nature of the island is shown to be a dangerous and, ultimately, deadly mistake. The meerkats blindly follow the ways of the island. They accept the offerings of fish that are offered up without question (the offering of fish again contains biblical parallels, this time to Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000 followers) and ignore its more sinister aspects. They follow a cycle of taking refuge amongst the trees to escape the harsh reality of the “carnivorous” nature of the island, much as people can blindly free to and take refuge in the institutions of a religion. The meerkats are well aware of the dangers, but eagerly accept and gorge themselves on the food, shelter and comfort that the island provides.

However, this form of faith that the island comes to symbolise is ultimately a shallow and self-destructive one. Pi realises that he will face a “lonely half-life of physical comfort and spiritual death” should he remain on the island. Denying him any higher purpose to his life, the island become a “murderous” entity, removing from him any hope of a higher purpose in life. For Pi, faith is not something that can exist in isolation, like the island, and nor should it be all-consuming. Such approaches become intensely limiting, as is seen in the fundamentalism of the “three wise men” of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity back in Pi’s home of Pondicherry. Pi’s faith and storytelling is not about creating fantasy, but about making a story “better” and enhancing an understanding of the world that still, at its core, remains honest and rooted in some form of reality. It is this desire to return to his belief in humanity that causes Pi to leave behind the comforts offered by the island, to turn his back on the shallow, unquestioning faith that it professes, and instead set of “in search of [his] own kind”, even if it will see him “perish”. It is in this manner that the carnivorous algae island comes to symbolise the final testing of Pi’s faith, his rejection of blind acceptance and reinforces his desire to search for the “better story” that lies behind their world.

 

 

Example 2

Martel engages with the reader in a gruesome discussion of how the “better story” can also help an individual face their guilt. Pi is forever traumatised by his apparent murder of a French chef, and “something in [him] died that day that has never come back to life. However, by assigning this murderous act to Richard Parker, once more Pi is able to go on living, despite terribly unforgiving circumstances. Pi’s “murderous island” may also be interpreted as a manifestation of this guilt, created to help him work through his feelings and return to strength. By creating a “free floating organism” outside of himself to representing the part of him that committed such a murderous deed, Pi can externalise these feelings and eventually leave them behind “in search of [is] own kind”, to avoid spiritual death on this “murderous island”. Here Martel demonstrates how creating and embracing a “better story” may allow an individual to go on.

 

 

More to come…

 

 

 

As Part 2 continues, we begin to explore the many different facets of Pi’s survival. The first part of Part 2 conveys his immediate, emotive reaction, coming to terms with his circumstances and as he starts to come to terms with the ordeal he will now face. The second part of Part 2 explores Pi’s first steps into survival, learning the skills that will allow him to satisfy his physical needs, confronting long-held beliefs that risk holding him back, establishing the routines that will allow him to survive, and mastering the fear and uncertainty that would otherwise lead to his doom.

This next part of Part 2 delves much more deeply into the how Pi maintains his sanity, and the beliefs, faith and ideas that will give him the strength to keep on survival against impossible circumstances and suffering. This appreciation is the final, and perhaps most important, survival skill that Pi will learn.

The below questions and quotes will guide you through some of the key ideas of each chapter and show you the types of evidence that you should be gathering. Remember, though, that this is a skeleton of the novel – there is so much more that you can find and discuss beyond the below quotes, and you should continue to highlight and annotate your novel around the key themes of faith, survival and storytelling.

Look at Chapter 87 below for an example of how you can structure and write your answers.

 

Chapters 67 to 72

These chapters describe the process through which Pi is able to tame Richard Parker.

 

 

Chapter 73

“My greatest wish – other than salvation – was to have a book. A long book with a never-ending story. One that I could read again and again, with new eyes and a fresh understanding each time. Alas, there was no scripture in the lifeboat.” 207

“No thundering from a pulpit, no condemnation from bad churches, no peer pressure, just a book of scripture quietly waiting to say hello, as gentle and powerful as a little girl’s kiss on your cheek.” 208

• What does this chapter reveal about the nature of stories?

 

 

Chapter 74

“I practiced religious rituals that I adapted to the circumstances…They brought be comfort, that is certain. But it was hard, oh, it was hard. Faith in God is an opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, a free act of love – but sometimes it was so hard to love. Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up.” 208-9

“…in this way I would remind myself of creation and my place in it.” 209

“Despair was a heavy blackness that let no light in or out. It was a hell beyond expression.” 209

“The blackness would stir and eventual go away, and god would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving.” 209

• Why is Pi able to remain faithful, despite the struggles of his ordeal?

 

 

Chapter 75

…is very sad.

 

 

Chapters 76 to 85

These chapters continue the story of survival as Pi struggles with finding enough food and water, and continues to train Richard Parker. Nature occasionally offers a means of breaking the long monotony of the voyage in the form of a storm with mountainous waves (chapter 83), a vivid lightening storm (chapter 85), sharks which are drawn to the lifeboat (chapter 78) and a passing whale (chapter 84). By Chapter 80 Pi proves he is the master of Richard Parker and the alpha of the lifeboat.

For each chapter find one or more quotes that link with the following core ideas:

• Chapter 77: Hunger and the desperation that it brings (p.213-214).
• Chapter 78: The nature of boredom and terror (p.217)
• Chapter 80: Pi masters Richard Parker, and starts to become less controlled by fear (p.222).
• Chapter 82: Pi’s increasing loss of humanity as he becomes more animal-like in his quest to survive (p.225).

 

Record your quotes and explain the significance of the ideas they contain.

 

Chapter 86

The lifeboat is almost destroyed by a passing tanker. Pi is not rescued.

 

 

Chapter 87

Pi uses a ‘dream rag’ to reduce his air supply, sending him into a deep sleep. He uses this as a form of escapism into “the most extraordinary dreams, trances, vision, thoughts, sensations and remembrances” (235). Most important, though, is the act of waking up and the resulting “delight to find that time had slipped by” (236). Trapped in an existence where time has no meaning and existence and suffering are intertwined and continuous, the act gives Pi proof that “the present moment was different from the previous present moment” (236); a feeling that is otherwise absent in the monotony of his survival.

 

 

Chapter 88

Pi drifts into a large mass of foul-smelling garbage. He sends out a message in a bottle.

 

 

Chapter 89

Pi describes the physical decline of himself and Richard Parker, which is now dire. We read the last few pages of his diary. He had been trying to conserve paper by keeping his writing small, but ultimately the pen runs out of ink: “I thought I would run out of paper. It was the pen that ran out.” 240

• Why do you think the pen running out of ink coincidences with the physical wasting away of Pi and Richard Parker?

 

 

In chapter 90, Pi will speak to the first new soul to enter the story since he began his voyage of survival on the lifeboat months ago…

 

 

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Just how big is Pi’s lifeboat?

“It was three and a half feet deep, eight feet wide and twenty-six feet long, exactly. I know this because it was printed on one side of the side benches in black letters. It also said that the lifeboat was designed to accommodate a maximum of thirty-two people. Wouldn’t that have been merry, sharing it with so many? Instead we were three and it was awfully crowded…”  (p.137)

Here is a rough approximation of what this would look like:

Now imagine a fully grown zebra (the size of a fairly decent horse), an orangutan (think a particularly broad-shouldered body-builder), a hyena (a large dog) and a three-meter-long adult Bengal tiger in this space, with you perched at the very end.

With sharks all around.

Welcome to the setting of part 2 of Life of Pi…

 

 

 

The big ideas to keep in mind when exploring this section of the novel are to do with SURVIVAL and NATURE. Pi is going to be forced to change the way he lives and sees the world in order to survive, and his survival is going to become increasingly intertwined with that of Richard Parker. But Pi, ever philosophical and attune to the importance of belief, also offers some telling reflections on the world around him, as his experience leads him to new realisations about how we observe and experience beauty.

 

Chapter 56: Fear

Pi discusses the danger posed by fear and how it can take over a person. Fear, driven by a sense of hopelessness, is going to become Pi’s biggest enemy in his struggle to survive.

• Read the chapter carefully and record key quotes and ideas for later reference.

 

Chapter 57: Plan Number Seven

Pi comes up with a new, final plan that is going to allow him to survive: “Keep Him [i.e. Richard Parker] Alive”.

• What is the importance of this ‘plan’ in helping Pi survive?

 

Chapter 58: Survival

In this chapter Pi begins by listing tips from the survival guide in the boat, but there is nothing that helps with coexisting with a full grown tiger. He realises he must create his own plan.

In this chapter, Pi comes to a realisation: “I should not count on outside help. Survival had to start with me…a castaway’s worst mistake is to hope too much and do too little. Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one’s life away.” 168

This chapter also ends on note of hopelessness: “My situation was patently hopeless.” 169

• What does Pi need to come to terms with in order to ‘survive’?

 

Chapter 59: Taming Richard Parker

In this chapter Pi begins the process of taming Richard Parker and asserting himself as the alpha.

This chapter ends with Pi noticing all of the life around him, and his original assumptions about the ocean were wrong. He comments: “You are as likely to see sea life from a ship as you are to see wildlife in a forest from a car of a highway… You must stroll through the Pacific at a walking pace, so to speak, to see the wealth and abundance that it holds.” 176

• How does the raft offer a different perspective of the ocean than the ship?

• How might this be a metaphor for our view of the world?

 

Chapter 60: Beauty

The beauty of the ocean at night makes Pi realise his insignificance – the finite nature of his suffering. “I can’t help but mix my life with that of the universe. Life is a peephole, a tiny entry onto a vastness – how can I not dwell on this brief, cramped view I have of things?” 177

• What does viewing the ocean at night teach Pi about his predicament?

 

Chapter 61: Pi’s First Kill

Pi begins to catch food for himself, and as a result must make what is for him an agonising decision to kill a flying fish: “I wept heartily over this poor little deceased soul. It was the first sentient being I had ever killed. I was now a killer. I was now as guilty as Cain…All sentient life is sacred. I never forget to include this fish in my prayers.”

By the end of the chapter Pi kills a dorado “gleefully”, and he comments: “it is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.” 185

• Why does Pi weep over having to kill the flying fish, yet he is happy to kill the dorado without a second thought?
• What is Richard Parker’s role in showing Pi the path to survival?

 

Chapter 62: Water, Food and Parker

Pi gathers water, continues to care for and train Richard Parker. He tries fishing, but has little success.

It has been one week since the freighter sank.

 

Chapter 63: Routine

This chapter begins with Pi recounting other stories of survival at sea.

He then provides an outline of his own daily routine on the boat (page 190), including regular prayers. He comments that: “I survived because I made a point of forgetting…I survived because I forgot even the very notion of time.” 191-2

• What role does routine play in helping Pi to survive?

 

Chapter 64: Decline

This chapter describes in detail the effects of Pi’s and Richard Parker’s physical declines since being stranded on the boat. They are surviving, but are weakened by the process.

 

Chapter 65: Paradox

Pi reads through the navigation instructions, but they are of no use: without sea or navigation training, he cannot understand them. He realises that while he has control of his life, he has no control of the direction he is going.

 

Chapter 66: Savagery

Pi begins spearing fish, wrestling turtles aboard and feels “jubilant” at killing them. By the end of the chapter he reflects: “I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible.” 197.

• What does this chapter suggest about the human instinct for survival?

 

 

The next section of the novel discusses Richard Parker and goes into detail about how Pi tames him and makes himself the undisputed ‘alpha’ of the boat…

 

Answers:

• Word Version: Chapter 56-66 Answers 2015
• PDF Version: Chapter 56-66 Answers 2015

 

 

 

 

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…

 

Answers to all questions

• Word Version: Part 2 Chapters 42 to 53 Answers 2015
  
• PDF Version: Part 2 Chapters 42 to 53 Answers 2015

 

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?
  (HINT: don’t just link them to people. What traits can be assigned to them?)
• BIG QUESTION 2: What is established about the relationship between life and death in this section of the novel?

 

 

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Essay Practise

Your assessment task for Life of Pi will be a text response essay. You should attempt to get as much practice as possible. Now that you have finished the first part of Life of Pi, you have enough information to complete a practice essay on the topic:

 

‘Those who lack faith miss the better story.’
Discuss in relation to part 1 of Life of Pi.

 

Consider the following:

• How can faith enrich an individual’s life, their relationships and their understanding of the universe? Consider what each of Pi’s three religions (Hinduism, Christianity and Islam) provide him with and what attracted him to each religion (Chapters 16-20)
• To what extent can faith (and fundamentalism) be limiting? Consider how Pi focuses on the similarities between faiths, while others focus on the differences (Chapter 23).
• How do different forms of belief and understanding, whether religious or scientific, enrich a person’s understanding of the world? Consider the examples of the two Kumars and their appreciation of the zebra (Chapter 22) and Pi’s views on atheism (Chapter 7).
• To what extent does religious belief offer a sense of ‘freedom’? Consider Pi’s analogy with animals kept in zoos (Chapter 4).
• How does a lack of belief or an unwillingness to commit to a way of understanding the world limit a person’s ability to appreciate wonder and beauty? Consider Pi’s views on agnosticism (Chapters 7 and 22).

 

Remember to PLAN your response, and follow the required STRUCTURE:

• An INTRODUCTION which provides the required CONTEXT for the topic contains a clear CONTENTION.
• A minimum of 3 BODY PARAGRAPHS, each of which:
  • Includes an ARGUMENT that is identified in the TOPIC SENTENCE
  • Contains MULTIPLE QUOTES, each of which are fluently EMBEDDED and are then EXPLAINED and linked back to your argument
  • Concludes with a LINKING SENTENCE that links these ideas and evidence together with your paragraph’s ARGUMENT.
• A CONCLUSION that restates your ARGUMENT and brings together the ideas explored in your essay.