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…
