Checkpoint #3 Analysis

The Life of Pi

One of  the things i really liked in The Life of Pi is at the end, when he is being interviewed to figure out the reasoning of the boat sinking and his survival story he tells two stories.  One of the story with the animals on the boat with him and the other with the animals in the place of people.  The story that he goes into the most detail of is the one with the zoo animals on the boat, which is what the majority of the book tells, but it makes you wonder with the harsh trauma that he's been through.  Was Pi hallucinating or was going through a state of panic when he is telling the story of the animals?  What story really happened?

  In the story with the animals, Pi is trapped in a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in accompany of a zebra with a broken leg, his childhood friend an orangutan named orange juice, an evil hyena, and a Bangle Tiger named Richard Parker.  In this story the hyena eats the zebra and he has not capable of defending himself because of what condition he is in.  Next, Orange Juice and the hyena start making screeching sounds at each other for a day and eventually the hyena eats Orange Juice.  Then Pi realizes that the Bangle Tiger, Richard Parker is aboard and is seasick in the bottom of the boat.  The Tiger gets hungry and eats the hyena.  Now it is only Pi and Richard Parker on the boat.  He is devising a plan to kill him and eventually realizes that he must tame the tiger.  After taming him and surviving long months with the troubles of having a vicious tiger aboard a small ship with him he eventually finds land somewhere in Mexico and Richard Parker goes along his way in the forest and never returns.  Since Pi has no proof of this story, the reporters are weary to believe him.

  In the next story, Pi is trapped on a life boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in accompany of a handsome young man with a broken leg, his loving mother, and an evil, selfish cook.  The selfish cook, who in this story represents the hyena, gets hungry and turns to cannibalistic ways and eats the handsome young man with the broken leg, who represents the zebra. His mother who represents orange Juice is appalled,refuses to eat it and wants Pi to do the same.  He is so hungry though and ends up eating some scraps.  His mother is appalled and very disappointed in him.  She then yells at the cook for his horrible ways.  The cook then murders Pi's mother in front of him.  Pi is now alone with the cook on the boat and is very scared.  The cook ends up eating his mother.  The next day Pi knows that it must be "eat or be eaten" and kills the cook.  It seems like the cook could almost be sorry because he does not fight back.  Pi kills the cook and uses the cook as bait to catch fish.  Eventually, he reaches shore somewhere in Mexico.  By the end of this story, you realize that Pi represents the bangle tiger Richard Parker. 

  He then tells the reporters to pick which ever story they like better and use it. I really like the part where he says, "'So does your story have a happy ending," the reporter asked.  "Well, that's up to you, it's your story now.' he responded." I like this a lot because it says that  the reporters control the story.

  Another thing I like a lot from the book is when it says, "I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye."  I like this a lot because it makes you think a lot about loss and how you should treasure every moment.

  Eventually in the report the wrote they describe the boat sinking in detail and in the last sentence of the report say that along with all of this, Pi was also in the company of a bangle tiger.