Chattahoochee River
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Life of Pi- Section 2
This section of our book is overflowing with adverse scenarios. Pi begins his story of his family's journey to begin a new life in Canada, but that is only the beginning of his adversity. As if being uprooted from his life in India wasn't enough, the ship on which Pi, his family, and the zoo animals which they were going to sell were all on, sunk. Pi is thrown overboard by the crew into a lifeboat on a which an adult tiger, a hyena, an orangutan and an injured zebra are all on as well. He goes 2 days without eating, drinking, or sleeping. He watches the hyena devour both the injured zebra, and the orangutan. He is gripped by fear, but eventually reaches a point where he realizes he must drink in order to survive and sets out for water. This is probably one of the most extreme cases of adversity I have ever encountered, and it seems as if the only way Pi is dealing with it is practically accepting his death and just trying to survive as long as he can.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Pi is definitely going through something that is unbelievable and very intense. I'm sure that he is distraught over losing his family and animals. But, I do find it interesting that he doesn't want to eat or drink water. Shouldn't he want to survive?
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I agree that Pi experienced insurmountable physical and emotional adversity in this chapter. Being completely abandoned except for a few wild animals had to be not only dreadfully depressing, but also terrifying. I thought it was interesting how Pi's acceptance of his inevitable death ultimately gave him the motivation to finally seek water. As he said, once he knew there was no hope for his survival, there was no reason to fear death anymore. I think this just goes to show how adversity can actually serve as strength in disguise. Once he accepted the fact that there were some things outside of his control, namely Richard Parker's decision to eat him, then Pi was able to focus on the things that he actually could control, like finally quenching his thirst. Obviously, the fact that we have this book which is told from Pi's perspective tells us that Richard Parker did not kill Pi in the end. However, I can't help but wondering if this key turning point in which Pi decided to stop being passive and to actually act, had something to do with his survival in the end.
ReplyDeleteYou mention all of the adversity that comes with a ship sinking, however you left out the fact that he loses his family. But I don't think that Pi has really realized what has happened and has accounted for his loss of his family. He's so overtaken with trying to stay alive. I wonder how long it's going to take for the reality to hit Pi that his family is gone.
ReplyDelete