The Better Story

From the get go I knew there was going to be some twist at the end of the book. Most books aren’t able to reveal the outcome early on and still be able to influence the opinion of the reader that the book is a good read without a good final twist. At the end of The Life of Pi, Martel gives us two different stories that force us to decide which one is true. In my opinion, Martel chose to write the better story for his book (yes this is referring to the one with the animals).

The reason I have this as my opinion is solely because of the rich insight it provides into Pi and his character. Assuming the human story was true, we would learn about Pi from his perspective as the book is written in 1st person. It would be good of course and we would undoubtedly learn a lot about him. However, the animal story brings something additional to the table. From the animal story, as told throughout the book, we learn about Pi and his character from both his 1st person voice and from Richard Parker. This is kind of like having Pi from two perspectives: his personal thoughts and feelings about himself, and also his personal thoughts and feelings from someone else’s perspective. We are more able to fully understand Pi and his changes from human instincts to more animal instincts.

No matter which story is true, all can agree that Richard Parker and Pi are remarkably similar. I’m really happy that Martel chose to write the animal story so we can learn about Pi from two different characters. For myself I felt like I connected with Pi, Richard Parker and their relationship. Because I think we naturally make connections with those types of relationships, both in literature and in our own lives, Martel chose the proper story to write about.