I believe why the Japanese men didn't like the human version of Pi's story because adding people into the story made it too personal. Adding people into the story helps reveal the savagery/the animal, the looking out for number one within all of us. Where as with the animal story we are separated/removed emotionally and physically, which allows us to place ourselves higher than the animals; making ourselves believe that we are not like them, that we are better than them.
The only issue I had with this book was the island, that was too far fetched for me to believe and take in. I would have been able to believe the story true but that part really ruined it. I do believe that most of this story is true but what was the point of adding the island in there for?
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
π + Richard Parker = God
When Pi told the alternate version of the story I cringed the whole time. It was hard for me to read. The whole time I was thinking this can not be true. I could not bare to think of Pi having to watch his mother be eaten by the cook. I hurried and plowed through it so I could just be done. I chose to believe the story of Pi and Richard Parker instead. But now the more I think about it the more I realize that there is a strong possibility that it is the one that isn't true. It is after all a little bit more realistic than being stuck with a tiger in the middle of the ocean. Even if neither of them are true it really doesn't matter to me because I know that it is not the story but the emotions and what you carry away from the story that matter. The alternate version of the story is good (I guess if you can call canabalism good). It still is missing something though. That something can be found with a boy and a tiger and God. It is full of rich symbolism and thought provoking passages that really make you question what you would do. The biggest thing that stuck out to me is how God was found. Being stuck in a life boat with Richard Parker (or without?) forced Pi to really figure out who he was and what he was all about. Somewhere in that process he found God. This is a story that will make you believe in God.
To love or to hate? That is the ending
I was torn by the end of the novel. I felt all at once that I was being jipped, lied to, and that someone was laughing at me for believing the story he told in the first place. And yet at the same time I was glad that I had been able to read the first story. Honestly, I couldn't even guess as to which one is true. They both have things that make them utterly believable, true even, while containing things that just seem...wrong, for lack of a better word. Who is going to butcher a young man, then murder a woman in cold blood eat her flesh, dispose of her remains and then allow himself to be killed by a scrawny young man who is so hungry that he has difficulty standing? But on the other hand, after you had done such things, why would you want to live? The stories match each other uncannily well. Then I am struck with the possibility that Martel is just so brilliant that he thought the whole thing up out of thin air.
Regardless, I greatly enjoyed this book. I find it to have a very haunting quality to it. I can't get it out of my head. For some reason I greatly enjoyed the comparison of Pi to Richard Parker. It touches me deeply that we are not so far from nature that we forget the animal nature implicit of living on this earth. It does frustrate me though. Which story is true? Are either of them true? Is their such a person as Pi Patel? I hope so. I find it inspiring to see such boldness and creativity. I feel good just having read of someone who wants to survive, because that implies that there is something in our world worth living for. In today's society there is so much corruption, so much suffering, and worst of all, there is so much despair, that I have difficulty understanding why people try so hard to stay alive. So even if it was only for that reason, this book was worth all the tension that I have felt, as I have accompanied Pi through his ordeal. Even though I wanted to avert my gaze when he tried to eat Richard Parker's feces, or the barnacles, or sucking out the fishes' eyes (shudder). I am happy and grateful for what I have, and I hope that if it ever came to it, I would be able to withstand whatever came my way, just like Piscine Molitor Patel, aka 3.14.
Regardless, I greatly enjoyed this book. I find it to have a very haunting quality to it. I can't get it out of my head. For some reason I greatly enjoyed the comparison of Pi to Richard Parker. It touches me deeply that we are not so far from nature that we forget the animal nature implicit of living on this earth. It does frustrate me though. Which story is true? Are either of them true? Is their such a person as Pi Patel? I hope so. I find it inspiring to see such boldness and creativity. I feel good just having read of someone who wants to survive, because that implies that there is something in our world worth living for. In today's society there is so much corruption, so much suffering, and worst of all, there is so much despair, that I have difficulty understanding why people try so hard to stay alive. So even if it was only for that reason, this book was worth all the tension that I have felt, as I have accompanied Pi through his ordeal. Even though I wanted to avert my gaze when he tried to eat Richard Parker's feces, or the barnacles, or sucking out the fishes' eyes (shudder). I am happy and grateful for what I have, and I hope that if it ever came to it, I would be able to withstand whatever came my way, just like Piscine Molitor Patel, aka 3.14.
Pi - last
Chapter 92 The Carnivorous Island, to me is the most important chapter of the book. The chapter chronologically comes after a couple key moments in the book. Pi is weak from malnourishment on the verge of death, and ready to give up and die in one chapter. Soon after Richard Parker and Pi kill and eat the Frenchman. The story of the Island to me, while coming after those chapters really is a part of those chapters. Richard Parker himself to me is symbolic of many aspects of Pi throughout the story. An important one being Pi’s savage animal side, his basic instinct for survival. Pi tried to tame it, he doesn’t want to cannibalize the chef, but ultimately that is what has to happen for him to survive. This is one of the main things I saw happening in the Island Story. “I blew into the whistle with all my might… It had the desired effect. Richard Parker braked. I blew a third time, every hair on him was raised, his claws were full out… I feared my defensive wall of whistle blows was about to crumble.” The island is a symbol of his despair, he is on the verge of giving up his human self, his animal side will live on, he has the food and water, but how long before he is no longer himself? That is the carnivorous aspect of the Island, it is man eating literally and figuratively. As Pi says ”How long does it take for a broken spirit to kill a body that has food, water and shelter?” It is through his faith that he finds strength to continue on.
I am in love with Love: The Ending of Life of Pi
This may be going out on a limb. This book is brilliant in many ways. I gained a lot both in a literary and thematic sense from this book. There are many different things that I could discuss for days. However upon finishing the novel I mainly want to talk about love. For that is theme from Life of Pi that I will carry with me most.
I think it is safe to say that Pi is saved by his ability to love. This is established as the first of the book when he expresses his sincere desire to just love God. What astounds him about Jesus of Nazareth is that this "God" descends below all else and dies for his people. And for what purpose? Love, replies Father Martin. Pi believes in God, no matter what religion and thereby believes in love no matter where it stems from. It is this love that will rescue him from despair and hopelessness as his suffering continues. In his darkest moments he states that he must teach himself to love again. "The blackness would stir and eventually go away and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving."
Later in the novel Pi expresses his love for Richard Parker. I found this passage deeply moving. Many of us, I think lose our ability to love at sometimes in our lives. Our human hearts get broken and we choose bitterness, anger, and sometimes hate because it is safer. Pi suffers an ordeal that many of us will never and even after months of hopeless hardship, Pi bursts forth a sentiment of love, for a tiger no less. "Truly I do. I love you, Richard Parker". The ability to suffer and to keep loving is an amazing one.
As the novel begins with love, so it should rightly end with it also. As Pi is being questioned by Mr. Chiba and Mr. Okamoto, he chastises there use of the phrase "hard to believe". One of my favorite lines of this novel comes here "If you stumble at believability what are you living for? Isn't love hard to believe?....Love is hard to believe." Love is the most powerful intangible thing in the world. Love can be defined sometimes as what we touch and what we see but mostly it is defined by what we feel. We are defined by our ability to love. It is the greatest attribute mankind possesses. I believe it was Leo Tolstoy who said "Everything I understand I understand only because I love."If we believe in nothing else we must believe in love. Because it will be love that rescues us.
I think it is safe to say that Pi is saved by his ability to love. This is established as the first of the book when he expresses his sincere desire to just love God. What astounds him about Jesus of Nazareth is that this "God" descends below all else and dies for his people. And for what purpose? Love, replies Father Martin. Pi believes in God, no matter what religion and thereby believes in love no matter where it stems from. It is this love that will rescue him from despair and hopelessness as his suffering continues. In his darkest moments he states that he must teach himself to love again. "The blackness would stir and eventually go away and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving."
Later in the novel Pi expresses his love for Richard Parker. I found this passage deeply moving. Many of us, I think lose our ability to love at sometimes in our lives. Our human hearts get broken and we choose bitterness, anger, and sometimes hate because it is safer. Pi suffers an ordeal that many of us will never and even after months of hopeless hardship, Pi bursts forth a sentiment of love, for a tiger no less. "Truly I do. I love you, Richard Parker". The ability to suffer and to keep loving is an amazing one.
As the novel begins with love, so it should rightly end with it also. As Pi is being questioned by Mr. Chiba and Mr. Okamoto, he chastises there use of the phrase "hard to believe". One of my favorite lines of this novel comes here "If you stumble at believability what are you living for? Isn't love hard to believe?....Love is hard to believe." Love is the most powerful intangible thing in the world. Love can be defined sometimes as what we touch and what we see but mostly it is defined by what we feel. We are defined by our ability to love. It is the greatest attribute mankind possesses. I believe it was Leo Tolstoy who said "Everything I understand I understand only because I love."If we believe in nothing else we must believe in love. Because it will be love that rescues us.
Only Gods Knows All
Pi states "and so it goes with God." I instantly started to think what does that mean? Why would he say that? Then I began to think about the differences in stories about the animals and the people. Maybe the story with the people is true, but the humans became animals to him because it was easier to handle. I think that the story about the cook was really disturbing and there was nothing really to learn from it, unlike Pi's story about his journey with the animal. He states that Richard Parker is hiding that gives me a clue that maybe he has been Richard Parker all along.
"And so it goes with God," means the only one who will truly know which of the stories is true is God. And it honestly doesn't matter because the Japanese tell him that the story does not matter. There are a lot of moments in our lives that only God will know about and it seems like Pi is completely fine with it. He specifically asks the question "so it doesn't matter which story is true?" And then proceeds to ask "which is more interesting?" Obviously the animals so the question still remains, which is true. My answer, it doesn't matter because for me I experienced them both through reading and I learned from both. The story with the animals had a much greater affect on my life.
There are things in each of our lives where God is the only one who will ever know which of the stories is true and honestly I don't want to know. I am going to take what I learned and apply it. That is all that matters.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Life of Pi - Final Set of Prompts
1. In class today I asked you to be thinking about the arc of Pi's inner journey, the development of his character over the course of the narrative. How is Pi different at the end of the story? In what ways has he changed? And perhaps just as important is this question: in what ways is he the same?
2. What does the carnivorous island represent? Is it a symbol? A metaphor? A clue to interpreting the rest of the story? Why is it in the book?
3. At the end of Part I, we are told that "This story has a happy ending." Do you agree? Why or why not?
4. In the Author's Note that begins the novel, Mr. Adirubasamy tell Yann Martel (and the rest of us as we read), "I have a story that will make you believe in God." Does Life of Pi live up to this promise? Why or why not?
5. From the very beginning, Life of Pi is set up as a story. Martel never says otherwise. But at the end of the novel, Pi gives another version of his story, one in which the animals on the lifeboat are replaced by humans. In this version, the zebra represents the Chinese sailor, the hyena represents the cook, Orange Juice represents Pi’s own mother, and Richard Parker is actually Pi himself. If this version is true--and Pi never definitively tells us which version is true--then Pi has invented the version of the story with animals in order to cope with devastating tragedy. So now that you have both versions, I want to ask you the same thing he asks the men from the Japanese Ministry of Transport: "which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?" Why?
6. Apart from the alternate version of events, what else do we learn from Pi's conversation with the men from the Japanese Ministry of Transport that helps us understand the novel better?
7. Today we discussed a paragraph in Chapter 57, where Pi says, "But there's more to it. I will come clean. I will tell you a secret: a part of me was glad about Richard Parker. A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he did I would be left alone with despair, a foe even more formidable than a tiger. If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful. I am grateful. It's the plain truth: without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you my story." If the story without animals is the true story, and if Richard Parker is really Pi, then what does this paragraph mean?
8. When the Japanese men respond by saying that the story with animals is, in their opinion, the better story, Pi responds by saying, "Thank you. And so it goes with God." Interpret this.
9. Like Pi, we tell stories. Some of them are true. Some of them are lies. Some of them are exaggerations. But we all tell them. We tell them so that other people can have a way into our lives, so that they can understand us. We tell them to make sense of our own experience, to understand ourselves. What has Life of Pi taught you about why we tell stories?
10. Quote an excerpt from The Things They Carried and then use that excerpt as a lens through which you analyze an aspect of Life of Pi. (Note: this is the kind of question you might expect to find on a midterm exam.)
2. What does the carnivorous island represent? Is it a symbol? A metaphor? A clue to interpreting the rest of the story? Why is it in the book?
3. At the end of Part I, we are told that "This story has a happy ending." Do you agree? Why or why not?
4. In the Author's Note that begins the novel, Mr. Adirubasamy tell Yann Martel (and the rest of us as we read), "I have a story that will make you believe in God." Does Life of Pi live up to this promise? Why or why not?
5. From the very beginning, Life of Pi is set up as a story. Martel never says otherwise. But at the end of the novel, Pi gives another version of his story, one in which the animals on the lifeboat are replaced by humans. In this version, the zebra represents the Chinese sailor, the hyena represents the cook, Orange Juice represents Pi’s own mother, and Richard Parker is actually Pi himself. If this version is true--and Pi never definitively tells us which version is true--then Pi has invented the version of the story with animals in order to cope with devastating tragedy. So now that you have both versions, I want to ask you the same thing he asks the men from the Japanese Ministry of Transport: "which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?" Why?
6. Apart from the alternate version of events, what else do we learn from Pi's conversation with the men from the Japanese Ministry of Transport that helps us understand the novel better?
7. Today we discussed a paragraph in Chapter 57, where Pi says, "But there's more to it. I will come clean. I will tell you a secret: a part of me was glad about Richard Parker. A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he did I would be left alone with despair, a foe even more formidable than a tiger. If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragic circumstances. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful. I am grateful. It's the plain truth: without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you my story." If the story without animals is the true story, and if Richard Parker is really Pi, then what does this paragraph mean?
8. When the Japanese men respond by saying that the story with animals is, in their opinion, the better story, Pi responds by saying, "Thank you. And so it goes with God." Interpret this.
9. Like Pi, we tell stories. Some of them are true. Some of them are lies. Some of them are exaggerations. But we all tell them. We tell them so that other people can have a way into our lives, so that they can understand us. We tell them to make sense of our own experience, to understand ourselves. What has Life of Pi taught you about why we tell stories?
10. Quote an excerpt from The Things They Carried and then use that excerpt as a lens through which you analyze an aspect of Life of Pi. (Note: this is the kind of question you might expect to find on a midterm exam.)
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