Life of Pi

“Life of Pi” is about this boy called Pi, who is the son of a zookeeper in India. He grew up in a zoo and was extremely happy at home learning all about the animals that lived around him. This boy, who is a Hindu, found himself attracted to Islam and Christianity as well, so he practiced 3 religions at the same time. When Pi’s father decided to leave India, Pi’s family, along with some animals from the zoo, boarded a cargo ship bound for Canada. Unfortunately, the ship sank. Pi was the only human survivor on a lifeboat, and his only companions were a zebra with a broken leg, a hyena, an orangutan and a tiger called Richard Parker. The sixteen-year-old boy watched as the animals fought each other for survival and of course, only he and the tiger were left. The 227 days spent at sea alone with the tiger tested Pi’s physical prowess, intellectual courage and spiritual perseverance. Eventually, both Pi and the tiger landed in Mexico and survived.

At the beginning of the book, Pi claims that this story is one that will “make you believe in God”. Well, this book doesn’t exactly make me believe in god, but it’s the other themes and the final ending that makes this book so unique and spectacularly done.

The ending of the story reveals another tale, and hints to the audience that the entire 250+ pages of adventure before that was just a figment of Pi’s imagination, and that the real story was something even darker and more tragic. When Pi was interviewed for his astonishing experience, the interviewers did not believe his story. Thus, Pi recounted another version. In this story, the four occupants of the lifeboat are Pi, his mother, a cook and a sailor. The sailor had broken his leg jumping into the lifeboat, and the cook cuts the leg off and tries to use it as bait for fish. The sailor dies and the cook eats him. Pi and his mother, both horrified, try to stop him. The cook kills Pi’s mother and soon after, Pi fights the cook and kills him. He eats the cook and