life of pie

Pi’s Survival In the novel, Life of pi, the author Yann Martel shows that the tiger, Richard Parker, influences pi’s survival greatly. All of pi’s morals and beliefs get tested as he gets thrown into a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger. He begins to learn that to survive himself he must learn to survive with this tiger. Richard parker keeps Pi alive and influences his survival by acting as a defense mechanism and keeping him mentally and physically stable. Throughout Pi’s survival Richard parker was looked at as a defense mechanism towards the previous events because he gives pi hope that they will soon be saved. Pi believes that if a tiger can survive, then he could as well. “It was not a question of him or me, but him and me.” (206). Pi begins to realize that they need to survive together and that that will be the only way either one of them will survive. Richard parker kept pi on his toes, always wondering how to survive each day without a tiger eating him, Richard Parker keeps him thinking and alert of what is going on all the time. He was always writing notes and lists on daily activities or what happened that day. “Plan number one: push him off the life boat” (204). One of Pi’s survival plans was to kill Richard parker. He made plan after plan until he realized that the only way to survive is with him. To keep Richard parker alive he needs food and water, much like Pi. When Pi sees that Richard parker was hungry or thirsty, it reminded him to take care of himself as well. “After all, it was for Richard parker and he would have dispatched it with expert ease” (233). Pi starts killing fish not only for him to eat but for parker as well. He begins to make sure both of them are fed and that they will both survive. Richard Parker helped Pi cope with the journey at hand and survive mentally and physically. Therefore, Richard parker is Pi’s survival.