Who Is Richard Parker A Figment Of Pi

Madison Garner
Becker- B4
July 27, 2013
Richard Parker Analysis Being in unfamiliar surroundings after a tragedy can really take a toll on a person. Learning to cope with it could mean bottling up your feelings, becoming angry, or in Piscine Patel’s case befriending a four hundred and fifty pound Bengal tiger. Depending on which of Pi's stories you believe, Richard Parker is either a real tiger or he's simply a very developed figment of Pi's imagination.
After analyzing the stories, it is clear that Richard Parker was simply a mirage. A way for Pi to feel powerful or to do something he would never have expected to do as a young boy. Nevertheless, Richard Parker was a real animal at the Pondicherry zoo, but like everything else on the Tsimtsum, he drowned at sea. Even if there was a tiger on the boat, it has impulses when under pressure. Richard Parker could have attacked Pi at any moment, yet Pi lived on the boat unharmed. Pi could’ve chosen any animal to stay on the boat with him, considering it was just his imagination. However, he had already had a connection to Richard Parker. Chapter 48 begins with the sentence, "Richard
Parker was so named because of a clerical error (pg.132)." Piscine also spent a good time recounting on his own renaming and the coming up with his nickname, Pi. It's probably no coincidence that Richard Parker was named and renamed as well. Originally, a hunter named Richard Parker baptized the tiger with the name, Thirsty. But in a paperwork mix-up, the tiger ends up with the name Richard Parker and the hunter with the name Thirsty. So there's a lot of renaming, discussion of names, switching of the hunter with the hunted. There may be a coincidence there, or simply fate.
Pi’s subconscious mind chose Richard Parker to stay with him because Pi needed him. Without the company on the life boat Pi would have easily died a lot sooner. Though Richard Parker is quite fearsome, ironically his presence helps Pi stay alive. Overwhelmed by the circumstances and terrified of dying, Pi becomes distraught and unable to take action. However, he soon realizes that his most immediate threat is Richard Parker. His other problems are temporarily forgotten, Pi manages to dominate Parker. This success gives him confidence, making his other obstacles seem more possible to overcome. Renewed, Pi is able to take steps towards his continued existence: searching for food and keeping himself motivated. Caring and providing for Richard Parker keeps Pi busy and passes the time. Without Richard Parker to challenge and distract him, Pi might have given up on life.
Being the huge carnivorous, figment of Pi’s imagination that Richard Parker is, he is both a friend and a foe.
He is a friend because he was the one thing that kept Piscine alive. However, Richard Parker made a side come out of Pi that Pi himself could have never imagined. Richard Parker symbolizes Pi’s most animalistic impulses. Out on the lifeboat, Pi must complete many actions to stay alive that he would not have found possible before being on that lifeboat. Growing up a vegetarian, he must kill fish and eat their flesh. As time progresses, he becomes more harsh, tearing apart birds and stuffing them in his mouth, the same way Richard Parker does. After Richard Parker mauls the blind Frenchman that tried to kill Pi, he uses the man’s flesh for bait and even eats some of it, becoming cannibalistic in his relentless
hunger.
In the second story to the Japanese investigators, Pi is Richard Parker. He kills his mother’s murderer. Richard Parker is the version of himself that Pi has invented to make his story more pleasant, both to himself and to his audience. The brutality of his mother’s death and his own shocking act of revenge are too much for Pi to deal with, and he finds it easier to imagine a tiger as the killer instead of himself carrying out all these dirty tasks. If Pi learns anything from Richard Parker, it's how to engage with the actual, physical world. Richard Parker stood by Pi for the entire journey up until they reached Mexico where Pi was rescued. At that point Richard Parker was no longer a necessity. He had done his job, he had kept Piscine alive.
Whether believing the animal story, or the human story, there was someone there with Pi the whole time whispering a mantra into his ear and keeping him from giving up. Richard Parker was real, he was at the zoo and on the Tsimtsum, he just left a little too early but he knew his friend needed help. Pi’s unstable, yet creative mind allowed Richard Parker to join the voyage and keep him alive.