Thursday, January 17, 2008
Group 5 ... Is the story real?
We cannot in any way prove or disprove that this story is real or not. I personally have a hard time believing the story, just like the interviewers at the end of the novel. The interviewers say very bluntly, “Mr. Patel, we don’t believe your story” (Martel, 292). The fact that Pi quickly came up with a different story that was so detailed and strung together gives me the idea that Pi came up with these stories in his head and imagination while he was at sea. He may have played these stories out in his head, and there may have been many more, but they actually didn’t happen. Most parts of the story work out and mold together very nicely, but other parts such as the carnivorous island are hard to believe. Pi does bring up a good point though, that we only do not believe him and his story because we have never experienced these things ourselves. “Carnivorous trees? A fish-eating algae that produces fresh water? Tree-dwelling aquatic rodents? These things don’t exist. Only because you’ve never seen them” (Martel, 294). Just because nobody has ever witnessed or experienced a carnivorous island doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. Pi’s story of survival is actually very believable and practical until the tiger comes into the picture. If the tiger was non-existent in this novel, it wouldn’t have been as interesting of a book, but it would have been much more believable. The tiger makes for a better read. Without the tiger half of the novel is lost and pointless, but the tiger also makes it hard to believe. The reader must use their best judgment to decide whether or not the story is real. This can be related to a murder case. The judge and jury must decide whether or not a suspect is guilty or not. They usually have evidence to sway their decisions one way or the other, but ultimately they cannot be completely sure whether or not the suspect did the crime, so they use their judgment to decide, just like we must use our judgment to decide whether or not we think the story is real. Both sides can be argued with different points, but we can never be sure if it is actually real or not.
Da Rap Game's Responce/Ideas
Dear Mrs. Huryn,
Our group, Da Rap Game, has come to a consensus. You win. You, Yann Martel, Elie Wiesel, all of you win. The members of my group have come to a point where we question everything we do. We cannot simply read a story anymore; we now feel the need to second-guess ourselves. To question everything we are told. It is no longer a simple black and white scenario; we’ve found acres upon acres of gray areas we become entangled in.
For example, when reading the Life of Pi, many questions come to the reader. All of them are unanswerable. Lil’ Wayne says that when she was reading Life of Pi she “felt like [she] was dropping acid and doing meth half the time [she] was reading”. A question as simple as “What is Life of Pi about?” is impossible to answer. While looking at online reviews of this book I have found that it can be categorized as a survival story, a tall tale, an action piece, a work about human/animal relationships, and a fiction about (1) India, (2) adolescence, (3) zoos and zoology, and (4) the Pacific Ocean, all which indicate to the reader that reviewers are grasping at anything they can find to define what essentially defies definition. The book is about all of these things - and about none of these things, really.
In Life of Pi, Yann Martel is truly astounding. He realizes that most effective way to tell a lie is to tell the truth in such an outrageous fashion as to be utterly believable. It’s a balance between “show” and “tell” in his book. In the story with out the animals he “tells” us what happens while he is at sea for 227 days. However, the story that includes the animals “shows” us what happened. Pi says, “Doesn’t the telling of something always become a story?” (Martel 302). It is simply a story – an entertaining way to tell the “dry, yeastless factuality” (Martel 303) of his happenings.
In speaking of this book, our group discussions are not much of “discussions” per say, they are more debates. Confusions overwhelms all of us and we are stuck trying to figure out what to believe. It isn’t until we realize that we will never understand the true out come, that we recognize Martel has won. We have discussed the meaning of truth, the meaning of fiction and non-fiction – we have debated the entire book and everything we were told. As Lil’ Jon says, “The purpose of the novel is to cause the reader to question what they’ve read. It aims to argue the point of belief” and as a group, that is exactly what we did. Martel wins.
However, even after all the guessing, wondering, and deduction, Da Rap Game conclusively admits to enjoying the novel. As frustrated as it made us we, for some reason, love it. But isn’t that what good storing telling is all about? Hating it so much that you love it.
Regards,
Lupe Fiasco & Da Rap Game
Our group, Da Rap Game, has come to a consensus. You win. You, Yann Martel, Elie Wiesel, all of you win. The members of my group have come to a point where we question everything we do. We cannot simply read a story anymore; we now feel the need to second-guess ourselves. To question everything we are told. It is no longer a simple black and white scenario; we’ve found acres upon acres of gray areas we become entangled in.
For example, when reading the Life of Pi, many questions come to the reader. All of them are unanswerable. Lil’ Wayne says that when she was reading Life of Pi she “felt like [she] was dropping acid and doing meth half the time [she] was reading”. A question as simple as “What is Life of Pi about?” is impossible to answer. While looking at online reviews of this book I have found that it can be categorized as a survival story, a tall tale, an action piece, a work about human/animal relationships, and a fiction about (1) India, (2) adolescence, (3) zoos and zoology, and (4) the Pacific Ocean, all which indicate to the reader that reviewers are grasping at anything they can find to define what essentially defies definition. The book is about all of these things - and about none of these things, really.
In Life of Pi, Yann Martel is truly astounding. He realizes that most effective way to tell a lie is to tell the truth in such an outrageous fashion as to be utterly believable. It’s a balance between “show” and “tell” in his book. In the story with out the animals he “tells” us what happens while he is at sea for 227 days. However, the story that includes the animals “shows” us what happened. Pi says, “Doesn’t the telling of something always become a story?” (Martel 302). It is simply a story – an entertaining way to tell the “dry, yeastless factuality” (Martel 303) of his happenings.
In speaking of this book, our group discussions are not much of “discussions” per say, they are more debates. Confusions overwhelms all of us and we are stuck trying to figure out what to believe. It isn’t until we realize that we will never understand the true out come, that we recognize Martel has won. We have discussed the meaning of truth, the meaning of fiction and non-fiction – we have debated the entire book and everything we were told. As Lil’ Jon says, “The purpose of the novel is to cause the reader to question what they’ve read. It aims to argue the point of belief” and as a group, that is exactly what we did. Martel wins.
However, even after all the guessing, wondering, and deduction, Da Rap Game conclusively admits to enjoying the novel. As frustrated as it made us we, for some reason, love it. But isn’t that what good storing telling is all about? Hating it so much that you love it.
Regards,
Lupe Fiasco & Da Rap Game
Block 2 Group 4: Is the story real?
Group BENS remains undecided as to whether or not Yann Martel’s Life of Pi is real. To try and help us, I (being N of BENS) looked up the definition of fiction. Fiction is defined as “a fabrication that applies particularly to a false but carefully invented statement or series of statements, in which some truth is sometimes interwoven.” Even with the definition, we still had a hard time distinguishing real from non-real.
With that being said, the members of BENS came to the conclusion that Life of Pi is indeed a work of fiction. Life of Pi is a “fantastical” collection of embellished details based upon a true story with a real plot. As E of BENS pointed out, the main character, Pi, was probably based on the real person, Piscine Patel (said to be person telling the story to the author so that he could write and publish the story,) that did sail on the Tsimtsum and was stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 277 days.
We used Martel’s background to deduce what could possibly be true in the Life of Pi. Martel studied philosophy, and worked as a tree planter, security guard and dishwasher. Martel’s study of philosophy helped him to write the religious, and truths of life for the novel. His previous work as a tree planter could have been where he got is idea/information about the mysterious, meerkat inhabited, carnivorous island and about whether or not it could exist. His work as a security guard could be where he learned the various fear tactics and information about alpha/beta/omega relationships. We used these connections to figure out how and why Martel was able to “spice up” the truth to the story. “‘I know what you want. You want a story that won’t surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won’t make you see higher or further or differently’ ” (Martel 302.) We talked about why Pi would waste his time in creating another story so similar in detail that had the same story line. S of BENS pointed out that by first telling the story with the animals and then telling the same story using humans, Pi was able to prove to the Japanese men that either story is plausible.
Based upon definitions and reviews, we have proven that Life of Pi is a work of fiction, but we have not proven whether or not the novel is real. As B of BENS put it, “we sincerely would like” to believe that the story is real. If fiction can be based upon truth, Life of Pi can be truth.
Reflections for Group 5
As a group we decided that we didn't like the book. We felt it was a big let down and disapointment. Just when the story began to reel you in it let you off the hook with a questionable ending that left almost every reader saying "huh"? We began to really relate and believe in the story because of Pi's unique storytelling ways. When we discussed the ending we all said how disapointed we were. The idea of surviving on a boat with a tiger for over 200 days seemed almost impossible to make up and leaves the chance that it could be true. As a group we believe these stories are false and he made them up in his imagination while he was on the lifeboat. He may have conjured up all these weird ideas of interacting with a tiger and a hyena in his brain and actually convinced himself that they were actually happening in real life because of his delirious state on the life boat.
Bravo
Bravo
Reflection
Throughout our reading of the, Life of Pi, our group has had several discussions about the book and the ideas behind it. We believe that the ideas that were expressed in the beginning of the book about religion were very relevant to the will power Pi had throughout his time on the lifeboat. However, though much of it was not concluded by the end of the book, the reasoning for expressing such ideas about the importance of Pi's religion in the beginning of the book was very clear during his time astray. We liked the way the aspects of religion were told and the force it gave to make the reader truly think about their beliefs and question the importance, if any, at labeling their faith. We also liked the miraculous story of Pi and his time on the lifeboat. The adventures he endured and the true suffering he witheld was astonishing and it would not have been the same effect if he didn't give as much detail as he did. The ideas of the all the events that he described were very visual and you could truly picture each of the situations in your mind. This was a great book to read in class and the speed at which we read I think really helped. We think if this book were to drag on for weeks and weeks, than we just want to get to the end of it already.
WHW. How we felt about The Life of Pi
Our group, to be honest, did not like this book. To us, it was very unrealistic at most times, and extremely repetitive. His life on the boat was almost the same thing over and over again, but throw in some random disgusting things. Also, the beginning of the book revolved around religion, and to us that seemed irrelevant, almost a waste of time. The book did not "make [us] believe in god" but really made us dislike reading even more. To be honest, there are also offending material in it. From being disgusting, animal cruelty, and religions being bashed by other religions, we do not think this was a good choice of a book to read in class.
*posted by Cali Rey
*posted by Cali Rey
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
IS THE STORY REAL?
Prior to reading Life of Pi, the idea of a sixteen-year old boy surviving 227 days on a lifeboat with a 450-pound Bengal tiger sounded obsurd and unimaginable to everyone in our class; however, reading this colorful and vivid novel of Pi's experiences makes it quite difficult to deny its truth. How can you not believe Pi's story with his detailed descriptions and images? After much discussion and thought, though, our group decided that Pi's original story including Richard Parker is simply an imagination.
Even though our group wanted to believe and defend Pi's remarkable story, we feel it is a story he created while surviving on the lifeboat. When interrogated by Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba, Pi tells both his animal story and the story they wanted to hear: "You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story" (Martel 302). Pi does not prefer the story Mr. Okamoto wants to hear because it's the truth - it is not imaginative, colorful, or thought-provoking. After hearing Pi's story of the sailor, the cook, and his mother, our group feels that this is the true story of Pi's survival out on the Pacific Ocean. Once stranded alone after the deaths of his surrounding survivors, Pi keeps himself occupied by creating his own depiction of how he truly survived the sinking of the Tsimtsum. He is surrounded by silence and nature, a perfect setting to allow his mind to daydream and brainstorm a vivid and imaginative story of zoo animals, storms, acidic islands, and flying fish. Even though it is difficult denying the fantastic story in Life of Pi, our group feels Pi's story is simply a work of his imagination.
GROUP 3, PERIOD 2
Even though our group wanted to believe and defend Pi's remarkable story, we feel it is a story he created while surviving on the lifeboat. When interrogated by Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba, Pi tells both his animal story and the story they wanted to hear: "You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story" (Martel 302). Pi does not prefer the story Mr. Okamoto wants to hear because it's the truth - it is not imaginative, colorful, or thought-provoking. After hearing Pi's story of the sailor, the cook, and his mother, our group feels that this is the true story of Pi's survival out on the Pacific Ocean. Once stranded alone after the deaths of his surrounding survivors, Pi keeps himself occupied by creating his own depiction of how he truly survived the sinking of the Tsimtsum. He is surrounded by silence and nature, a perfect setting to allow his mind to daydream and brainstorm a vivid and imaginative story of zoo animals, storms, acidic islands, and flying fish. Even though it is difficult denying the fantastic story in Life of Pi, our group feels Pi's story is simply a work of his imagination.
GROUP 3, PERIOD 2
reflection
As a group, we were slightly dissapointed with the ending of the novel, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. We seemed to be unhappy with the lack of closure to the book and contrary to what we were told, "This story has a happy ending." (Martel 93). We could not all agree with this quote. We were discomforted by the "missing" ending, for lack of a better word. It seemed like there should have been just one more chapter to clear things up. After much debate on which story was the "real" story, we decided that Martel got exactly what he wanted, debate over truth, in a fictional novel. Though everyone admitted to enjoying the book, the ending was just another turn that no one saw coming. We all wanted the happy ending that was promised to us earlier on in the book, or at least some ending that we could believe fully. We were split almost evenly, some believing the story with the animals, myself included, and some believing the story with the humans. Some thought that the second story, the story with no animals, was real and the other story was just creative symbolysm. However I found it hard to match up, considering there were so many large aspects of the story missing. I suppose, those like myself just couldn't stand to hear that the story we all became so attached to, was nothing but pure fiction, it's unfortunate the second story was nothing short of the same.
Flo' Rida
Flo' Rida
Is the story real?
We believe that the story is real and unreal. It could be real because the boat really sank, he really lived on the boat for about six months, and he really found land in Mexico. He also was on the boat with a meat eater- Richard Parker or the cook. He made it fiction because he added the tiger and the other animals to make it interesting. We came to the conclusion that he only added these things because his story was boring. The book still has the same message as it would if it was nonfiction. The message that he really want to get out of the story was that the boat sank and he had been through horrible things. We think that something in the story are just unbelievable. For example when he found the island with bananas with teeth in them, we were confused about that and so was Japanese men that came to ask about the boat. They asked for the true version and Pi had to think for a minute about what the true version was, so he reciprocated with an awful story of deceit and cannibalism. He then asked which story was better and when they replied that the animal story was Pi said, "May it go with God". This makes me believe that Pi chose the better of the two stories and that we will never know what is true and not true. So our group decided to chose both, because there are parts of this book that are undeniably believable and some that are not.
Group 1
Group 1
Is the story real?
As a result of the similarities between fiction and non-fiction, the truth can sometimes never be uncovered. The reader must use his/her imagination to decide whether they find the story true or false. In this case, the story involving the animals we believe is real. No one will ever know for sure whether or not it is the truth, only the author. There is always the question of whether the main character, Pi, actually existed. The human version of Pi's journey on the lifeboat may seem more realistic to many. "'You want a story without animals' 'Give me a minute, please'"(Martel 303). This quote supports that Pi had to think up another story in order to please the interviewers. He took a while to make the story in his head which proves that it never happened. When Pi was asked in the beginning to talk about what really happened while he was out at sea he was quick to answer because he went through it and it was his reality for the time being. In Chapter 96, Pi expresses through his dialouge that he was delighted to explain his story to both Mr. Chiba and Mr. Okamoto. The author portrayed Pi as very quick to speak and prepared. If Pi was indeed a real person and went through this journey on the lifeboat with all of the zoo animals that were described he would be a true survivor. This book may have been written out of celebration for Pi and his accomplishments. Although it was an unbelievable adventure, Pi overcame so many obstacles, big and small. Many readers will view the tiger as a ferocious animal and dangerous. When Pi assisted Richard Parker onto the boat it showed RIchard Parker that Pi was an essential key in his own survival. Pi was able to earn superiority over Richard Parker along the way which he wa able to accomplish through much hard work and effort. The first move Pi made in helping Richard Parker get onto the boat into saftey secured his life from RIchard Parker until the found thier way home. When the tiger murdered the goat he did it out of fear. The tiger attacked because it felt threatened. Pi did not pose as a threat towards him. So as a result, Richard Parker had not reason to kill him. Richard Parker knew that Pi was his one source for food and water. This makes the animal version believable because Pi worked the tiger strategically. Richard Parker did not feel threatened, therefore sparing Pi's life. Pi's life can be easily debated but only Yann Martel knows the truth.
Is it real?
# 4. Is the story real?
We feel that “Life of Pi,” written by Yann Martel, is a fiction novel. It demonstrates a few occurrences that make it seem fiction. An outside source reveals to the reader a feeling of the novel being fiction, "lightness and humor that gives it the quality of a fairy tale” (Francie Lin). Fairy tales, we know, are not true. This quote, taken from the Los Angeles Times, shows that “Life of Pi,” is a fictitious novel.
We first discussed the violent storm that occurred while Pi, a young boy, and Richard Parker, a 450 Bengal tiger from his father’s zoo, were stranded in the ocean. “The clouds looked as if they were stumbling along before the wind, frightened. The sea took its cue. It started rising and falling in a manner that made my heart sink” (Martel 225). This quote shows that the storm seemed to be a disaster, which would make the reader think that the lifeboat would have flipped over. From the details that the novel gives us, we felt that the storm seemed to be rather serious and there would be no possible way that Pi and Richard Parker would have been able to survive. Therefore, the heart-wrenching storm would make the novel seem fiction.
Another point in the novel that made reveals that it is fiction is that a 450 pound tiger was actually aboard a lifeboat with a man, who was not eaten. “Huge. Teeth like this! Claws like scimitars (Martel 298)! Pi states that Richard Parker’s teeth were very large and we feel that if a tiger with huge teeth were aboard a boat with a man, the man would have been eaten. We feel that this is rather ironic because the tiger never tried to attack Pi and in a real situation it would be normal for a tiger to attack. Although, Pi was able to train the tiger and each had there own space on the boat and there were able to live in the presence of each other.
Throughout the novel there are a variety of things that make the novel seem fiction. The violent storm and having a Bengal tiger on a boat with a man have proven that we believe the novel is false. Although, we believe the novel is fiction we enjoyed reading and learning about the adventure that Pi went through.
"Literature Resource Center." Yann Martel. 02 Dec 2004. Thomson Gale. 16 Jan 2008.
Martel, Yann. The Life of Pi. 1st. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2001.
We feel that “Life of Pi,” written by Yann Martel, is a fiction novel. It demonstrates a few occurrences that make it seem fiction. An outside source reveals to the reader a feeling of the novel being fiction, "lightness and humor that gives it the quality of a fairy tale” (Francie Lin). Fairy tales, we know, are not true. This quote, taken from the Los Angeles Times, shows that “Life of Pi,” is a fictitious novel.
We first discussed the violent storm that occurred while Pi, a young boy, and Richard Parker, a 450 Bengal tiger from his father’s zoo, were stranded in the ocean. “The clouds looked as if they were stumbling along before the wind, frightened. The sea took its cue. It started rising and falling in a manner that made my heart sink” (Martel 225). This quote shows that the storm seemed to be a disaster, which would make the reader think that the lifeboat would have flipped over. From the details that the novel gives us, we felt that the storm seemed to be rather serious and there would be no possible way that Pi and Richard Parker would have been able to survive. Therefore, the heart-wrenching storm would make the novel seem fiction.
Another point in the novel that made reveals that it is fiction is that a 450 pound tiger was actually aboard a lifeboat with a man, who was not eaten. “Huge. Teeth like this! Claws like scimitars (Martel 298)! Pi states that Richard Parker’s teeth were very large and we feel that if a tiger with huge teeth were aboard a boat with a man, the man would have been eaten. We feel that this is rather ironic because the tiger never tried to attack Pi and in a real situation it would be normal for a tiger to attack. Although, Pi was able to train the tiger and each had there own space on the boat and there were able to live in the presence of each other.
Throughout the novel there are a variety of things that make the novel seem fiction. The violent storm and having a Bengal tiger on a boat with a man have proven that we believe the novel is false. Although, we believe the novel is fiction we enjoyed reading and learning about the adventure that Pi went through.
"Literature Resource Center." Yann Martel. 02 Dec 2004. Thomson Gale. 16 Jan 2008
Martel, Yann. The Life of Pi. 1st. New York: Harcourt, Inc., 2001.
reflection/ideas/problems
The novel that we have just finished reading was called Life of Pi by Yann Martel. At the beginning of the novel we meet a young boy named Pi who lives with his family in India. Since his family owned a zoo Pi and his brother, Ravi, were always around animals. But when Pi turned sixteen that all was changing. Pi’s family had decided to move from India to Canada and by doing so they needed to sell their zoo animals. So the family and their animals got on board a Japanese cargo ship and headed towards their new destination. On the way the ship sadly sinks, Pi being the only one in his family to survive. He then was trapped out at sea in a life boat for two hundred and twenty seven days. His only companion being a Bengal tiger named, Richard Parker. Or so we thought.
When Pi was finally rescued he had to tell his story to two men who were trying to find out why the ship had sunk. The first story he told the way we read it, with the animals and everything. The two men, however, could not believe in what Pi was telling them so they asked him to tell the story again. This time Pi told the story with people instead of animals. The hyena was the cook, the zebra was the sailor, the orangutan was his mother and he was the Bengal tiger. Some parts of the story were the same while other parts were just a little different. The two men still had a hard time deciding which was true so they gave up. That was the same problem our group had.
Some of my group members felt that both stories could be true. Others thought that one was true and the other was not or that just neither story was real. Each person had their own reasons for why they felt the way they did. However, we will never really be able to tell if Pi’s story was true because we were not Pi. We were not able to go through what he went through and we are not able to speak to him. “Don’t you bully me with your politeness! Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?” (Martel 297) Just because we did not see what Pi did does not mean his story is not real. Nobody but Pi will ever really know what actually happened during those two hundred and twenty seven days.
Other then the mystery of which story is true or not my group did enjoy reading this book. The book was entertaining and kept us guessing. Some chapters drugged on a bit and made us want to put the book down. But as we read on we came across other chapters that made us want to keep on reading. -Posh (Spice Girls group Pd: 7)
When Pi was finally rescued he had to tell his story to two men who were trying to find out why the ship had sunk. The first story he told the way we read it, with the animals and everything. The two men, however, could not believe in what Pi was telling them so they asked him to tell the story again. This time Pi told the story with people instead of animals. The hyena was the cook, the zebra was the sailor, the orangutan was his mother and he was the Bengal tiger. Some parts of the story were the same while other parts were just a little different. The two men still had a hard time deciding which was true so they gave up. That was the same problem our group had.
Some of my group members felt that both stories could be true. Others thought that one was true and the other was not or that just neither story was real. Each person had their own reasons for why they felt the way they did. However, we will never really be able to tell if Pi’s story was true because we were not Pi. We were not able to go through what he went through and we are not able to speak to him. “Don’t you bully me with your politeness! Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?” (Martel 297) Just because we did not see what Pi did does not mean his story is not real. Nobody but Pi will ever really know what actually happened during those two hundred and twenty seven days.
Other then the mystery of which story is true or not my group did enjoy reading this book. The book was entertaining and kept us guessing. Some chapters drugged on a bit and made us want to put the book down. But as we read on we came across other chapters that made us want to keep on reading. -Posh (Spice Girls group Pd: 7)
Is this story real?
Da Rap Game's Response:
Our group consensus on whether or not Life of Pi is a true story is that the entire story, whether it is the animal version or the people version, is not true. The purpose of the novel is to cause the reader to question what they’ve read. It aims to argue the point of belief. It wants the reader to believe in anything, showing that if one can believe in something as illogical as this story, one can believe in God. On page 285, Pi says, “…that’s one thing I hate about my nickname, the way that a number runs on forever. It’s important in life to conclude things properly” (Martel 285). The nickname Pi expresses a lot about the character and the objective of the book. Pi is essentially an irrational number, a number that is never ending and without reason or clear judgment. The author says in the beginning of the novel, “this was, indeed, a story to make you believe in God” (Martel XI). Life of Pi is a completely irrational story. Its reality can be argued forever, which is exactly what the author wanted. If a story so far fetched can cause a reader to believe that a young man can survive for 227 days along side a Bengal Tiger, then the reader can easily believe in God. The point of Life of Pi is not to believe whether the story is true or not, but to realize that belief is more about believing in what you have not witnessed yourself then what is right in front of you. Pi also says in Chapter 99, “Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is the problem with hard to believe?” (Martel 297). The author shows is cards with this quote. He shows the reader that again, believing is more about faith. Having confidence or trust in a person or thing is truly believing. If one can love, one can believe this story, one can live life, one can believe in God. A direct quote from back of the novel states that, “Life of Pi could renew your faith in the ability of novelists to invest even the most outrageous scenario with plausible life” (The New York Times Book Review). The novel sets one up to believe that the entire book is credible. It is up to the reader to decide what is true, but essentially, the story it self is completely untrue.
Our group consensus on whether or not Life of Pi is a true story is that the entire story, whether it is the animal version or the people version, is not true. The purpose of the novel is to cause the reader to question what they’ve read. It aims to argue the point of belief. It wants the reader to believe in anything, showing that if one can believe in something as illogical as this story, one can believe in God. On page 285, Pi says, “…that’s one thing I hate about my nickname, the way that a number runs on forever. It’s important in life to conclude things properly” (Martel 285). The nickname Pi expresses a lot about the character and the objective of the book. Pi is essentially an irrational number, a number that is never ending and without reason or clear judgment. The author says in the beginning of the novel, “this was, indeed, a story to make you believe in God” (Martel XI). Life of Pi is a completely irrational story. Its reality can be argued forever, which is exactly what the author wanted. If a story so far fetched can cause a reader to believe that a young man can survive for 227 days along side a Bengal Tiger, then the reader can easily believe in God. The point of Life of Pi is not to believe whether the story is true or not, but to realize that belief is more about believing in what you have not witnessed yourself then what is right in front of you. Pi also says in Chapter 99, “Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is the problem with hard to believe?” (Martel 297). The author shows is cards with this quote. He shows the reader that again, believing is more about faith. Having confidence or trust in a person or thing is truly believing. If one can love, one can believe this story, one can live life, one can believe in God. A direct quote from back of the novel states that, “Life of Pi could renew your faith in the ability of novelists to invest even the most outrageous scenario with plausible life” (The New York Times Book Review). The novel sets one up to believe that the entire book is credible. It is up to the reader to decide what is true, but essentially, the story it self is completely untrue.
Is the story real?
Magnum's Response:
What is real? According the the Merium-Webster dictionary, real is defined as "not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory." Using this definition, it is impossible to answer a simple "yes" or "no" in response to this question. It is impossible due to the fact that there is no evidence contridicting the story, nor is there evidence proving the story to be the truth. One cannot assume the stories told to them by another are real, and one cannot assume the stories told to them by another are not real. Only the teller of the story knows for sure. Therefore, it is up to the reader to decide whether or not what they are reading is the truth. As a reader of the novel, I personally find the story not to be real. That is my own personal opinion and my answer can be easily debated because I, myself, do not know the truth. The reader must decide for themselves whether or not the story is an illusion. Therefore, the story is only real if the reader believes it to be real.
What is real? According the the Merium-Webster dictionary, real is defined as "not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory." Using this definition, it is impossible to answer a simple "yes" or "no" in response to this question. It is impossible due to the fact that there is no evidence contridicting the story, nor is there evidence proving the story to be the truth. One cannot assume the stories told to them by another are real, and one cannot assume the stories told to them by another are not real. Only the teller of the story knows for sure. Therefore, it is up to the reader to decide whether or not what they are reading is the truth. As a reader of the novel, I personally find the story not to be real. That is my own personal opinion and my answer can be easily debated because I, myself, do not know the truth. The reader must decide for themselves whether or not the story is an illusion. Therefore, the story is only real if the reader believes it to be real.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Monday, January 14, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Pi Questions
1. “For the first time I noticed that my suffering was taking place in a grand setting. I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still. My suffering did not fit anywhere, I realized” (Martel 177). Explain the meaning of this quote. Do you agree? (Knowledge/Comprehension)
2. In Chapter 71, Pi describes how he tames Richard Parker. How would you have tamed Richard Parker if in this situation? Would you have done anything differently? (Evaluation)
I hope this is what you meant when post two questions for our assignment.
2. In Chapter 71, Pi describes how he tames Richard Parker. How would you have tamed Richard Parker if in this situation? Would you have done anything differently? (Evaluation)
I hope this is what you meant when post two questions for our assignment.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
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