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.
1 comment:
I agree with btgs19 that the story is false. Our group felt that the second story was more realistic than the whole animal story. There were some hints throughout the story that made the second story seem more realistic. For example, when it was Pi's mother's birthday he sang happy birthday to her. Also, when Orange Juice died he felt like as if his own mother died, which in the second story she does. These clues gave us the idea that the story he told of the animals is not the real story of what happened.
-Kebo
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