***SPOILERS***
Pi is a son of a zookeeper that
travels to Canada with their zoo animals. The Japanese ship they travel on
sinks and Pi is the only survivor, floating along the ocean for seven months
and several weeks. Along the way he is accompanied by Richard Parker, a Bengal
tiger. The fact the Pi ended up on the water is appropriate, considering ‘Pi’
is short for ‘Piscine’.
Religion
I quite often hear people complain
about Pi following three religions (Hinduism, Islam and Christianity). As I’ve
pointed out before, this is quite common across Asia so the criticism of ‘you
cannot follow more than one religion’ isn’t valid.
Of
course, this is not a universal trait. Indeed, this is seen in the book when
the pandit, imam and priest argue over Pi’s multiple religions. Pi points out
that ‘Papa Gandhi’ believed all religions are true, leading the three religious
guides to make peace. Reconciliation is great and all but after such a lengthy
and passionate debate, I doubt that they would have made up so quickly. Whilst
my first instinct is to declare that bad writing, Pi wouldn’t be the first one
to idealise his past and especially so considering the trauma he’d suffered.
After
the ‘Papa Gandhi’, Pi’s dad wondered if ‘Uncle Jesus’ was next. This made me
giggle quite a lot. His father also had an issue with Pi being Muslim in
particular. But then Pi’s mum points out that if it’s not doing anyone any harm
then it’s alright. Which is my view on all things in life. So I like Pi’s mum.
A moment that caught my eye is when
Pi tells a story from Matthew and Mark.
Jesus
cursed a fig tree for not producing fruit. Pi comments that the tree is
innocent because the tree’s not to blame that it’s not fig season. This
perfectly encapsulates Indian mind sets that recognise all life important,
worthy and sacred.
(I just
have to wonder why Jesus didn’t use his powers to make the fig tree bloom out
of season? Surely that would have been a better way to utilise his gifts? Maybe
it was to show that Jesus suffered irritability, low inhibitions and bad
decisions, just like any other human?)
A different moment caught me off
guard, when Pi explains his problem with agnostics. He applauds the use of
doubt but only briefly. He continues: ‘To choose doubt as a philosophy of life
is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transport.’
Um, no.
A
philosophy of life is the principles that inform one’s life and actions. Being
agnostic doesn’t mean that you are doubtful about everything. An agnostic still
has views and values on how they think people should behave. Religion isn’t the
only source of morality. Indeed, religions all over the world have a habit of
teaching overlapping pieces of morality, showing that everyone can believe in
the same values, no matter their point of origin or upbringing.
Animals
It’s not that much of a surprise
that animals feature heavily in this novel, both in academic discussions and
beautiful descriptors. Indeed, he remembers Richard Parker in stunning detail,
almost glorifying his good qualities.
Pi
recounts when his father wanted him and his brother Ravi to understand how
dangerous wild animals can be. Their father chooses Richard Parker (the tiger)
and the demonstration left both of them with mental scars. In the present, Pi
wonders how he got past that and recalls that ‘[l]ife goes on and you don’t
touch tigers.’ That gave me a good chuckle.
Quite
often, Pi’s animal anecdotes made me laugh. The orang-utan arriving at the
lifeboat on a raft of bananas was my particular favourite (I found it
delightful). Closely followed, I add, by the hyena and orang-utan roaring at
each other (I don’t think any hyena species can roar but I could be wrong).
Both are bizarre but novel ideas, catching me off guard when I first read the
book.
Aside
from the fact that hyenas can’t roar, Pi’s memories of the hyena were
off-kilter. It took some days for Pi to even realise the hyena was on the
lifeboat, a lifeboat with few places to hide. This seems improbable. Pi’s aware
of this, too, because he comes up with an elaborate explanation of how the
hyena there. This account was even more improbable so I think he was just
trying to make sense of an unexplainable event. Considering there wasn’t much
for Pi to do on his journey, it’s no surprise that he made stories his pastime.
The
hyena kept on causing issues. Pi presents a case to the readers that hyenas
have a bad reputation. Yet the most gory and graphically detailed event in the
novel is about the hyena eating the still-living zebra from the inside out.
This only serves to reaffirm the reputation he rejects. It didn’t help that Pi
had just given a poetic description of a fish, making the hyena seem all the
worse. At least the hyena was described as having eyes that were ‘mouselike’
(something I quite like).
Zoo animals aside, the audience also
gets to see Pi’s interactions with the wild animals. Some are gruesome, some
are lovely, and some were simply ingenious. My favourite thing about this novel
is Pi describing whales spouting as ‘a short-lived archipelago of volcanic
islands.’
As
mentioned earlier, Pi finds all life sacred but considering plants and fungi
aren’t a convenient diet out of the open ocean, Pi concedes that he’ll have to
eat meat. The very first animal he kills is a fish and he feels guilty of
murder. Pi thought quickly hammering the fish’s head was too much so he decided
to snap its neck instead. I would have thought feeling an animal struggle in
your hands as you use your own body to kill it would have been too much but
each to their own.
Pi only
saw six birds on his seven month sea journey which does seem highly improbable.
I will, however, point out that I loved and had no quarrel with the
flesh-eating islands populated with fish-eating meerkats. Although that only
contained a suspension of disbelief to allow it to be part of that world when
it is already part of this world that seabirds fly all over the oceans and one
would see more than six over seven months. So the same reason I accept the
meerkats is the same reason I don’t accept the limited sea birds.
Now my praise for the animal
sections is out the way, I return to the zoo animals because something Pi said
left me gobsmacked. Apparently, as long as animals are given everything they
require (food, water and shelter), they behave exactly the same in activity as
they would in the wild.
No.
Firstly,
the animals’ territories are much smaller in zoos that they are in the wild.
Secondly, the animals’ food is readily provided for them (when those in the
wild would have less food per sitting and wouldn’t eat each day). Thirdly, the
animals don’t have to worry about competition or predation as they otherwise
would be.
This means
the animal spends less time patrolling, less time looking for food, and less
time being on the lookout: hence they sleep. A lot. This mixed with little
exercise but receiving more food than their wild counterparts is why zoo
animals weigh more. The very nature of a wild animal being contained in a zoo
inherently means the animals behave differently.
Fourthly
(and this being the kicker), there has been heavy documentation of zoo animals
having clear behavioural issues for decades, among which ‘Life of Pi’ was set.
Pi recounts his faulty opinion not as him the sixteen year-old but as him the
adult. As him, the person with a zoology degree. So Pi really should know
better. Sure, the author may not be an expert on zoology but I find it hard to
believe that even with limited research the author didn’t find the truth.
Review:
Life of Pi (Yann Martel) 2/2
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