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Life of pi part 1
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Life of Pi (chapters 24-39)

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What is suggested by the authors

comment about fiction being "the
selective transforming of reality?
the twisting of it to bring out its
essence"?

The story is true but he twist stuff to bring

out the essence.

Why did the author go to India?

To work on the rest of his novel.

Why does the author mail his

manuscript for the book about
Portugal to a made up addressed
in Siberia?

He thinks that his novel is worthless so he

mailed his manuscript to a place that does
not exist.

Who first tells the author about

Mr. Patels tells story? how many
storytellers does this make in the
book so far?

Mr Adirusany, A man he meets in the coffee

house, tells the author the story. We now
have a tell based on a story heard from a
stranger in a coffee shop, re-told by an
author we cannot be sure of.

What is the most significant thing

about the story that the author
hears

Mr. Adirubany says that the story the author

is about to hear and which we are about to
read, "will make you believe in God"

What is suggested by the fact

that the authors note was sent in
italics and chapter 1 is that in
normal text

Italics are the authors comments and

normal text is Mr. Patel's story.

Who do we assume is the speaker

of chapter 1? What suggests this?

Mr Patel because the authors note ended

with the introduction to Mr. Patels tells
story.

Why did the person speaking in

Chapter 1 choose to study the
sloth?

Mr. Patel begins his story by saying that his

suffering left him sad and gloomy. He chose
to study the sloth because its "demeanor—
calm, quiet and introspective—did
something to soothe [his] shattered self."

What we can infer about Mr. Patel

from his tone?

He seems to be a gentle, intensely

emotional person. He expresses love for a
boy who beat him in a scholarship
competition, and he tells us that he once
fainted when a faucet was turned on
because the experience was so shocking.
He is also very interested in and
knowledgeable about animals.

What is significant about the

cities Mr. Patel says he would like
to visit?

Mecca is the holiest city of Islam, one of Pi's

three religions; Varanasi is a holy city in the
Hindu faith, another of Pi's three religions;
Jerusalem is holy to Muslims and
Christians, Christianity being the third of
Pi's three religions. Paris is a reputedly
beautiful and romantic city. Oxford is the
site of the great English university and a
world-famous seat of academics.

What were Mr. Patel's two majors

in college? What connection does
he make between the two? How
do they foreshadow what is likely
to come later in the novel?

Patel majored in both zoology and religious

studies. He compares religious-studies
majors—people who analyze religion, but
will not commit to believing in God—to
sloths; they are confused and hesitant.
Sloths, on the other hand, remind him of
God. Mr. Patel sees design, order, and
beauty in the natural world. The
combination of the two majors suggests
that animals, God, and faith will play roles in
the story Mr. Patel has to tell.

What can we infer about the

narrator so far?

We can infer that he has suffered great

hardship and loss ("My suffering left me
sad and gloomy"). He came from India ("I
have nothing to go home to in
Pondicherry"). We can also guess that the
story he has to tell involved illness or injury
("The doctors and nurses at the hospital in
Mexico were incredibly kind to me").

What do the language and format

of this chapter establish for the
reader?

This chapter is again in italics and written in

the third person point of view. This
establishes that Yann Martel is using plain
text and first-person narration for Mr. Patel
to tell his story,
and italics in the third person for the
fictional author's insertions.

What is significant about the

details the fictional author
chooses to reveal about Mr.
Patel?

Essentially, the author confirms Mr. Patel's

gentle nature and possibly nervous
demeanor.

What might the origin of Patel's

name foreshadow?

Patel's story is most likely going to involve

water.

What significant trait did the

narrator and Mamaji share?

They both loved swimming.

Who is the man Patel calls

Mamaji, who teaches Patel how to
swim? How have we already met
him?

Mamaji is Francis Adirubasamy, the man

who told the fictional author, "I have a story
that will make you believe in God."

What does the name "Mamaji"

mean?

In Tamil, an Indian dialect, "Mama" means

"uncle." "Ji" is a suffix that "indicates
respect and affection." Although not related
to Mr, Patel, Mamaji was like a beloved uncle
to him.

What distinction does Mr. Patel

make between the ocean and the
swimming pool? What is the
significance of this distinction?

The ocean is chaotic and uncontrollable,

while the swimming pool has a "proper
rectangularity and [a] formal flatness." The
significance is that the chaotic and
uncontrollable nature of the ocean is going
to figure strongly into this story.

In this chapter, we finally learn

the full name of our narrator.
What is it and how did he get it?

The narrator is Piscine Molitor Patel. He was

named after Mamaji's favorite pool in Paris,
France, the Piscine Molitor.

What is significant about the

narrator's name?

Piscine was named after a famous

swimming pool, and he loves to swim.

What did Piscine's father do for a

living?

zookeeper

What did Piscine's father do

before he became a zookeeper?
What comment does Piscine
make about the transition from
hotel owner to zookeeper?

His father ran a hotel; according to Piscine,

running a zoo is not very different, although
the "guests" are much more demanding.

How does Pi feel about growing

up in a zoo? In terms of the
Bildungsroman narrative, what
might the zoo symbolize?

Pi loves living in a zoo. He calls it "Paradise

on earth," indicating that this is the idyllic,
Edenic period of Pi's life, before his story of
maturation.

What is Piscine implying when he

says that the only "relentless
imperatives" felt by animals is
avoiding enemies and securing
food and water?

Piscine is implying that "freedom" is not a

high priority for animals, and that those
humans who criticize zoos for depriving
animals of this "freedom" do not
understand the truth of the situation.

What is Piscine implying when he

says that "a house is compressed
territory, where our basic needs
can be fulfilled close by and
safely"?

Piscine is essentially comparing a house to

a zoo. Just as humans—who once roamed
"free" in jungles and on plains—have
adapted satisfactorily to sheltered lives, so
too do animals— especially those born in
captivity—adapt to habitations in which all
of their needs are met.

Does Piscine believe animals are

better off in the wild or in a zoo?

Piscine clearly believes that animals are

better off in a zoo. In a zoo, animals have
regular medical care, plenty of food, and a
well-needed schedule. In the wild, they lead
lives of "compulsion and necessity."

What comparison does the adult

Piscine make between the
impulse to "free" animals and
invading a person's home and
"freeing" him? Why is this
comparison significant?

Pi says that no person with "all the usual

ties—to family, to friends, to society" would
willingly choose to be cut loose from these
things. This is significant because this is
exactly what will happen to Pi.

What does Pi mean when he says

that "certain illusions about
freedom plague" both zoos and
religion?

Just as people who do not understand

believe zoos imprison animals and deprive
them of happiness, many people who do not
understand believe religion deprives people
of their freedom.

What might be significant about

the name Pi chooses for himself?

Pi is the ratio of a circle's radius to area and

diameter to circumference. Circles will play
an important role in this novel, with Pi
eventually realizing he is the center of his
own circle.

What does Pi mean at the end of

this chapter when he says, "in
that elusive, irrational number
with which scientists try to
understand the universe, I found
refuge."

Another important theme in this book is the

question of order in the universe; Pi says
many times that stories are our way of
making sense of a baffling existence.

What personal characteristics

does Pi exhibit in choosing to
change his own name?

He shows a will to survive and the ability to

take control of a situation. These qualities
will help him later in the book.

What does the author's

description of Patel's kitchen
suggest?

The author notes that Patel's kitchen is

jammed with far more food than he could
eat, as if he is hoarding food against some
possible disaster.

What language and imagery does

Pi use to describe Mr. Kumar?
Why is it significant?

Pi says, "[Mr. Kumar's] construction was

geometric: he looked like two triangles, a
small one and a larger one, balanced on two
parallel lines." Mr. Kumar represents the
world of abstract reasoning. Like Pi, whose
name also represents an important
geometric ratio, Mr. Kumar is associated
with these theoretical concepts.

Why does Mr. Kumar love the

zoo?

To Mr. Kumar, an avowed atheist, every

animal in the zoo is a "triumph of logic and
mechanics" and a symbol of the nature of
science.

What does the zoo represent to

Mr. Kumar?

The zoo reassures Mr. Kumar that the

universe is orderly. He seems to think that it
is people, with their emotions and
irrationality, who cause problems.

Why does Mr. Kumar not believe

in God?

As a rationalist, Mr. Kumar looks for the

cause to every effect. His story about
having polio as a child illustrates his rational
approach. What God would have let a boy
suffer from such a disease? Meanwhile, it
was not God who saved him, but medical
science.

Why doesn't Pi argue with Mr.

Kumar about the existence of
God?

Pi is afraid that Mr. Kumar's rational words

will take a hold of him the way the polio
virus took hold of the young Kumar. Pi does
not want Kumar's rationality to destroy his
faith. He says,
"What a terrible disease that must be if it
could kill God in a man."

How are atheists like believers,

according to Pi?

Atheists also follow their reason; once they

reach the bounds of reason, they "leap" by
proclaiming that there is no God. Believers
also go to the edge of reason, then find God
beyond this edge.

What problem does Pi have with

agnostics?

Agnostics are unable to commit to any

position. They live in a state of perpetual
doubt.

Why do zoologists "commonly

say...that the most dangerous
animal in a zoo is man"? What
animal does Pi's father believe is
"even more dangerous than us"?

Man is the one who causes problems in

zoos by tormenting the animals. Human
beings will feed dangerous items to animals
just to see what the animals will do. Pi's
father insists, however, that the
anthropomorphized animal is the most
dangerous of all. People must not make the
mistake of believing that animals are like
humans, with human understanding and
emotions.

What does Pi mean when he says,

"The obsession with putting
ourselves at the centre of
everything is the bane not only of
theologists but also of
zoologists"?

A central theme of the book is the inability

of humans to understand the natural world
or God except through the lens of human
experience and reason. The truth is,
however, that we can really understand
neither by comparing them to ourselves.

What is the point of the episode

Pi relates about the ravenous
tiger and the goat? Why has
Martel placed this episode in the
same chapter with the discussion
of anthropomorphism? What
might this episode foreshadow?

The brutal death of the goat graphically

illustrates the viciousness of natural world.
Set beside the discussion of
anthropomorphism, it illustrates that wild
animals are not humans with the same
emotions and rational thought processes.
Martel might be foreshadowing an incident
in which human nature and brute animal
nature meet one another—possibly dealing
with a tiger.

What is a "flight distance"?

A "flight distance" is "the minimum

distance at which an animal wants to keep a
perceived enemy." Put more simply, "flight
distance" refers to how close an animal will
allow an enemy to get to it before it flees.

Why is an understanding of
animals' flight distance important
to a zookeeper?

A caged animal that cannot flee when its

enemy is too close experiences extreme