Plot Overview
Life of Pi- Part 2
The plot starts when the Japanese ship, where Pi and his family where, sinks. Pi was the only human survivor, left with a boat full of food and a wounded zebra, a hyena, a tiger and a orangutan, during the next hours the hyena ate the orangutan and the zebra but then the tiger ate the hyena. Pi stayed at the tip of the boat very scared, then he created a floating raft where he stayed there until he tamed the tiger. The tiger and Pi coexist peacefully. The days pass slowly until dehydration and starvation takes over. throughout his way Pi encounters another shipwrecked guy. The guy was blind, they discuss over food and survival but the blind man looses his mind and attacks Pi, Richard Paco kills the stranger. Then a couple of days after Pi encounters an island full of meerkats, vegetation, water, and trees which grow without soil. After a day Pi realizes the island was carnivorous, because he saw a human teeth inside a fruit. Pi and Richard Parker disembark the island. After a couple of weeks later at the pacific ocean they end up very dehydrated and hungry at the shore of mexico. Richard Parker runs off to the jungle meanwhile Pi is saved by some farmers, but he felt very sad after that because Richard Parker left him.
Setting
There are three settings in this part. The first one is the life boat in which Pi stays safe in the Pacific Ocean. The life boat is middle sized, where Pi and the tiger fit in it perfectly, contained lots of food, some life vests, ropes, a pair of oars, and other survival items.
The other setting is the carnivorous island where the companions stayed a day in there where the tiger ate meerkats and Pi gathered lots of vegetables. The island was full of meerkats and vegetables, but it got no soil and its plants were carnivorous. The third setting is where Pi and Richard finally landed, The shore of Mexico, where the tiger escaped and Pi was rescued.
Character Development
Pi was born in India a place were people believe in lot of gods and since he is also the son of a zookeeper he became very religious kid, in other words Pi childhood was very magical, he also believed in three religions and was a very positive child, he never focused on seeing the dark part of the world, like poverty and homicides. His spiritual life grew a lot in the ocean because he learned to interact and work with the tiger, and believe that god was always with him, praying a couple of times a day which helped him to have more faith and hope, which led him to believe that he could survive. Pi also was a bit interested in science, he first wanted to know more about how animals and humans react, certainly his knowledge in animals grew throughout the voyage, he tamed Richard Parker, saw the animals interact throughout the voyage, and learned about botany when he landed in the carnivorous island, he created a hypothesis that the island was carnivorous, he also learned to survive lots of days at sea. In conclusion he became a lot more smarter and self sufficient, more adult.
Conflicts
There were 5 conflicts during this part, not like the beginning where there were almost any. The first one was when the japanese ship drowned and all Pi's family drowned, Pi was the only survivor with a couple of animals stranded in a boat. After that the hyena killed the zebra and the orangutan, then the tiger, which was hide under the cover of the boat, killed the hyena. The actions made Pi sad and reflect about how brute animals are, so Pi build a raft aside, another conflict was that the tiger was on control of the boat, but the conflict was resolved in a couple of days later when Pi finally came up with the idea to tame him. The fourth conflict was when the blind man encountered with Pi and because of starvation attacked Pi, but Richard killed him. The last and main conflict was starvation and dehydration throughout the voyage.
Symbols
- Lifeboat: Guidance, it brought hope, a manual and will to survive, without it Pi could have been dead.
- The Tiger: Company, it provide Pi with companionship which made Pi keep out of depression.
- Carnivorous Island: Fear, the island which created a fear of dead because he found a human teeth in there.
- The Hyena: Brutality, because the wild animal was killing like if it was crazy
- The Meerkats: Innocence, because they were standing there in a carnivorous island and doing nothing when seeing Pi and Richard which ate many.
- The Japanese Men: Logic, because they didn't believed Pi's story, only believed what they see.
- The Steam Boat: Hope, because the boat Pi saw far away could rescue them.
Point of View and Relevant themes
The point of view of the story is in 1st person by Pi. The themes can be Life is a story because the whole book is adult Pi telling the story of his life. Another can be The will to live because thats whats whole part 2 is about, trying to survive till the end. Another would be Self improvement because thats what Pi wanted since the beginning, to know more about life, by the end of his shipwreck learns to be self sufficient and he also gained experience from surviving.
Personal Reaction
In general I liked this part was the less boring of all. It showed action and curiosity, for example the island, the blind man, and Pi taming the tiger. Also I didn't get why Pi couldn't have saved the zebra and orangutan from the hyena, Pi had two oars to defend, but in reality it was better that they died because if all 4 animals would have survived the tiger would have killed all and Pi couldn't have gave sufficient food to the animals. The end of the book was very good but they should have show the trip to canada. The end of part 2 was very good, it showed how Pi and the tiger follow two different paths, and showed the love Pi had for the tiger, which was wise, Pi thought that the tiger was using him.
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