Life of Pi by Yann Martel

First impression: This book is dull. If I had picked it up in a store and read the first chapter, it would have immediately found its way back to the shelf. After a few chapters, I did realize that the author is setting up the plot and giving us a wealth of background information. Sadly, it reads like an autobiography and the fact that it has been highly praised and placed on summer reading lists kept me going.

A quote I liked: “He served me tea and biscuits in a tea set that tinkled and rattled at every touch; he treated me like a grown-up; and he told me a story. Or rather, since Christians are so fond of capital letters, a Story.”

Religion is a topic that is discussed throughout this book and while I am an atheist and I’m sure that people of differing religions might find some things written to be offensive I found it engaging. The above quote, made me chuckle quietly. Pi was raised Hindu and during his first brush with Christianity the quote is an observation with a touch of gentle humor. If nothing else this book allowed me to see a Hindu’s assessment of different religions. Before reading this book, all the characters I had heard of were either Christian, agnostic, or atheist. To me this book as academic value, right from the start. Shortly after he accepts Jesus he also joins in the Muslim faith, and by this point he is a polytheist. 

But what I really want to discuss is the ending of this book. So, from here on they be spoilers. SPOILERS!

I could compare this novel to a favorite short story of mine, The Lady or the Tiger by Frank Stockton. It’s a story I read for the first time in middle school and it’s one I’ve never forgotten. I won’t bother with the backstory. A man is in an arena and two doors are before him. Behind one is a tiger, which will surely be his death, and behind the other is a maiden who he will marry. His lover has discovered which fate is behind each door beforehand and she gestures discreetly to the door he is certain holds the more pleasant fate. But the story ends just as the door opens. Did his lover send him into the arms of another woman, willing to see him happy with someone else if only so he can live? Or did she send him to the tiger, jealousy overpowering her? It’s a tough call and there is no right or wrong answer to this question. The reader has to decide for herself what happened next. 

Much is the same with Life of Pi. As we go through the novel, we don’t question the story. The ship sunk and Pi is the only survivor along with a 450-pound Bengal tiger that he shares a lifeboat with. No other humans are seen until almost the end of the book. It’s an incredible story and I was filled with awe as I read. Then we get to the last chapter where he is interviewed. No one believes him and the men ask for the truth. A story without animals they say. He gives them one, and it’s a story much darker in tone. The question is which story is true? Did he survive 227 days with a Bengal tiger or did he escape onto a lifeboat with his mother, a cook, and a sailor, who were all killed? Did the cook murder first the sailor, then his mother? Did Pi kill the cook? After a bit of reflection I have to believe that the second story, without the animals must be true. 

The zebra that jumped into the boat with Pi is symbolic of the sailor; both have broken their leg in the fall. The hyena symbolizes the sailor, and the orangutan symbolizes his mother. The Japanese men interviewing Pi state exactly that in their analysis. Now for the reasons I believe it to be true. When the ship is sinking Pi remarks on several animals being loose in addition to those on his boat, but this is hardly credible. Someone would have had to set them free and the only person with a key was Pi’s father. Surely one or two might have been freed; perhaps a few cages might have been opened things to some crashing and banging about. Still it is easier to believe that four humans made it into the lifeboat than three animals and a human. 

Each time something happens to Pi it happens to his companions. When the tiger is hungry or thirsty so is he. When the tiger goes blind, his eyesight follows quickly. They deteriorate at the same rate without turning on each other. If a sixteen-year-old boy were truly in a confined space with a starving tiger that couldn’t lift his head up, he would keep all the food and allow the animal to starve. But since I believe Pi and the tiger are indeed one individual I believe that the books is about Pi’s struggle with his own humanity and the horrible acts that he has seen and committed. 

The fantastical story of his survival with the tiger could be viewed as an elaborate metaphor, one that Pi embellished after spending months at sea bored to the point he might have started to believe his own tale. Even more likely, it is a story he confounded so that he wouldn’t have to face the reality of his situation. I’ve read several young adult books where a teen has live through a tragedy, often times an abusive home and the character will fabricate a reality that allows them to live without facing the truth.

Still there is no way to truly know which story the author indeed to be taken as truth. I felt this story was very dull and boring at the start but having finished it, I find it marvelous. It’s no wonder that it is called a modern day classic. I wouldn’t want to reread it but it is a book that I would recommend to a friend. 

The question: Which tale do you believe? Animals or humans?