1984

Winston Smith
A minor member of the ruling Party, he hates the totalitarian control and enforced repression that are
characteristic of his government.

Julia
Winston’s lover, a beautiful dark-haired girl working in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth,
her rebellion against the Party is small and personal, for her own enjoyment, in contrast to Winston’s
ideological motivation.

O’Brien
A mysterious, powerful member of the Inner Party whom Winston believes is also a member of the
Brotherhood, the legendary group of anti-Party rebels.

Big Brother
Though he never appears in the novel, and though he may not actually exist, Big Brother is the
perceived ruler of Oceania. Everywhere Winston looks he sees posters of Big Brother’s face bearing the
message “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.” Big Brother’s image is stamped on coins and broadcast on
the telescreens.

Mr. Charrington
An old man who runs a secondhand store in the prole district he seems to support Winston’s rebellion
against the Party and his relationship with Julia but he is a member of the Thought Police.

Syme
An intelligent, outgoing man who works with Winston at the Ministry of Truth. Syme specializes in
language and is working on a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary.

Parsons
An obnoxious and dull Party member who lives near Winston and works at the Ministry of Truth. He
has a wife and children who are members of the Junior Spies.

Emmanuel Goldstein
Another figure who has an influence on the novel without ever appearing in it. According to the Party,
Goldstein is the legendary leader of the Brotherhood, the Party describes him as the most dangerous
and treacherous man in Oceania.
Life of Pi
Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi)
The protagonist of the story. Piscine is the narrator for most of the novel, and tells his account of his seven
months at sea. He gets his unusual name from the French word for pool—and, more specifically, from a pool in
Paris in which Francis Adirubasamy loved to swim. Pi is a student of zoology and religion.

Richard Parker
The Bengal tiger with whom Pi shares his lifeboat. His captor, the real Richard Parker, named the tiger Thirsty,
but someone made a mistake and reversed their names.

The Author
The narrator of the (fictitious) Author’s Note, who inserts himself into the narrative at several points throughout
the text.

Francis Adirubasamy (Mamaji)

The elderly man who tells the author Pi’s story when meeting in a coffee shop. He taught Pi to swim as a child
and arranges for the author to meet Pi in person, so as to get a first-person account of his strange and compelling
tale. Pi calls him Mamaji, an Indian term that means respected uncle.

Ravi
Pi’s older brother. Ravi prefers sports to schoolwork and is quite popular. He mocks at his younger brother
because of his devotion to three religions.

Santosh Patel
Pi’s father. He once owned a Madras hotel, but because of his deep interest in animals decided to run the
Pondicherry Zoo, he teaches his sons not only to care for and control wild animals, but to fear them. Though
raised a Hindu, he is not religious, the difficult conditions in India lead him to move his family to Canada.

Gita Patel
Pi’s mother and protector, she is a book lover and encourages Pi to read.

Satish Kumar
Pi’s atheistic biology teacher, he is a polio survivor, his devotion to the power of scientific inquiry and explanation
inspires Pi to study zoology in college.

Satish Kumar
A Muslim with the same name as Pi’s biology teacher. He works in a bakery. Like the other Mr. Kumar, this one
has a strong effect on Pi’s academic plans: his faith leads Pi to study religion at college.

Father Martin
The Catholic priest who introduces Pi to Christianity after Pi wanders into his church.

The Hindu Pandit

One of three important religious figures in the novel. Never given a name, he is angry when Pi, who was raised
Hindu, begins practicing other religions.

Meena Patel
Pi’s wife.
Nikhil Patel (Nick)
Pi’s son. He plays baseball.

Usha Patel
Pi’s young daughter. She is shy but very close to her father.

The Hyena
An ugly, intensely violent animal. He controls the lifeboat before Richard Parker emerges.

The Zebra
A beautiful male Grant’s zebra. He breaks his leg jumping into the lifeboat. The hyena eats him.

Orange Juice
The maternal orangutan that floats to the lifeboat. When the hyena attacks her, she fights back but is killed.

The Cook
The human counterpart to the hyena in Pi’s second story. He is rude and violent.

The Sailor
The human counterpart to the zebra in Pi’s second story. He is young, beautiful, and exotic. He speaks only
Chinese and is very sad and lonely in the lifeboat.

The Blind Frenchman

A fellow castaway whom Pi meets by chance in the middle of the ocean. He tries to kill and cannibalize Pi, but
Richard Parker kills him first.

Tomohiro Okamoto
An official from the Maritime Department of the Japanese Ministry of Transport, who is investigating the sinking
of the Japanese Tsimtsum, he interviews Pi for hours and is highly skeptical of his first account.

Atsuro Chiba
Okamoto’s assistant. Chiba is the more naïve and agrees with Pi that the version of his ordeal with animals is the
better than the one with people.
The namesake
Gogol (Nikhil) Ganguli
The novel’s primary protagonist. Gogol is an obedient, inquisitive, and sensitive child, close to his parents and
sister. The novel tracks Gogol’s growth from child into young man. This growth includes changing his name, to
Nikhil, and the gradual discovery of architecture as a career. Gogol navigates, over time, his relationship to his
parents’ identity, as Bengalis in America. He also tries to forge his own identity, as a Bengali-American child born
in the US. At the close of the novel, Gogol begins reading Nikolai Gogol, his namesake, as a way of getting closer
to his deceased father, who adored the writer.

Ashima Ganguli
Another of the novel’s protagonists. Ashima, at the beginning of the novel, does not make choices so much as
she accepts the choices of others. Her parents arrange her marriage to Ashoke, and out of duty she follows him
to cold, desolate-seeming Boston. She grows to love her husband, and, later, her son Gogol and daughter Sonia.
But for years, Ashima misses her family in Calcutta and yearns desperately for her old life there. Only after many
years, and following her husband’s death while away in Ohio, does Ashima realize that the Boston area is her
home, and that she is surrounded by friends and a surrogate family there.

Ashoke Ganguli
The third of the novel’s protagonists. Ashoke is a quiet, sensitive man, and although the narrator does not have
access to many of his thoughts, he is nevertheless devoted to his wife and children. Ashoke is also deeply affected
by the train accident that nearly killed him in his youth. He gives his son the name Gogol as an acknowledgment
of what that writer means to him. Nikolai Gogol and the other Russian writers are also emblems of “foreignness,”
of a life lived in exile. This is the life Ashoke has chosen for himself, as a PhD student and then professor in the
US, far from his family in Calcutta. Ashoke chose to set out for himself, in a place of his choosing, after the train
accident solidified his resolve to see the world.

Sonia Ganguli
The fourth member of the Ganguli family in Boston. Although the reader very rarely has access to Sonia’s
thoughts, she is a constant, calming presence for the family. She goes to school and lives for a time in California,
but after Ashoke’s death, Sonia returns to the Boston area, where she practices law and becomes engaged to a
man named Ben. Sonia is a steadying presence for Ashima after Ashoke’s passing.

Moushumi
Gogol’s wife. Moushumi knew Gogol when he was a young boy, and the two are set up on a blind date, in New
York, by their parents. Moushumi is a graduate student in French literature and adores Paris. She also adores, in
part, the cosmopolitan life she lived there, with a banker named Graham, who left her and broke her heart.
Moushumi marries Gogol but, after a time, becomes restless in the marriage, and enjoys more and more the
company of her intellectual friends. Moushumi begins an affair with Dimitri, an old acquaintance, and later she
and Gogol divorce. Moushumi’s point of view is included, though not frequently, in the novel. We learn, for
example, of the dissolution of Moushumi’s first engagement, to the American banker, via access to her own
thoughts, although the narrator retains the third person in these sections.

Maxine Ratliff
Gogol’s second serious girlfriend. Maxine and Gogol meet in New York, at a party. Maxine represents, for Gogol,
a life very different from his own. She lives with her parents downtown, in a beautiful townhouse, and shares
their intellectual, cosmopolitan life. Maxine does not always understand Gogol’s family’s traditions, but she tries
to, and seems to care genuinely for him. After Ashoke’s death, Gogol pulls away from Maxine, leaving her out of
the mourning ceremonies. They soon separate.

Ruth
Nikhil’s first serious girlfriend. Gogol and Ruth meet on the train, from New Haven to Boston, heading back to
their respective homes for a Thanksgiving break in college. They both attend Yale. They fall in love and spend
about a year together, but Ruth then goes away to Oxford to study for a semester. After this, their relationship
becomes strained, and they part.

Dimitri Desjardins
an aimless academic, and Moushumi’s illicit lover. Dimitri met Moushumi when she was in high school and he
was applying to PhD programs. Moushumi finds Dimitri’s information by change, and they begin an affair.
Moushumi knows that her tryst with Dimitri is wrong, and that he is something of a slob and a dilettante. But
this does not keep her from the affair.

Gerald and Lydia Ratliff

Maxine’s parents. Wealthy and intellectually inclined, Gerald and Lydia open their home to Nikhil, whom they
seem to admire. They are comfortable in their world of New York society, and though they are kind to Gogol, he
never quite feels a part of their circle.

Donald and Astrid

Moushumi’s intellectual friends in Brooklyn. Donald and Astrid are, in Nikhil’s mind, the kind of people who find
their own choices to be the only correct ones. Although Donald and Astrid seem open and liberal, they are in
fact quite set in their ways. Nikhil is frustrated by what he views as their selfishness.

Graham
Moushumi’s ex-fiancé. A banker in Paris, Graham, an American, moves back to America with Moushumi, and
they plan a life together. But Moushumi realizes that Graham has reservations about the traditions that come
with marrying a Bengali-American, and they break up.

Ghosh
a businessman Ashoke meets on his ill-fated train ride. Ghost tells Ashoke that living abroad is important for any
young man. Ghosh himself lived in England until his wife made him return to India. Ghosh tells Ashoke to visit
him at his home during the train ride, but Ashoke never has the chance, as Ghosh is killed in the wreck.

Ashima’s father
an illustrator in Calcutta. Ashima’s father dies in Chapter 2, as the family is preparing to return to India to visit.
His death is very difficult for Ashima, who feels distant from her family.

Ashima’s grandmother
given the ceremonial job of naming Gogol. Ashima’s grandmother suffers a stroke early in the novel, in Calcutta,
and though she mails a letter with Gogol’s “official” name in it, the letter never arrives. She dies soon after.

The Nandis and Dr. Gupta

Bengali friends of Ashoke’s and Ashima’s in Cambridge. These three visit the Gangulis in the hospital in
Cambridge, after Gogol is born.

Alan and Judy

Ashoke and Ashima’s neighbors in Cambridge. Alan and Judy are free-spirits and liberals, and though Ashoke and
Ashima find them nice and compassionate to live near, they are also confused by the informality of Alan and
Judy’s lives, and by the cavalier way in which Alan and Judy raise and keep track of their children.
 1.
“I have a story that will make you believe in God.” Does this story do that? Why? How?
2. In what way does Pi see religion as similar to a zoo? If religion is like a zoo, who
are the zookeepers?
3. How does Pi describe what calls him to each of the 3 faiths he begins to practice?
Why does he choose each one?
4. Throughout the book, Pi expresses several strong opinions about atheism and
agnosticism. Give at least one example of each. Which position does he find
preferable? Why?
5. In Chapter 93, Pi says, “High calls low and low calls high. It tell you, if you were in
such dire straits as I was, you too would elevate your thoughts. The lower you are,
the higher your mind will want to soar. It was natural that, bereft and desperate as
I was, in the throes of unremitting suffering, I should turn to God.” Do you believe
that crisis naturally causes a person to turn to God? Why or why not?
6. “Which is the better story?” Pi asks at the end. How would you answer this
question? Do you think both of his stories are equally true? Is one more truthful
than the other? What kind of story would you consider this book to be?
7. Pi believes that animals in a zoo are no worse off than animals in the wild.
Do you agree with him?
8. Pi considers himself a convert to Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. Is it
possible to practice all three faiths faithfully? What is Pi's reasoning for not
choosing one?
9. Pi's story of surviving on a lifeboat with zoo animals is rather incredible. Did
the far-fetched nature of the story ever bother you? Was Pi a convincing
storyteller?
10. What is the significance of the floating islands with the meerkats?
11.
12. Discuss Richard Parker. What does he symbolize?
13. What is the connection between zoology and religion in Pi's life? Do you
see connections between these fields? What does each of the fields
teach us about life, survival, and meaning?
14. Pi is forced to tell the shipping official a more credible story. Does his
story without animals change your view of the story with animals?
15. Neither story can be proved one way or the other, so Pi asks the official
which story he prefers. Which do you prefer? Which do you believe?
16. Throughout "Life of Pi," we hear about interactions between the author
and adult Pi. How do these interactions color the story? How does
knowing Pi survives and has a "happy ending" with a family affect your
reading of his survival account?
17. When Martel first hears of Pi's story, the person who relates the tale tells
him, "This story will lead to you to believe in God." After Martel fully
researches the story, he agrees. Why do you think the person relating the
story made such a statement and why do you think Martel came to agree
with him?
18.
19. In an interview with Martel conducted by Random House Reader's Circle,
and published in a subsequent novel by Martel ("Beatrice and Virgil"),
Martel stated: "I find it easier to suspend readers' belief if I use animal
 characters. We are cynical about our own species, less so about wild
animals." What do you think Martel meant by that statement?
20. What is the significance of the name "Pi?"

Author’s Note1. What is suggested by the author’s comment about fiction being “the
selective transforming of reality? The twisting of it to bring out its essence”?2. Why did the
author go to India?3. Why does the author mailhis manuscript for the book about Portugal
to a made-up address in Siberia?4. Who first tells the author about Mr. Patel’s story? How
many storytellers does this make in the book so far?5. What is most significant about the
story that the author hears?

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 author is suggesting that, while the story he is about to tell is true, or reflects reality, it is fiction
and will not be a literal account of "what really happened," buta "twisting" of the facts to bring out
their "essence.
What might be significant about the name Pi chooses for himself?

Pi is the ratio ofa 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. 2. What does Pi mean at the end of this
chapter when he says, "in that elusive, irrational number with which scientists ny 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.

“The relationship with deity and questions relating to worship and commitment are issues addressed in the
‘Life of Pi’. The central theme of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi concerns religion and human faith in God. However,
the novel pointedly refrains from advocating any single religious faith over another

Hindu faith in God, making him realize the positive power of belief, the need to overcome the otherwise
bleakness of the universe. Motivated to learn more, Pi starts practicing Christianity and Islam,

Religion plays an important role in Pi’s life.

• Pi comes from a family that is not religious. From a young age he is very religious.

• Initially Pi’s religion can be seen as youthfull enthusiasm but we soon find out this is not the case.

• Pi’s first religion is Hinduism. Aunt Rohini introduces him to it at a very young age.

• Pi’s second religion is Christianity. While on holiday in Madras, Father Martin introduces him to

Christianity when he is 14 years old.

• Pi’s third religion is Islam. Satish Kumar introduces him to Islam when he is 15 years old.

• Pi believes in three religions at the same time, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

• Adult Pi studied religious studies at university which shows us religion is very important to him.

• The three religious leaders believe Pi should only follow one religion but Pi believes the opposite

because the religions have things in common.

• The contrast between the point of view of the religious leaders and Pi shows that religion is

important to his.

• These religious leaders treat Pi badlybut he stays true to all three religions.

• From a young age Pi uses different religious symbols like a prayer rug.

• Adult Pi still believes in all three religions because when his house is described we also learn about

all the different religious symbols in his house.

• Religion gives Pi’s life a sense of structure and meaning. He understands life through religion.

(Accept alternative valid answers)

Pi’s name Pi's full name is Piscine Molitor Patel. He was named after a family friend, who loved to swim and
whose favourite swimming pool was the Piscine Molitor in Paris. Instead of giving their son their friend's name,
Pi's parents named him after the pool! Because he is constantly teased about his name ("Pissing Patel"), he
decides to shorten it simply to Pi. Pi is a mathematical figure that represents the number 3.14. According to
Math theorem it is an irrational number because it cannot be expressed as a fraction. It is also a constant: "Pi is
always the same number, no matter which circle you use to compute it." It is also an ancient number, known to
the Egyptians and the Babylonians. In changing his name, Pi goes from being a joke to being a significant
"number"--maybe a little irrational, but constant as well.

Though the narrative jumps back and forth in time, the novel traces Pi’s development a Pi’s belief in God
inspires him as a child and helps sustain him while at sea.