LIFE OF

PI

YANN MARTEL
AUTHORS BACKGROUND

Yann Martel
Born on June 25, 1963, in Salamanca, Spain.
Settled in Montreal.
Costa Rica, France, India, Iran, Mexico, Turkey,
Canada, and the United States.
Trent University from 1981-1984
Concordia University with a BA in philosophy in
1985.
Commit to writing at the age of 27.
The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios
and Other Stories, a collection of four short
stories, in 1993 and Self
Traveled to India and the idea for Life of Pi
came to him.
 SYNOPSIS

The storyline revolves around an Indian man

named "Pi" Patel, telling a novelist about the
story of his life and how at 16 years old he
survives a shipwreck in which his family dies,
and is adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a
lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.

The story involves 227 days that its

teenage hero spends drifting across the
Pacific in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger.
They find themselves in the same boat
after an amazing experience that they
went together and colourful prologue.
 PLOT

RISING ACTION
Pi is exposed to religious
EXPOSITION beliefs.
Author meets Pi. The story
telling starts. When Pi is 16, his father
decides to move the family to
Canada, where he intends to
settle and sell the zoo animals
CLIMAX
FALLING ACTION
The ship sinks into the sea
with the crew and his family. Pi retreats for safety from
Richard Parker.
Pi is stranded on the lifeboat
with Richard Parker, the Pi begins fishing, enabling him
hyena,the zebra, and Orange to sustain the tiger as well.
Juice.
He finds the algae island.

He figures out that the island is

carnivorous and leave.
RESOLUTION
After 227 days at sea they eventually reach the coast of Mexico.

He is rescued and brought to a hospital.

Insurance agents for the Japanese freighter company interview him.

He tells a different story, in which the animals are replaced by human survivors of
the shipwreck: his mother for the orangutan, the sailor for the zebra, and the
ship's cook for the hyena. In this story, Pi kills the cook and feeds on his flesh.
 CONFLICT
Man VS Man
- Overpowering society
 Man VS Nature
Between Pi and Richard Parker :
Pi tries to communicate with
Richard Parker
Between Pi and the ocean
Learn to survive in the middle
of the sea
Between Pi and the island
 Man VS Self
- Religion : He was confused with his belief, so he claimed that
hes a Hindu, Christian and Muslim in the same time.

- Losing his humanity : He was trying to kill Parker using an axe in

the middle of the sea because he was afraid that Parker will
eat him.

- Self-control : Pi struggles physically, spiritual and

mentallymentally
 SETTING
Place
- Pondicherry, India.
- The sea
- The island
- Canada
 Time period
227 days
June, 1977
CHARACTERS

Yann Martel
A writer who travelled to India.

Told by Mamaji to meet Pi in

person.

Interested in Pis story.

 Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi) - The protagonist of
the story.
- Gets his name
from the name of a pool.
- Student of zoology
and religion.

Richard Parker
- The Royal Bengal Tiger
- Pi and him shares the same
lifeboat.
- 450 pounds, 9 feet long.
- He kills hyena and the blind
cannibal.
- Acts as a submissive animal
towards Pi.
Santosh Patel Pis father.
Runs Pondicherry Zoo
Raised as a Hindu but not a religious
person.
Both him and his family move to
Canada.

Gita Patel Pis mother.

A book lover and encourages Pi.
Raised a Hindu but with a Baptist
education.
Question Pi about his religious
declarations.
Always speaks up her mind.
Takes the place of Orange Juice.
Father Martin A Catholic priest.
Introduces Pi to Christianity.
Disagrees with Mr. Kumar
and Hindu pandit.

The Cook - Human counterpart to the

hyena in Pis second story.
- Rude and violent.
- Pi stabs him and he dies.
 The Hyena - Ugly and violent
- Controls the lifeboat.

The Zebra - Male Grants Zebra

- Broken leg
- Hyena eats him alive.

Orange Juice - Maternal orang utan

- Suffers loneliness and
seasickness.
- She fights back when attcked
by Hyena
Tomohiro Okamoto - An official from The Maritime
Department of the Japanese
Ministry of Transport.
- Interviews Pi for three hours.

Atsuro Chiba - Okamotos assistant.

- More innocent
- Inexperience at conducting
interviews.
- Agrees with Pis version.
 THEMES

The will to live.

- Struggling to survive.
- Pi abandons vegetarianism and eats fish.
- Orange Juice fight against Hyena.
- Pi is responsible of his own actions in the lifeboat
 The nature of religious belief.
- Even though every religion comes
with different tales and fables, it has
the same purpose to human.

- Pi decides to learn those religions

because he loves God.
 Humans desire for companionship.

- Pi feels sad when he has to leave the love of his life

after decided to move to Canada.

- Richard Parker is the one whom Pi appreciates its

presence to avoid loneliness despite of awful things
that happened.
 MORAL VALUES
Religion is a mechanism.
- Pi explores many religions because he just want to love
god.

We need to treat our animal friends better.

- Pi and Richard Parker do not have cuddly friendship,
their reliance on each other for their survival illutstrates a
key point: mutual respect.

Forgiveness is always a right choice.

- Pi manage to take it all in stride and forgive the situation

Dont give up.

- Pi never give up to survive even though he is with Richard
Parker in a boat yet he manage.
 MORAL VALUES

Perspective changes everything

- Pi keep in his mind that Richard Parker can be his
companion.

Stories are our greatest teacher

- People learn and improve themselves based on
experiences so do Pi, with the experience that he
been through he become more matured.
 ISSUE

Moral Relativism
- Where PI thinks that he needs to survive and dare to
do horrible things

Deconstruction of Truth
- Religion ( believe everything that refers to god)

Hyper-reality
- To cover up the truth about what he has done
 SYMBOLS

PI (3.14)

The author picking up Pi as nickname could because

Pi (3.14) is useful in many ways and used in different
type of situation.

Pi himself trying to be with all three religions.

 Richard Parker, the tiger.

Tigers are known for their passion, strength and

fearlessness.
 The ocean and water.

The ocean had helped Pi grow throughout the story and

expand himself as a person.

It forced Pi to expand himself by eating fish and learned to

fend himself.
Without the ocean we would not have life, but the ocean also
can take your life away and change you forever.
 The algae island

It symbolic as a Garden of Eden.

It means what you choose to see in it.

By the day the meerkats eat without having to kill and show no fear, even
of Richard Parker.

At night, the island becomes carnivorous and the ecosystem feeds on

itself.
Tsimtsum ship

The sinking ship symbolizes God withdrawing from Pi.

He develops as an independent creature.

THANK YOU