ENG201ABH_CatieBeckwith

I am currently on page 41 of  Life of Pi  and will be analyzing the protagonist Pi. Pi, or Piscine Molitor Patel is a man who grew up in Pondicherry, India. Named after a pool, Pi was constantly made fun of during his childhood as his name often sounded like “Pissing Patel” (Martel, 20). He adopted the shortened name of “Pi” but continued to live tormented by his older brother, Ravi’s, achievements. He accepted his fate that “like all younger brothers, I would suffer from following in the footsteps of a popular older sibling” (Martel, 21). This indirectly implies that Pi was not a popular kid and perhaps kept to myself during his studies. He may have grown up with confidence issues as he compared myself and his actions to Ravi which may foreshadow an event later on in his life. In addition, religion played a major role throughout Pi’s life. We learn that he becomes a student of religion and zoology. When his faith was challenged he said “Religion will save us […] Since when I...

I have commenced my reading of  Life of Pi  and reached chapter five, page 20 in my first week. The storyline starts off in Pondicherry, India and from there we learn Pi traveled to Mexico and ended up in a hospital, presumably after his adventure through the ocean. In chapter one, he mentioned “the doctors and nurses at the hospital in Mexico were incredibly kind to me. And the patients, too. Victims of cancer or car accidents, once they heard my story, they hobbled and wheeled over to see me, they and their families, though none of them spoke English and I spoke no Spanish” (Martel, 6). This part about Mexico appeared in the first chapter, and without further mention of the incident that caused him to end up in the hospital, the story flashes back to India and gives Pi’s background. He retold his experience growing up at his father’s Pondicherry Zoo in India. He was extremely fond of his “life of a prince. What maharaja’s son had such a vast, luxuriant grounds to play about...

I hope my selection of Yann Martel's Life of Pi leaves me with an eye-opening, life-long, adventurous tale of Pi. From the title, one would assume a character in the book would be named Pi. Whether Pi be the man, the tiger or the ocean, it is yet unknown. The title is extremely vague and allows for much interpretation from a stranger to the novel as to what has happened in Pi's life that is worthy of being told to interested readers.  Previous knowledge of the story and French language has led me to conclude the story is going to be about Pi and his life in the middle of the ocean. I am aware Pi's full name is Piscine which in French translates to "pool". The significance of Pi's name may be unassuming in the title, but once the real name is revealed, it gives the title a new meaning: the life of the man who was destined to be associated with water since birth.   The title makes me excited, yet anxious to learn the tales of Pi and specificall...