Setting
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? What palace had such a menagerie? My alarm clock during my childhood was a pride of lions” (Martel, 14). Living at a zoo kindled his interest in animals and may be foreshadowing an event to come. Additionally, the location of India, where he grew up, compared to Mexico indicates there will be a vast amount of traveling to come. This was the setting of the story where I stopped reading for this week and I strongly believe since this background information was told early into the plot, it will have some major influence in the coming chapters.
This is a visual image of the distance between Mexico and India which Pi traveled.
I have included a journal which deconstructs the life of Pi. Section 14, along with a few other parts, discuss his early life at the zoo.
https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/scl/article/view/12746/13689
I really like that you added the picture of the distance between Mexico and India. It shows how far Pi actually traveled. The theme of your blog also matches great with your novel because of the ocean. Pi's life seems very interesting especially his love for animals which will help him later on. You did a great job on describing the setting and I am interested in learning about Pi's journey all the way to Mexico.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog post. Even without prior knowledge of this story at all, I am able to understand what is going on so far in the story just by your descriptions and explanations. I also like how you included the image as a visual and the link so the readers of your blog are able to get a feel for the character and his early life.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your blog! I also thought it was really cool and interesting how you were able to apply prior knowledge about French to interpreting the title of your novel. I also noticed that you are able to analyze the text in such great depth and are able to explain it with rich detail to your readers. Overall, your blog left me very intrigued and I am excited to continue to read about Pi and his adventure!
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