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Binary Opposition of Life of Pi

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Binary Opposition of Life of Pi
The Binary Opposition Narrative in Life of Pi

李英 2012010285

Abstract: Ever since its publication in 2002, Life of Pi has gained great popularity and high critical acclaim from critical circle. It arose the study of Li of Pi from various angels. But most kinds of analysis about the novel are focus on existing doubts about the story, and the religious symbols in the novels. The binary opposition narrative in the novel discussed rarely. The novel is full of the binary oppositions narrative, these made the story distinctive. By expounding the existence of the binary oppositions in the novel, to reveal the meaning of the novel conveys.
Key words: Binary opposition; Pi; Tiger; Evil; Ego

Yann Martel (1963-present) is a Canadian author best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel Life of Pi. Life of Pi talked about a young boy, Pi, whose family runs zoo in India, providing him with interesting in the animal psychology. Because of the problems of economics and politics, his father decided to move to Canada with his family and their animals. Unfortunately, the ship met storm and capsized. He survived but stranded on a lifeboat With Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. After 227days, he reached the coast of Mexican and rescued by natives and the tiger disappeared in the jungle. As the only survivor of ship two officials from the Japanese Ministry of Transport research the reason of the ship sank. Pi told them two different versions about his experience. But one on can explain the reason of ship sank. At last, the research men had to accept one of the stories to wind up the case.
Life of Pi contains abundant of implications. The most typical one is the binary opposition. In critical theory, a binary opposition is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system that in language and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another.



Bibliography: [1] Martel, Yann. Life of Pi [M], Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2001; New York: Harcourt, 2001; Edinburgh: Canongate, 2002. [2] Sielke S. The Empathetic Imagination: An Interview with Yann Martel [J]. Canadian Literature, 2003, 177(Summer): 12-32. [3] Stratton F. Hollow at the core: Deconstructing Yann Martel’s Life of Pi [J]. Studies in Canadian Literature, 2004, (2): 5-21. [4] Wikipedia. Good and evil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_and_evil [5] 扬.马特尔.少年Pi的奇幻漂流[M].姚媛译.南京: 译林出版社, 2012 [6] 朱刚,二十世纪文艺批评理论[M]. 上海外语教育出版社,2001 [7] 沈洁瑕.从二元对立的角度解读结构主义文论.安徽师范大学外国语学院.黄山学院学报.2007.第一期 [8] 张妍瑜.虚幻与现实 真实与自我.浙江水利水电专科学校. 温州大学学报.社会科学版.2011.第六期

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