Preview

Life of Pi Close Textural Analysis of Pg 253

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
530 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Life of Pi Close Textural Analysis of Pg 253
The eventual devouring of a character is foreshadowed throughout the passage. Pi tells the stranger ‘No wonder you 're starved for customers. ' There is irony here as Pi is the stranger 's customer. Later when they are together the stranger tells of how Pi 's ‘heart, flesh and liver ' are with him. This may have had a sinister undertone to it as with the stranger having an ‘overeager embrace ' on Pi 's throat. Pi suggests the two ‘feast on each others company ' the use of the word feast confirms Pi 's intentions. Additionally Pi describes the stranger as ‘a presence glowing through my blindness. ' The use of the word presence makes him sound like a hunter as he is forced to use his senses to find his desired target. However Pi 's needs are more complex than mere hunger. Psychologically he needs company but physically he needs food. The paradox created by ‘my eyes were brimming with tears and I was smiling ' illustrates the unity of his requirements. Martel creates a huge anti climax as Pi is experiencing his first human contact in months. Going back to the previous chapter Pi says ‘I clung to life. I was weakly frantic. ' He further tells us of how he has gone blind and eventually settles saying ‘I lost all fear of death and resolved to die. ' Martel presents Pi 's state clearly here through his syntax. He uses short simple sentences with simple, functional language to convey how Pi is exhausted. Pi 's blindness is also shown well by Martel 's lack of description throughout the passage and the focus on Pi 's feelings. Further on when Pi finally encounters human life the atmosphere begins to change. The stranger he is with asks Pi if he has any toothpaste saying ‘its delicious on fish. ' The reader also sees Pi expressing positive emotion ‘I laughed. ' The style of Martel 's writing changes, as the two are deep in conversation. The sentences become shorter and snappier which helps the passage move more fluently. This contrasts Martel 's usual style of


Bibliography: www.sparknotes.com

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Eating is communion, plain and simple as that. No matter how small the gathering may be,it always has an air of trusting and friendship to it. In the Things They Carried there were many acts of communion, when the men smoked Lavender's dope, when they received Christmas cookies, and several others are all good examples. It means much more than simply eating the meal, the air of the meal writes volumes on the relationship of characters. Telling much more than simply stating that characters are friends or enemies.…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Yann Martel wrote Life of Pi to create a specific relationship between the text and the reader. Martel uses diction, similies, metaphors, and symbols to the desired effect of making his readers believers in a greater power. Martel leaves the ending up for interpretation, so the readers can decide which story they believe, the one with the lion, or the one with his mother and the chef. Throughout the novel, we only hear about the story of the tiger, the hyena, the monkey, and the zebra, it is not until the last few chapters where we hear about a story that seems more realistic. Even though the story we hear at the end initially sounds like the more "realistic" story, Martel makes his readers second guess themselves. After reading the story…

    • 151 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay on Life of Pi

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages

    To add to this, towards the end of the novel, when Pi is in the hospital in Mexico, he is asked to tell what happened by two Japanese man working for the company who took care of the boat. These two men do not believe what Pi tells them so Pi replaces the animals in the story by people form the shipwreck. By doing this Yann Martel brings two thoughts/ possibilities to our minds: how our brains protect us from the truth by bending it (here replacing people by animals) and/ or how mankind can become wild like animals in such a way that they could be compared to ones.…

    • 432 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sight is crucial to explaining what you see and Martel was able to describe what Pi thought that he saw even though he was blind. When Pi was in the ocean toward the end of the book he talked with a blind man who also was a survivor from the Tsimtsum until Richard Parker ate him. Also, at the end of Life of Pi they found bones of the man who Richard Parker feasted on. Even though Pi was blind Martel described his experience through imagery about what Pi thought, saw, and felt and made it convincing that the man was real. Martel uses creative detail to make Life of Pi believable, which makes the story…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout this scene, there is a common thread of this idea. It first becomes apparent as Pi’s eyesight diminishes and he is blinded. He completely gives up, forfeiting his life and his will to live. As he often does throughout the story, Pi turns to his faith when he is in this time of need. He decides to “leave matters in the hands of God” (242). He does not allow himself to be driven mad because his faith is able to ground him. On the other hand, he gives up his life. He desperately wants his suffering to end so he becomes willing to pay the ultimate price. Driven by the pain of not having the necessary rations of food and water to live, Pi feels as though he should give up. His religion has taught Pi how sacred life is so for Pi this is the most extreme form of desperation.…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Yann Martel's Life Of Pi

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Nevertheless, throughout his journey he only keep one focus…God. Martel’s main aim was to enlighten his audience with the miracles God can bestow upon the believers in him. In order to make sure his goal is clear, he emphasized the fact that Piscine practices three distinct religions. While Pi was on the lifeboat he continued to have faith in God. Yann Martel makes it exceptionally clear that the key to Piscine’s survival was that he stayed true to his religious conviction.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Pi begins to realize that he and Richard Parker are the only survivors of the sunken ship, and his survival mode takes a few days to kicks in. “I was alone and orphaned, in the middle of the Pacific, hanging on an oar, an adult tiger in front of me, sharks beneath me, a storm raging about me” (133). He knows he is alone with a 450-pound Bengal tiger, and that’s all he can think about. When survival mode kicks in, he begins to search the lifeboat for supplies and food that he would need in order to survive. Pi also realizes that he must make it clear to Richard Parker that he is the alpha male on the lifeboat in order for his life to be spared by the incredible cat. Pi is extremely alienated from all things on this lifeboat. Obviously he is alienated from his homeland while being stranded on a lifeboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He is also alienated from his family, seeing as they have all drowned from the ship sinking. He has never been stranded on a boat before. He has no idea what to do. Everything he has been accustomed to at his home on land no longer applied to his life now on the ocean. As Said had said, the sadness of being exiled could never be surmounted. Pi felt this sadness. “That second night at sea stands in my memory as one…

    • 1031 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One must go on a journey in order to way to find what one is looking for and achieve self discovery. Journeys lead to the discovery of knowledge about the world around oneself and discover answers to questions about life. In Life of Pi, Pi learns to understand that reality is merely an interpretation of our faith. Pi’s journey of finding his faith was, in the most part, conducted whilst at sea with Richard Parker. This can be seen in Part 3 of the novel, where Pi is interviewed by officials from the Japanese ship company. “The world isn’t just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no… which is the better story?” His tone of voice conveys maturity and general understanding of life, unlike the rest of the novel. The change in the type of language used implies that Pi has gained knowledge about his faith and how he’d rather believe his story about Richard Parker than what may be the actual truth of his physical journey at sea.…

    • 1491 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 4739 Words
    • 19 Pages

    • • • • two stories co-exist Pi’s POV and voice chapters 37-94 58 chapters…

    • 4739 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pi Patel a Hero

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In “Part One: Toronto and Pondicherry”, the reader follows Pi’s thoughts, introducing them to his beliefs and ideologies. What contrasts Pi from any other sixteen year old, is that he questions his beliefs and independently inquires about religious practices. Pi is dissimilar to the student body of his school as he has been brought up in the peculiar environment of a zoo, leading him to have an advanced view on societal aspects of his community by comparing it to the animals in his home. Pi is not inevitably more intelligent than others his age; however, he is ambitious; he was eager to learn and to experience all he could, a very significant heroic quality. Ambition, a quality that is shared among many protagonists, can be a positive characteristic as much as it can be a flaw. Pi had controllable ambitions that do not require him to violate his ethics, vouchsafing him as a true hero.…

    • 682 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    They had roughly three cans of food that they were going to eat over a period of time. Sadly one of the men couldn’t fight the urge and ate them overnight. They had to start searching for food. They caught a fish after trying, and trying. They thought they would have no problem eating the raw fish because they were starving, they thought wrong. They were trying to force it down their throats or they would starve. Pi had tons of cans of food. Plenty to save him for a long time. Yet after it was gone, he also had to start searching for food. He caught fish no problem, but he felt remorse after killing it. He felt bad. You’d think you would be overjoyed after catching food that could very well save your life. Yet I believe one of the worst parts of Life of Pi was when Pi said, “On the day when I estimated it was Mother’s birthday, I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her out loud” (Martel 264)…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life of Pi

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Martel's "The Life of Pi" is a coming of age story about a young man's reaching maturity through tragic but uplifting story of loss and miraculous survival. The story is based on a journey which contains adventure, tradgedy, humour, and also the survival of the fittest mentality. Yann Martel depicts a story of a youth who seeks knowledge, wisdom, connectivity, and spirituality through religeon and zoology. Applying the craft's he has practiced and is taught, protagonist Pi Patel seeks survival on a stranded boat with an orrangatang, a tiger, an injured zebra and a hyena.…

    • 1679 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In “Life of Pi”, by Yann Martel, Pi had to overcome emotional obstacles in order to survive his 227 days in the Pacific. Pi faced challenges that would have prevented his physical survival; hesitation, loneliness, despair and boredom. These obstacles would have crippled his mind if he did not conquer them. Pi not only overcomes these obstacles to survive the journey, but takes away valuable lessons from his experience. In order to face the challenges that were presented to him, Pi had to face the imperfections within himself.…

    • 1648 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pi Conscience

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Because of this, Pi had to get used to the things he would normally not do, making him become numb. Pi struggles to figure out how he will feed himself, and Richard Parker, on the lifeboat. Fishing becomes an option for Pi. Pi is a vegetarian, and would never think about killing marine life. Although, Pi knows that he needs to fish. He knows that he needs to do this from listening to his conscience, and gains the courage to kill the fish. This task soon becomes as easy as ever. “It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.” (Martel 185) Pi has to listen to his conscience, and knows that if he did not kill the fish, he nor Richard Parker could not survive.“Used” in this quote, shows Pi is becoming familiar to things, he never thought he would ever do, now that he has been on the lifeboat.“Killing” is something Pi is becoming easier at, but this goes against what he believes in and what his family has taught him. The novel is affected by this, because Pi’s humane side has become damaged, and he has given into savagery. This event, has revealed how Pi can adapt to situations for the sake of his own survival, but as he does this, he is in conflict with his diet, his beliefs and his values. Sympathy is created for Pi, because we see Pi struggling to decide what's more important: his survival or his morals. The theme of survival is enhanced in this quote, as it uses language to…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life Of Pi Survival Essay

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Like many good novels, Life of Pi had many themes. One of these themes was that of survival, as basic or obvious as it would seem. A way that Martel made me understand the theme was through the intelligence of the characters. There were many examples of this in the book, ranging from as small as a thought to as large as…

    • 1294 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays