Life of Pi

I saw a film trailer recently featuring the new film adaptation of the novel Life of Pi and was reminded of the book's adventurous storyline. I bought the book that same day and began to read avidly. Now if you haven't heard of Life of Pi the premise is this: an Indian boy is traveling on a transporter ship carrying an array of zoo animals across the Pacific Ocean. One thing leads to another and the ship sinks, leaving the boy stranded in the middle of the ocean with a life boat that, unbelievably, has a 350 pound bengal tiger occupying it. So this boy must survive both the hardships of being stranded and the difficulties posed by sharing a small space with a rabid, starving tiger.

I am adequately far into the novel now and I've yet to reach the point where Pi finds himself stranded in the ocean with his tiger friend. The book thus far has introduced Pi, talked a great deal about zoology and zoo animals, and has begun to explore the incidents that solidified Pi's faith. Here is why I suspect the story has not so quickly jumped into what appears to be the most exciting stage of Pi's life: The author is building Pi's character as to establish the feasibility of his survival in this most disastrous circumstance.

Thus far I've inferred that three major components will determine Pi's survival while he is stranded. First, his survival instincts. Does he have the basic abilities to survive in the wilderness?

Pi is a nickname the boy gave to himself. It is short for Piscine, which is french for "swimming pool," because his family is big on swimming and their good friend was once a professional swimmer in France. For this reason Pi learns to swim especially well and grows up with the advantage of being surrounded by people who both love and are extremely well-versed in the swimming discipline. Pi begins his training with his professional swimming friend when he is very young and thus becomes an adequate swimmer by the time he embarks on the journey that will leave him marooned in the middle of the ocean.

Although I haven't reached that specific part of Pi's story, given the premise, I gather that Pi's unique aquatic advantage is an integral part of his miraculous survival. He has been a swimmer since birth; he bears the name of the largest pool in France. I predict that these natural and learned skills are firstly what allows him to survive the initial shipwreck, secondly what allows him to occasional dive from the boat to search for food in the deep waters, and thirdly what will keep him out of range of the hungry tiger lurking just feet away from him.

The second key factor of Pi's survival is an advantage more unique than the last. His father owns a zoo. Pi practically grows up in his father's zoo, learning the delicate relationship between the zookeepers and the animals, observing the behaviors of rhinos and birds and big cats. Since he was a child, Pi has been immersed in the world of zoology. Because of this way of life, Pi develops a deep respect and understanding for all animals. Most importantly he understands the danger that even the most docile seeming animals pose. From observing the relationship between keepers and their animals, Pi learns that the keeper's safety is never guaranteed. A lion tamer in a circus must establish his authority over the beasts every time he enters the arena with them. He must intimidate the lion by beating his whip against the ground. He must enter the ring first to establish his alpha position. He must not be afraid or lose focus, even for a second. At any moment during a keeper's time in the vicinity of a wild animal, his life is in danger. Early on, Pi's father taught him first-hand a valuable lesson: never let your guard down around a wild animal. It's not enough to hear what happens to a keeper who gets too comfortable and too careless. To drive the point home, Pi's father brings him and his brother right up to the cage of a giant bengal tiger, much like the one Pi must survive with, and makes them watch as the beast tears apart a living goat. The tiger's sheer power terrifies Pi. He never forgets that moment.

These experiences with wild animals must give Pi the upper hand when dealing with the wild tiger in the life boat. Anyone who lacked even a smidgen of the knowledge Pi had would have either died struggling in the water or been killed by the tiger trying to tame it. The pages and pages of details on animals and zoos establishes the boy's ethos in order to make his story more believable.

The third factor, which I have just begun to read, is faith. One can know everything there is in the world about survival and bengal tigers, but if he is faithless, he cannot push through the excruciating days to come. Pi expresses the utmost love and respect for faith. A born Hindu, Pi admits that Hinduism is his home and where he finds solace. Even when he begins his talks with the atheist his love of God cannot be broken. His love of people, too, seems ever-strong. When he and his family travel, he has the opportunity to study Christianity under a kindly priest who instills in Pi a love for Christ and the suffering of people. As Pi is introduced to more and more faiths and ideals, his passion for God only seems to grow. By the time he comes to the greatest turmoil in his life, he will be versed in all major faiths and his faith, on top of his skillful swimming and knowledge of zoology, will be strong enough to pull him through and drop him off alive and safe.

The author spends many pages establishing Pi's character because without this background information, Pi's journey would be fantastical rather than epic--a fairy tale rather than an odyssey. Pi's journey is not told to entertain, it is told to exemplify the power of faith in the survival of the trials of life. Without faith, who could survive days and weeks in a small boat on the Pacific ocean with a massive, carnivorous tiger? I look forward very much to finishing this novel.

[And that was 1000 words...does that mean I'm excused from the next blog?! :p]