Life of Pi (2001) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

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• Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel: Lead protagonist and narrator of the story. Pi is everyman. Pi represents the journey that many humans take as they search for divinity and spirituality. Pi sails the sometimes calm and often turbulent blue and green waters of life in his white boat from the Tsimtsum. Pi's lifeboat, literally and figuratively, is his saving grace. He looks to the stars - heavens - for guidance. He is faced with internal and external conflicts. Pi studies three different religions and believes that it's okay as long as you're looking for God. The main character, a man who loves religion so much he studies three. Likes animals. Of the Indian race.
• Richard Parker: A 450 pound Bengal tiger in Pi's father's zoo -- named due to a hilarious clerical error at Howrah, where the name of the man who caught the tiger (Richard Parker) and the name of the tiger (Thirsty) were swapped. R.P. is Pi's sole companion for most of the story.
• Mr. Santosh Patel: Pi's dad, also a keeper of the zoo
• Gita Patel: Pi's mother. She reads very much and speaks her mind to her husband.
• Ravi Patel: Pi's over the top popular brother, he is very good at any sport he attempts.
• Mr. Satish Kumar: Pi's school teacher. An atheist who he disagrees with, but still admires a lot. Visits the zoo on a regular baisis.
• Mr. Tomohiro Okamoto: From the Maritime Department, part of the Japanese Ministry of Transportation.
• Mr. Atsuro Chiba: He is a junior representative from the Japanese Ministry Of Transportation, who went with Mr. Okamoto to listen to Pi's stories.
• The Hyena: The Hyena is very dangerous . He's cruel.
• The Zebra: One of the animals lost at sea on the boat with Pi. It broke it's leg when it jumped onto the lifeboat. It was killed and partially eaten by the hyena.
• Orange Juice: An Orangutan, lost at sea on the boat with Pi. Killed by the hyena. Arrives on the boat by a floating bunch of bananas. In Pi's second version of the story, Orange Juice is Pi's mother, Gita.
• Mr. Kumar: Visists the zoo at the same time as the other Mr.Kumar. Amazed by the zebras.
• Francis Adirubasamy: The source of the story for the author. Martell meets him in Pondicherry while looking for a story.
• Mrs. Gandhi: Indira Gandhi, prime minister of india in the 1970s
• Father Martin: Priest in Munnar
• Shiva: The cosmic lord of the dance
• Bapu Gandhi: Marvellous combination of 'Zoo tales' and 'Lost at Sea'. Unique and beautifully written. No wonder it has been made into a movie.
• Lord Krishna: Hindu god
• Mother: Pi's mother is reserved but opinionated and wants the best for her children.
• Mahisha: Bengal tiger, a foe to keep at a distance and a mate adrift in the vast desert of an ocean
• Usha: Little brown girl
• Babu: Keeper of the big cats-tigers,lions, and leopards
• Arun Annaji: Petit Seminaire student
• Ajith Giadson: Petit Seminaire student
• Peter Dharmaraj: Petit Seminaire student
• Bali: Add a description of this character.
• Vishnu
• Mary
• Mamaji
• Rama
• Nikhil: Also known as Nick
• Mohammad
• Mr. Adirubasamy
• Raj

Quotes edit see section history

• “The reason death sticks so closely to life isn’t biological necessity – it’s envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud.”

• “I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind, always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed, happy. Then fear disguised in the garb of mild-mannered doubt, slips into your mind like a spy. Doubt meets disbelief and disbelief tries to push it out. But disbelief is a poorly armed foot soldier. Doubt does away with it with little trouble. you become anxious. Reason comes to do battle for you. You are reassured. Reason is fully equipped with the latest weapons technology. But, to your amazement, despite superior tactics and a number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low. You feel yourself weakening, wavering. Your anxiety becomes dread.”

• “If you stumble at mere believability, what are you living for? Isn't love hard to believe?”

  Pi

• “Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims.”

  Pi

• “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”

• “I have a story that will make you believe in God.”

• “The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar.”

  Pi

• “If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the alter of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.”

• “I know zoos are no longer in people’s good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both.”

• “What a terrible thing it is to botch a farewell.”

  Pi

• “These gentle behemoths always lifted my spirits. I was convinced that they understood my condition, that at the sight of me one of them exclaimed, "Oh! It's the castaway with the pussy cat Bamphoo was telling me about. Poor boy. Hope he has enough plankton. I must tell Mumphoo and Tomphoo and Stimphoo about him. I wonder of there isn't a ship around I could alert. His mother would be very happy to see him again. Goodbye, my boy. I'll try to help. My name's Pimphoo." And so, through the grapevine, every whale of the Pacific knew of me, and I would be saved long ago if Pimphoo hadn't sought help from the Japanese ship whose dastardly crew harpooned her, the same fate as befell Lamphoo at the hands of Norwegian ship. The hunting of whales is a heinous crime.”

• “The three-toed sloth is not well informed about the outside world.”

• “It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse.”

  Pi

• “A person can get used to anything, even to killing.”

  Pi

• “I tried to imagine Father saying to me, “Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas. Yesterday another one killed a black buck. The week before it was painted storks and grey herons. And who’s to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti? The situation has become intolerable. Something must be done. I have decided the only way the lions can atone for their sins is if I feed you to them.” “Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do. Give me a moment to wash up.” “Hallelujah, my son.” “Hallelujah, Father."”

  Pi

• “It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”

  Pi

• “A germ of religious exaltation, no bigger than a mustard seed, was sown in me and left to germinate. It has never stopped growing since that day”

• “Life is beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can”

• “The reason death sticks so closely to life isn’t biological necessity – it’s envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud.”

• “If you went to home, kicked down the front door, chased the people who lived there out into the street and said "Go! You are free! Free as a bird! Go!"- do you think they would shout and dance for joy? They wouldn't. Birds are not free. The people you have just evicted would sputter, 'With what right do you throw us out? This is our home. We own it. We have lived here for years. We are calling the police you scoundrel.'”

• “It felt to me to order pizza one night. I couldn't bear to have yet another French speaker guffawing at my name, so when the man on the phone asked, "Can I have your name?" I said, "I am who I am". Half an hour later two pizzas arrived for 'Ian Hoolihan'.”

• “"Religion?'' Mr.Kumar grinned broadly. "I don't believe in religion. Religion is darkness. "Darkness?" I was puzzled. I thought, darkness is the last thing religion is. Religion is light. Was he testing me? Was he saying "religion is darkness" the way he sometimes said in class things like "mammals lay eggs" to see if someone would correct him? (only platypuses, sir.)”

• “...and we had a lady whose sari was caught up by a lion. She spun like a yo-yo, choosing mortal embarassment over mortal end. The thing was, it wasn't even an accident. She had leaned over, thrust her hand in cage and waved the end of her sari in the lion's face, with what intent we never figured out.”

• “Another man was nabbed in the process of stealing a cobra. He was a snake charmer whose own snake had died. Both were saved: the cobra from life of servitude and bad music, and the man from possible death bite.”

• “As for Ravi, if Lord Krishna had held a cricket bat rather than a flute, if Christ had appeared more plainly to him as an umpire, if Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H, had shown some notions of bowling, he might have lifted a religious eyelid, but they didn't, and so he slumbered.”

• “People move because of the wear and tear of anxiety. Because of the gnawing feeling that no matter how hard they work their efforts will yield nothing, that what they build up in one year will be torn down in one day by others. Because of the impression that the future is blocked up, that they might do all right but not their children. Because of the feeling that nothing will change, that happiness and prosperity are possible only somewhere else.”

• “He's a shy man. Life has taught him not to show off what is most precious to him.”

• “We came to the zebras. Mr.Kumar had never heard of such creatures, let alone seen one. He was dumbfounded. "They are called zebras," I said. "Have they been painted with a brush?" "No, no. They look like that naturally." "What happens when it rains?" "Nothing." "His stripes don't melt?"”

• “When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival.”

• “But nature forever holds surprises.”

• “They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love.”

• “When you've suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both unbearable and trifling. My life is like a memento more painting from European art: there is always a grinning skull at my side to remind me of the folly of human ambition.”

• “Would you rather be put up at the Ritz with free room service and unlimited access to a doctor or be homeless without a soul to care for you?”

• “All religions are true.”

  Ghandi

• “I am reminded of a story of Lord Krishna when he was a cowherd. Every night he invites the milkmaids to dance with him in the forest. They come and they dance. The night is dark, the fire in their midst roars and cackles, the beat of the music gets ever faster - the girls dance and dance and dance with their sweet lord, who has made himself so abundant as to be in the arms of each and every girl. But the moment the girls become possessive, the moment each one imagines that Krishna is her partner alone, he vanishes. So it is that we should not be jealous with God.”

  Pi

• “You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish.”

  Pi

• “And I survived because I made a point of forgetting. My story started on a calender day - July 2nd, 1977 - and ended on a calender day - February 14th, 1978 - but in between there was no calender... What I remember are events and encounters and routines, markers that emerged here and there from the ocean of time and imprinted themselves on my memory.”

  Pi

• “I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still. My suffering did not fit anywhere I realized. And I could accept this.”

  Pi

• “Isn't telling about something - using words, English or Japanese - already something of an invention? Isn't just looking upon this world already something of an invention?”

  Pi

• “The world isn't just the way it is. It is how we understand it, no? And in understanding something, we bring something to it, no? Doesn't that make life a story?”

  Pi

Setting & Locations edit see section history

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• India
• Mexico
• Pacific Ocean
• Tsimtsum: The ship Pi and his family take to Canada
• Canada
• Pondicherry
• Bengal
• Paris
• Toronto
• Manila
• Island

Organizations edit see section history

• Kathakali: Kathakali (Malayalam: കഥകളി, Sanskrit: कथाकेळिः) is a highly stylized classical Indian dance-drama noted for the attractive make-up of characters, elaborate costumes, detailed gestures and well-defined body movements presented in tune with the anchor playback music and complementary percussion. It originated in the country's present day state of Kerala during the 17th century and has developed over the years with improved looks, refined gestures and added themes besides more ornate singing and precise drumming.
• Piscine Deligny: The pool Deligny or Deligny bathroom was a floating swimming pool on the Seine in Paris , moored on the left bank ( Quai Anatole France , in the 7 th arrondissement ), which sank on 8 July 1993 1 .The bathhouse, which included a solarium , a swimming pool and a bar - restaurant , was built on 12 barges near the National Assembly . Its history begins in 1785 , when the first bathroom on stilts were installed. In 1801 was established a swim school by the lifeguard Deligny at the current location of the pool. In the winter of 1840, the boat Cenotaph , built to go the ashes of Napoleon at St. Helena , was used for the renovation of the bathroom.From the 1970s, the top solarium pool was a hotbed of exposure topless in Paris. MP Emmanuel Hamel wrote a letter of protest to the Ministry of the Interior in August 1973 , due to the proximity of the pool with the National Assembly , it was not acted upon, but the director of the reserved pool a sector of the solarium for fans of monokini , whose entrance was forbidden to children 2 .
• Piscine Molitor: The Molitor swimming pool was a natatorium abandoned next to the Bois de Boulogne , between Roland Garros and Parc des Princes , in the 16 th arrondissement of Paris . It was inaugurated in 1929 by swimmers Olympic medalists Aileen Riggin Soule and Johnny Weissmuller . The pool is still famous for its decorative Art Deco and some events such as the first appearance of bikini after 1945 . Nicknamed "white ship", it closes in 1989 .Joined the historic March 27 1990.Its reopening was scheduled for 2014 . It was demolished in 2012 to make way for a housing incorporating some facade elements. October 30, 2008 , the Paris city council announced that the project selected group Colony Capital - Accor - Bouygues for the complete renovation of the place. The long-term lease , for a period of 54 years, comes from November 24, 2008 3 . The project provides, in addition basins winter and summer, a hotel "4 stars" with 98 rooms and a health center active (sauna, steam room, gym, spa), a medical center, shops, restaurants and two parking with 70 spaces. The initial investment is estimated at $ 64.8 million 10 . Work began in late 2011 and the reopening of the pool is planned for 2014 3 .Despite its registration monuments since 1990, the entire pool is destroyed in 2012, with the exception of part of the facade and some decorative elements, which serve as inspiration for future building 2 . According to the architectural historian Jean-François Cabestan, this reconstruction program which disfigures the work of Lucien Pollet is a "sham heritage"

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Ampoule: a sealed glass or plastic bulb containing solutions for hypodermic injection.
• Onanist: withdrawal of the penis in sexual intercourse so that ejaculation takes place outside the vagina; coitus interruptus.2.masturbation.
• Agouti: any of several short-haired, short-eared, rabbitlike rodents of the genus Dasyprocta, of South and Central America and the West Indies, destructive to sugar cane.2.an irregularly barred pattern of the fur of certain rodents.3.an animal having fur of this pattern.
• Ungulate: a hoofed mammal.
• Stoat: na small Eurasian musteline mammal, Mustela erminea, closely related to the weasels, having a brown coat and a black-tipped tail: in the northern parts of its range it has a white winter coat and is then known as an ermine
• Frugivorous: fruit-eating, as certain bats.
• Durian: the edible fruit of a tree, Durio zibethinus, of the bombax family, of southeastern Asia, having a hard, prickly rind, a highly flavored, pulpy flesh, and an unpleasant odor.2.the tree itself.
• Insouciant: free from concern, worry, or anxiety; carefree; nonchalant.lighthearted, debonair, jaunty, breezy.
• Rufous: reddish; tinged with red; brownish red.
• Sentient: having the power of perception by the senses; conscious.
• Chandler: a person who makes or sells candles and sometimes other items of tallow or wax, as soap.2.a dealer or trader in supplies, provisions, etc., of a specialized type: a ship chandler.3.a retailer of provisions, groceries, etc.
• Subjugation: bringing under control; enslavement
• Carapace: a bony or chitinous shield, test, or shell covering some or all of the dorsal part of an animal, as of a turtle.
• Sanguinary: full of or characterized by bloodshed; bloody: a sanguinary struggle.2.ready or eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.3.composed of or marked with blood.
• Kootu: Kootu (Tamil:கூட்டு) is a Tamil word means 'add' i.e. vegetable added with lentils which form the dish, made of vegetable and lentils and are semi-solid in consistency, i.e., less aqueous than sambhar, but more so than dry curries

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Civility: Describe this theme.
• Humanity
• Religion
• Moral Ambiguity
• The Importance of Storytelling
• Survival

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Yann Martel (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Andreea Popescu (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Governor General's Literary Awards (Finalist, 2001: Fiction)
• Hugh MacLennan Prize (2001: Fiction)
• Man Booker Prize (2002)
• Exclusive Books Boeke Prize (2003)
• CBC Canada Reads (Finalist, 2003)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR9199.3.M3855 L54 2001
• Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

show spoilers

I am a 12 year old, and I think that if readers are over 11, (unless they are incredible geniuses) they can read this book. Nothing is really inappropriate, it's just that the vocabulary can be a little tricky (thank goodness for the built in dictionary!). Some scenes are intense, but those are mostly just emotionally intense.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Action & Adventure
• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Thrillers
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Religion & Spirituality › Fiction › Visionary Fiction
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Metaphysical
• Books › Outdoors & Nature › Survival Skills

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Wikipedia
• Powell's: Yann Martel's Original Essay titled "How I Wrote Life of Pi"

Movie Connections edit see section history

• Life of Pi (2012) (IMDb): Oscar-nominated film directed by Ang Lee.

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history