Bridge Map

Character Bubble Maps

Quotations for Pi:

Shy - "The first time i saw his triangular form teetering and tottering about the zoo, i was shy to approach him. As much as I liked him as a teacher, he was a figure of authority, and I, a subject" (26).

Driven - "We fight and fight and fight. We fight no matter the cost of battle, the losses we take, the improbablitlity of success. We fight to the very end. Its not a question of courage" (148).

Studious - "I was a very good student, if I may say so myself. I was tops at St. Michael's College four years in a row. I got every possible student award from Department of Zoology" (5).

Resourceful - "Pulling the oars in one after the next, I worked them through the armholes of the life jackets....so that the life jackets becanme secured to the four corners of the raft. I tied each one shut" (149).

Survivor - "I kept myself busy. That was one kep to my survival. On a lifeboat, even on a raft, there's always something that needs doing" (190).

Plot

The novel, The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, takes place in modern day India, the Pacific Ocean and Mexico. The story begins in and around the family owned zoo, where Pi studies and learns from his fathers various animals. Unhappy with the current government, the Patel family decides to leave everything they once knew and move to Canada. After selling the zoo, the family packs up and boards a Japanese owned cargo ship en route to North America. Days after setting sail, the massive ship mysteriously sinks, and Piscine is thrown aboard a life raft with all varieites of wild life. Hundreds of days later, the raft drifts upon a mysterious island in the middle of the ocean. It is here that Pi reclaims strength and once again sets sail into the unknown. Shortly there after, Patel finds himself in a remote corner of mexico where he is rescued and cared for by natives. After being sent to a local hospital, Pi is questioned by Japanese officials. It is at this time that he tells his incredible story of survival and fate.

Background Information

Yann Martel was born June 25, 1963 in Salamanca, Spain. After graduating from Trent University with a degree in philosophy, Martel spent six months in India visiting mosques, temples, churches and zoo's. In 1993, he published his first work, The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. Nearly eight years later, Martel's award winning, The Life of Pi, was released. Yann currently resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Haiku - Setting

A young indian
A young life interupted
By the vast great sea

He kneels down to pray
So many different gods
All guiding the way

Packs up-leaves his home
Travel calm ocean waters
To find a new life

Round big and sturdy
Nothing could ever go wrong
And down the boat goes

Alone with Richard
Just trying to stay alive
Food is hard to find

Music

A song that represents Life of Pi:

Go on now go walk out the door
just turn around now'
cause you're not welcome anymore
weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
you think I'd crumble
you think I'd lay down and die
Oh no, not I
I will survive
as long as i know how to love
I know I will stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give
and I'll survive
I will survive
-Gloria Gaynor

We thought that this song fit Pi's life on the raft because at the beginning he thought he would never have been able to survive alone with the animals. He continually strived to find ways to keep him and Richard Parker alive. In the end with his hopefullness and determination he was able to figure out ways of survival.


http://www.lyricsdomain.com/7/gloria_gaynor/i_will_survive.html

Religion and Science

In Life of Pi, Pi grows up surrounded by many different religions in which he cannot depict as one for himself. He believes in Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. These religions all vary in different beliefs and views which causes people to tell Pi that he cannot believe in them all. However, Pi thinks that he can believe in all these religions and still love just one god. Religion is a very important part of Pi's life, which is displayed throughout the novel even though we never experience gods presence. Even without his presence its believable that god was with him through all of his adventures or he would not have survived. In my opinion I respect the fact that Pi feels that all of these religions are important and can all be celebrated as one, however I don't know if religions that are that different can really be combined. It made me really think throughout the book if this is really possible, and if there is anyone like Pi with different religious beliefs.

In our society today we are surrounded by the conflict of religion vs science. There's the constant argument of evolution vs. things such as adam and eve or other religious views of how the earth came about. In Pi's world however, science and religion are seperate ideas and never put together to form new beliefs. In our minds, science seemed to play a larger role throughout the book in order for him to survive.