Study Guide
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
For the online version of BookRags' Life of Pi Study Guide, including complete copyright information, please visit:
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-life-of-pi/
Copyright Information
© 2000-2013 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Study Guide 1
,Introduction
Introduction
What is faith? What is friendship? What is fiction? Life of Pi explores these questions in the tale of a devoutly religious
Indian boy nicknamed Pi who becomes stranded on a lifeboat with an unrestrained 450-pound Bengal tiger as his only
companion. Pi draws upon his knowledge of wild animal training--his father was a zookeeper back in India--to establish
an uneasy peace between himself and the tiger, which he sees as his only possibility for survival.
The novel, published in the United States by Harvest/Harcourt, is a unique blend of religious exploration, practical
zookeeping advice, meditation on the nature of truth, and shipwreck survival tale. It won both the 2002 Man Booker
Prize and the 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and has sold over one million copies worldwide.
Life of Pi was inspired in part by a story written by renowned Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar. In Scliar's Max and the
Cats, a young Jewish man flees Nazi Germany on a ship bound for Brazil, but when the boat sinks, he finds himself
sharing a lifeboat with an unusual passenger: a jaguar formerly of the Berlin Zoo. Although the similarity between the
two ideas generated some controversy after Martel's novel became a bestseller, both authors have acknowledged that the
two books are quite different.
In an interview with Ray Suarez of Online NewsHour, Martel describes why the concept appealed to him as a writer:
Humans aspire to really high things ... like religion, justice, democracy. At the same time, we're rooted
in our human, animal condition. And so, all of those brought together in a lifeboat struck me as being
... a perfect metaphor.
Critical and recreational readers agree. Life of Pi earned one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the
English-speaking world, the Man Booker Prize, and has been a book-club favorite among both men and women ever
since. The book's narrative, stylistic, and philosophical merits have made Pi and his creator literary stars.
Introduction 2
,Author Biography
Author Biography
Yann Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1963 to Canadian parents. His parents were diplomats for the Canadian
government, and Martel spent much of his youth in countries such as Costa Rica, France, and Mexico. He later attended
Trent University in Ontario, where he earned a philosophy degree.
Martel performed various odd jobs, including planting trees and washing dishes, before becoming a full-time writer at the
age of twenty-seven. His first book, a collection of stories titled The Facts Concerning the Helsinki Roccamatios, was
published in 1993 to critical acclaim but little commercial success. His first novel, Self, fared equally poorly when it was
published in 1996. In his Author's Note at the beginning of Life of Pi, Martel describes it this way: "Books lined the
shelves of bookstores like kids standing in a row to play baseball or soccer, and mine was the gangly, unathletic kid that
no one wanted on their team."
Martel traveled to India, where he worked on his next novel; while there, he realized that the novel he had planned
simply was not working out. However, he recalled a review of a book by Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar that he had
encountered years before. The book was called Max and the Cats, and though he never read it, its premise stirred Martel's
imagination. He immediately set to work on his own tale, superficially similar to Scliar's, but prominently featuring
Indian characters and settings. In addition to the research he conducted in India, Martel spent a year researching zoology
and religion after returning to Canada.
The novel he wrote, Life of Pi, was released in Canada in 2001 and proved to be Martel's breakthrough work. The book
won the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, as well as the 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and has since sold
over one million copies. The book was followed by a collection of short stories titled We Ate the Children Last (2004).
As of 2006, Martel was finishing a year-long position as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Saskatchewan
Department of English.
Author Biography 3
, Plot Summary
Plot Summary
Life of Pi is a tale about survival, belief in God and coming of age, that unfolds while the protagonist is floating in a
lifeboat on the Pacific Ocean. The main character, Pi Patel, is a loveable teenager with a lifelong curiosity for animals
and religion. Pi grows up as the son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, India. He is intensely religious and practices
Hinduism, Islam and Christianity with equal zeal. When Pi is about 16 years old, his father decides to relocate the family
to Canada to escape the increasingly undesirable political developments in 1970's India. Pi's father arranges for the
family to accompany some of the animals bound for North America on a cargo ship named Tsimtsum. "Midway to
Midway" the ship suddenly and quickly sinks. Pi is instantly orphaned and left to survive in a lifeboat with a crippled
zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a tiger. The hyena dispatches the zebra and the orangutan and the tiger dispatch the
hyena. Pi is left alone in the lifeboat with the tiger.
After considering how he could rid the boat of the tiger, he decides that the tiger must live and he must tame the tiger so
that they can live together. Having spent his entire life around animals, Pi has a theoretical understanding of how to tame
a tiger; however, he has never actually had the chance until now. The story recalls the adventures and practical matters of
life at sea as a castaway. The story tells of the wonders and the intense challenges. Pi comes of age during this story by
having to battle the elements, the sea and the sky, as well as testing his will to live. The tiger, named Richard Parker
because of a clerical error that mistakenly recorded the captor's name for the tiger's, is both Pi's nemesis and his reason
for living.
During his ordeal, Pi learns how to overcome his own fears, as well as balance on the thin line between taking control
and relying on powers larger than himself. Pi has much to balance, considering his sorrow over losing his family, his
hopes of rescue being raised and then dashed, his triumph over fear and his ultimate survival.
When Pi finally rescues himself by landing on a beach in Mexico, he is orphaned once again by his reason for living,
Richard Parker. The tiger disappears into the Mexican jungle, while Pi is interrogated by officials seeking the "real story"
of why the ship sank. Pi recalls his tale, which the officials label as preposterous, only to re-tell the tale sans animals and
with Pi as a blood-thirsty cannibal. The author's twist may mystify some readers who will wonder if the latter tale is
closer to the truth. The book is, after all, fiction.
Plot Summary 4
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
For the online version of BookRags' Life of Pi Study Guide, including complete copyright information, please visit:
http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-life-of-pi/
Copyright Information
© 2000-2013 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Study Guide 1
,Introduction
Introduction
What is faith? What is friendship? What is fiction? Life of Pi explores these questions in the tale of a devoutly religious
Indian boy nicknamed Pi who becomes stranded on a lifeboat with an unrestrained 450-pound Bengal tiger as his only
companion. Pi draws upon his knowledge of wild animal training--his father was a zookeeper back in India--to establish
an uneasy peace between himself and the tiger, which he sees as his only possibility for survival.
The novel, published in the United States by Harvest/Harcourt, is a unique blend of religious exploration, practical
zookeeping advice, meditation on the nature of truth, and shipwreck survival tale. It won both the 2002 Man Booker
Prize and the 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and has sold over one million copies worldwide.
Life of Pi was inspired in part by a story written by renowned Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar. In Scliar's Max and the
Cats, a young Jewish man flees Nazi Germany on a ship bound for Brazil, but when the boat sinks, he finds himself
sharing a lifeboat with an unusual passenger: a jaguar formerly of the Berlin Zoo. Although the similarity between the
two ideas generated some controversy after Martel's novel became a bestseller, both authors have acknowledged that the
two books are quite different.
In an interview with Ray Suarez of Online NewsHour, Martel describes why the concept appealed to him as a writer:
Humans aspire to really high things ... like religion, justice, democracy. At the same time, we're rooted
in our human, animal condition. And so, all of those brought together in a lifeboat struck me as being
... a perfect metaphor.
Critical and recreational readers agree. Life of Pi earned one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the
English-speaking world, the Man Booker Prize, and has been a book-club favorite among both men and women ever
since. The book's narrative, stylistic, and philosophical merits have made Pi and his creator literary stars.
Introduction 2
,Author Biography
Author Biography
Yann Martel was born in Salamanca, Spain, in 1963 to Canadian parents. His parents were diplomats for the Canadian
government, and Martel spent much of his youth in countries such as Costa Rica, France, and Mexico. He later attended
Trent University in Ontario, where he earned a philosophy degree.
Martel performed various odd jobs, including planting trees and washing dishes, before becoming a full-time writer at the
age of twenty-seven. His first book, a collection of stories titled The Facts Concerning the Helsinki Roccamatios, was
published in 1993 to critical acclaim but little commercial success. His first novel, Self, fared equally poorly when it was
published in 1996. In his Author's Note at the beginning of Life of Pi, Martel describes it this way: "Books lined the
shelves of bookstores like kids standing in a row to play baseball or soccer, and mine was the gangly, unathletic kid that
no one wanted on their team."
Martel traveled to India, where he worked on his next novel; while there, he realized that the novel he had planned
simply was not working out. However, he recalled a review of a book by Brazilian author Moacyr Scliar that he had
encountered years before. The book was called Max and the Cats, and though he never read it, its premise stirred Martel's
imagination. He immediately set to work on his own tale, superficially similar to Scliar's, but prominently featuring
Indian characters and settings. In addition to the research he conducted in India, Martel spent a year researching zoology
and religion after returning to Canada.
The novel he wrote, Life of Pi, was released in Canada in 2001 and proved to be Martel's breakthrough work. The book
won the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, as well as the 2001 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction, and has since sold
over one million copies. The book was followed by a collection of short stories titled We Ate the Children Last (2004).
As of 2006, Martel was finishing a year-long position as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Saskatchewan
Department of English.
Author Biography 3
, Plot Summary
Plot Summary
Life of Pi is a tale about survival, belief in God and coming of age, that unfolds while the protagonist is floating in a
lifeboat on the Pacific Ocean. The main character, Pi Patel, is a loveable teenager with a lifelong curiosity for animals
and religion. Pi grows up as the son of a zookeeper in Pondicherry, India. He is intensely religious and practices
Hinduism, Islam and Christianity with equal zeal. When Pi is about 16 years old, his father decides to relocate the family
to Canada to escape the increasingly undesirable political developments in 1970's India. Pi's father arranges for the
family to accompany some of the animals bound for North America on a cargo ship named Tsimtsum. "Midway to
Midway" the ship suddenly and quickly sinks. Pi is instantly orphaned and left to survive in a lifeboat with a crippled
zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a tiger. The hyena dispatches the zebra and the orangutan and the tiger dispatch the
hyena. Pi is left alone in the lifeboat with the tiger.
After considering how he could rid the boat of the tiger, he decides that the tiger must live and he must tame the tiger so
that they can live together. Having spent his entire life around animals, Pi has a theoretical understanding of how to tame
a tiger; however, he has never actually had the chance until now. The story recalls the adventures and practical matters of
life at sea as a castaway. The story tells of the wonders and the intense challenges. Pi comes of age during this story by
having to battle the elements, the sea and the sky, as well as testing his will to live. The tiger, named Richard Parker
because of a clerical error that mistakenly recorded the captor's name for the tiger's, is both Pi's nemesis and his reason
for living.
During his ordeal, Pi learns how to overcome his own fears, as well as balance on the thin line between taking control
and relying on powers larger than himself. Pi has much to balance, considering his sorrow over losing his family, his
hopes of rescue being raised and then dashed, his triumph over fear and his ultimate survival.
When Pi finally rescues himself by landing on a beach in Mexico, he is orphaned once again by his reason for living,
Richard Parker. The tiger disappears into the Mexican jungle, while Pi is interrogated by officials seeking the "real story"
of why the ship sank. Pi recalls his tale, which the officials label as preposterous, only to re-tell the tale sans animals and
with Pi as a blood-thirsty cannibal. The author's twist may mystify some readers who will wonder if the latter tale is
closer to the truth. The book is, after all, fiction.
Plot Summary 4
