Allie McBrearty Professor Ziolkowski Religion, Myth & Fantasy 04 December 2014 Life of Pi Panel Summary of Chapters 95-100: • During these chapters, Pi is interviewed and questioned by Tomohiro Okamoto and Atsuro Chiba about the sinking of the Tsimtsum • Pi explains his account of how he survived out on the sea, however the Japanese men seriously doubt Pi’s original story, and tell him to tell a story that “they can believe” • Pi tells an alternate version of his journey to please the investigators, one including no animals • Pi’s new version involves people who closely resemble these animals, regarding their personalities and their current conditions • The Japanese men acknowledge that Pi’s two stories closely resemble each other; makes …show more content…
• Pi thinks lack of imagination and a lack of belief in something is the worst kind of way to be • Therefore Pi doesn’t appreciate it when the Japanese men do not believe his original story and can’t give him a good reason why, besides the fact that it seems unlikely to occur (pi also thinks that if you’ve never experienced it before, how could you really know if it’s possible or not) Metaphors and Religious Meanings: • Even though it was necessary for Pi to kill the cook to protect himself from getting killed, he was horrified by the fact that he was capable of committing such a murderous act • This explains why Pi associated himself with the Bengal tiger, because they both act(ed) on their natural instincts and acting impulsively • Pi keeping his distance from the tiger in the original story could be a metaphor for him in reality keeping himself from his natural instincts, violence, and danger; the actions he acted on that killed the cook (Pi’s afraid of being consumed by the “tiger’s” temperament inside him) • By witnessing and committing murder, Pi possibly recreates his story with the animals as a coping mechanism; also as a way to distract himself from the horror and cruelty that humans are capable of causing and bestowing upon