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Life Of Pi Dialectical Journal

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Quotation Page # Response “You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado […] It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.” Theme: The Will to Live React: I vividly imagine Pi as a thin man who is desperate for food and water at this moment since he is close to death. I understand that he is doing everything he can to stay alive even if it means doing something that he thinks is wrong. Explain: Pi kills the fish in order to survive since the ocean is his only food source. Pi is also a vegetarian so he demonstrates the will to live by doing whatever he has to do to stay alive even if it means …show more content…

Because of his will to live, he must give up being vegetarian and eat the fish in order to survive. “I had to tame him. It was at that moment that I realized this necessity. It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me […] Most likely the worst would happen: the simple passage of time, in which his animal toughness would easily outlast my human frailty.” Theme: The Will to Live React: I was surprised that Pi is taking a chance to establish a good relationship with Richard Parker. Since Pi isn’t very strong or authoritative I am proud that he is taking initiative to become friends with the tiger. Explain: Pi knows that he can’t live without Richard Parker and Richard Parker cannot live without Pi. In order to live, Pi must tame the tiger so Richard Parker doesn’t cause danger to Pi. Evaluate: The quote is significant because it shows that Pi is willing to do anything to survive even if it means conquering his fear of the Bengal tiger. Pi claiming dominance over Richard Parker is a way for Pi to continue to keep …show more content…

A long book with a never ending story. One could read again and again, with new eyes and a fresh understanding each time. Alas, there was no scripture in the lifeboat… At the very least, if I had a good novel! But there was only the survival manual, which I must have read a thousand times over the course of my ordeal.” Theme: The Importance of Storytelling React: I think that books are an important part of Pi’s life and I realized Pi wishes for a good novel instead of food or water. I think that the need for a good book shows evidence of the power that it could have. Explain: A novel provides Pi with something to occupy him while stuck on a lifeboat. It also helped him keep track of time, observations, and food supply as well as gave him the ability to express his feelings and record his experience. The novel acted as Pi’s companion when Richard Parker didn’t. Significance: This quote is significant because it shows how a fictional story gave Pi the ability to separate himself from the tiger who he shared the lifeboat with. Fictional stories make it seem as if real life is not happening and acceptance is easier. “So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can’t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without

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502 Words | 3 Pages

Exp1: During Pi’s and Richard Parkers struggle after huge storm they went through, the both suffered through hunger, blindness, and more painful protection. However, they both survived in the movie and in the book because Richard Parker inspired Pi by not be afraid, and to go against his fears. Pi inspired Richard Parker by surviving with him and doing what is right not by killing Pi.

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944 Words | 4 Pages

Pi uses his resources and prior knowledge to keep him and the tiger alive. This is plausible because Pi has strong background in zoology, has many resources available, is

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316 Words | 2 Pages

Which he experienced directly and during which he lost his family and many friends. Life of Pi is the story of a man who survives a harrowing shipwreck and months in a lifeboat with a big tiger named Richard Parker. The beginning of the novel covers Pi's childhood and youth. The second half is him trying to fight to the end to and fend himself against the large tiger that he was stuck with on the boat. At the end of the story he was questions about if his story was

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935 Words | 4 Pages

Soon Pi’s father sees that his son is not wary towards wild animals. His father then  forces his children to watch a tiger kill

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567 Words | 3 Pages

This tiger can easily kill pi, but the way pi prevents this is he kills an innocent fish to feed the tiger so the it won 't kill him because it 's hungry. Pi made this choice because he wanted to survive, you might argue saying he could of done something else but he didn 't have anything else to do. In these kind of situation we all want to survive just like pi did, he did what he had to do. He shouldn 't be held accountable for what he has done because at the end of the day it 's all

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661 Words | 3 Pages

"A lifetime of peaceful vegetarianism stood between me and the willful beheading of a fish." (P207P22) It's just a fish, and furthermore, at the end of the day, humans are omnivorous critters, animals in our biology like everything else on Earth. He compares himself as a mammal to the life of a fish, and both mammals and fish are different types of animals, not of the same species any longer as they had been in the distant past. "I imagined what it would feel like if I were wrapped in a blanket and someone were trying to break my neck."

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305 Words | 2 Pages

In the story, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, it shows Pi becoming a different person after he kills the flying fish. When Pi was fishing and when he caught the flying fish he did not have any fear or negativity towards thinking about killing it, until his attitude went to being very sad and biased because he was a vegetarian. The quote that makes Pi become a different person is when he catches the dorado and states, “Killing it was no problem.. I went about the job in a direct way. ”(Martel 89).

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157 Words | 1 Pages

Function: Throughout part two of the book Pi had moments where fear was his greatest enemy. He constantly contemplates his death throughout the book. The most common time is him on the boat with the hyena. The hyena represents fear for Pi because it is evil.

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

It was at that moment I realized this necessity. It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me. We were, literally and figuratively, in the same boat. We would live - or we would die - together.” For Pi to tame Richard Parker would be to manage his uncontrollable fear of being stranded at sea alone on the lifeboat.

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1663 Words | 7 Pages

Most would think one was crazy if one thought there was a bengal tiger lying dormant in a lifeboat. In fact, one would probably think oneself was crazy for the very same claim! Either way, the threat was real, and the two dangers, Richard Parker and al-Qaeda, are both incredibly deadly. When Pi and his brother were younger, their father had decided to show them the true dangers of the zoo they owned. The pure aggressiveness and predatory nature of many of the animals in the zoo absolutely shocked Pi, who lived a pacifist, vegetarian life.

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1928 Words | 8 Pages

In every survival story and survival manual, the priority always includes plenty of food. In Pi’s case he uses his conscious survival guide to go to the extremes when he eats uncivilized food and hunts for meat. Pi’s civilized traits start to slip away when he eats food he would have never eaten on civilized land. Such activity shows the deadly hand he has been dealt; that “I know [his] survival is hard to believe.” (Martel 282)

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1296 Words | 6 Pages

There is one moment in the story where all his developed instincts were challenged. He was met with a school of flying fish that would jump out of the water and into the lifeboat. He had wrapped one fish in a blanket and intended to kill it with a hatchet. He could not bring himself to kill this fish with a hatchet, but ultimately cannot go through with it. Pi ends

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714 Words | 3 Pages

Pi encounters a French castaway; the castaway foolishly enters Pi’s lifeboat and is eaten by Richard Parker. After Richard Parker kills the French castaway, Pi starts using the leftover flesh for his own uses, such as fishing: “I will confess that I caught one of his arms with the gaff and used his flesh as bait” (322). In his isolated state, he thinks of nothing but survival and how he will receive his next meal. Soon after, Pi even goes to the extremity of eating the flesh of the mangled dead castaway. This deed of cannibalism barely registers in his mind as he admits, “... I ate some of his flesh.

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1599 Words | 7 Pages

Not everyone can stand eating or drinking unpleasant substances, survive while being blind, and live next to carnivorous creatures. Pi on the other hand withstands all this misfortune for nearly a year. Additionally, another theme that comes to mind is that survival instincts result in some

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447 Words | 2 Pages

This idea may be based off of the fact that he had to kill the fish in order to survive, and to keep Richard Parker (the tiger) alive as well. Following the time of killing the flying fish (which Pi uses as bait) he catches a dorado, and explains that the food he is catching is for Richard Parker. Pi states, “It was for Richard Parker and he would have dispatched it with expert ease” (Martel 89). Through a religious aspect, it can be seen that Pi did not necessarily change is values, but had to go against his morals because of the specific scenario of survival. This may be true; however, Pi directly mentions that he is changed from the time of killing the flying fish to taking the life away from a beautiful dorado.

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