Life of Pi Rough Draft PARAGRAPH 1: INTRODUCTION Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a novel where a young boy named Pi survives on a lifeboat for 227 days. Pi grew up at a zoo in India with his family, and when he was 16, they moved to Canada. During their journey across the Pacific Ocean, the ship sinks and Pi manages to get on a life raft with a zebra, a tiger, an orangutan, and a hyena. Soon after the tragedy, the zebra and orangutan were killed by the hyena, and the hyena was killed by the tiger, Richard Parker. Pi and Richard Parker survive together for the rest of the time. 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 …show more content…
He also knew that Richard Parker ate fish because of his background in zoology and from talking to Richard Parker’s trainer. The fishing rod was made up of a wire leader, the line, and lead weights. When Pi was fishing for the first time, he used part of his leather shoe as bait and, “All I pulled in was nothing. I had lost the whole tackle”(Martel 225). As he practiced more and more, he caught more fish. Steven Callahan, a sailor from Rhode Island, also survived a long journey in the ocean by killing fish to eat and also eating birds, flying fish, and barnacles. Pi also encountered a lot of flying fish and they were very useful as food for him, food for Richard Parker, and for bait. When the flying fish jumped onto the boat, they were followed by dorados, and the dorados followed by sharks. At the end of all that mayhem, Pi and Richard Parker had a feast on their hands “...six flying fish in the locker and a much greater number in the lifeboat” (Martel 230). When he was killing the fish, he was having a very hard time managing to do it,”I gave up a number of times. Yet I knew it had to be done... Tears flowing down my cheeks, I egged myself on until I heard a cracking sound and I no longer felt any life” The killing of this fish really hurt Pi because he is very religious and believes that all lives are sacred. Pi’s fishing ability strengthened over time which helped his ability to survive for 227 days in the Pacific