Richard Parker Research Paper

Good morning fellow classmates and Ms. Fiacco. Today, we’ll be presenting the deeper meaning of Richard Parker, an iconic symbol shown throughout the novel, “Life of Pi,” written by Yann Martel. The tiger captures the attention of many readers due to his unusual human-like name. However, this is not his original name. Richard Parker was actually a hunter, who had been in search of a man-eating panther. Instead of luring in a panther, however, he encountered a Bengal tiger and her cub. The cub had ran to the river to drink from it, thus earning the name Thirsty from this hunter. It was only the result of a clerical error that their names were accidentally swapped, and that was how the tiger cub became known as Richard Parker and the hunter,

At some point in the story, a group of sailors became shipwrecked with no access to food or water. The crew captures a turtle and strip its shell off to eat it, but they know that this way of living won’t last them long enough to survive. So, they draw straws and one man is sacrificed to become food for the others. The man’s name was Richard Parker. The second event was a real group of four men, shipwrecked in the late 1800s. One man was sacrificed in order to for the other three to survive off of his flesh in a cannibalistic fashion. The victim was a seventeen year old, also named Richard Parker. The third event follows the other two in very similar circumstances - a shipwreck (Francis Speight), a stranded crew, and the eventual consumption of a human named Richard Parker. Yann Martel found these three cases truly fascinating, and decided to use that name for the tiger in Life of

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. This hysteric state of mind was the largest obstacle to overcome in the beginning - the mere thought of conquering a Bengal tiger connects to it as it seems overwhelming and nearly impossible to accomplish. However, the fear is not a separate entity - it’s a part of him. So, it would make sense that controlling this fear was crucial, as it would either help him survive or help him die. Taming Richard Parker is a representation of taming the animal within ourselves. It can wreak havoc if left unsupervised and take control of our lives. It requires hard work and effort to eventually reach a healthy balance of each other. Some people have extremely difficult situations to overcome, like drug addiction. Substance abuse can become a serious problem to the point that drug users refuse to go to rehabilitation and can die from overdosing. Another example would be lying. What starts off as a white lie can snowball into something as severe as pathological lying. It gets to a point where people begin lying to gain attention or pity from others. It’s a subtle form of manipulation that can