Lesson 6: Life of Pi, Part Two-The Pacific Ocean

Lesson 6: Life of Pi, Part Two-The Pacific Ocean

Separate territories (Image: The Daily Beast)

At the end of the readings for Lesson 5, Pi Patel and his family have loaded what remains of their zoo onto a Japanese cargo ship and have departed for Canada.

In this part of the novel, the cargo ship, the Tsimtsum, experiences an explosion and sinks. When the ship sinks, Pi loses his entire family--his father and mother and brother, Ravi. Pi somehow finds himself on a lifeboat with three zoo animals: a female orangutan named Orange Juice, a zebra, a hyena, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The zebra has suffered a broken leg, and Pi spends most of his time trying to defend the wounded zebra from the hyena. Pi eventually finds himself alone on the boat with Richard Parker. 

Lesson 6: Guiding Questions

This section, Part Two-The Indian Ocean, is by far the longest. As with other aspects of this novel, there is a purpose for this. One of the objectives for this unit was for you to be able to identify certain characteristics of postmodernist literature. As you read this next section, I would like you to keep the following guiding questions in mind:

1. Narrative shifts: Another literary technique that characterizes postmodernism is narrative shifts. This means that a story can be told from many different perspectives. Using different narrators to tell the story can greatly affect what the story means. One thing that is important to understand about Life of Pi in particular is that there are frequent narrative shifts.
2. Unreliable narrators: Narrators in postmodernist literature are frequently unreliable. This means that you cannot always trust what the narrator of the story is telling you.

These two characteristics work together in Life of Pi. The novel is a framed narrative. This means that it is a story within a story. In the case of Life of Pi, there are actually several narrative frames. 

To understand this, let's return to the beginning of the novel. The very first section of the novel is the Author's Note. In the Author's Note is a writer (never named) whose life story is very similar to Yann Martel's story. However, this fictional writer is not Yann Martel. He may seem like Yann Martel, but he is a work of fiction like the rest of the book. The purpose for making the fictional writer seem like Yann Martel is to make you, the reader, want to trust  what he is telling you. You know that Yann Martel is real, and the fictional writer seems like Yann Martel, but he is not. Nevertheless, this characteristic works to develop trust between you and the fictional writer.

This fictional writer meets Pi Patel's uncle, Mr. Adirubasamy, in Pondicherry, India. Mr. Adirubasamy tells Pi's story to the fictional writer, and the fictional writer tells the story to us. The fictional writer travels to Toronto to interview Pi Patel, but he is still the one supposedly recording Pi's own words. 

It is not until Part Two-The Pacific Ocean, that we "hear" Pi speak to us for the first time. In this part of the novel, we seem to "meet" Pi Patel for the first time. Most of the book is devoted to allowing the reader to experience Pi's trials and adventures along with him. However, all this time we are actually learning about Pi's story from the fictional writer, who says he heard Pi's story from Mr. Adirubasamy, who is telling Pi's story to us. There are three narrative frames at this point in the novel, and they look like this:  

Narrative Frame (Image: Michelle Matheny)

Part Two--The Pacific Ocean makes up most of the story, which is told in first-person, from Pi's point-of-view. Part Two is also the most gripping and beautifully descriptive part of the novel. Because you are reading Pi's story, which is told from the first-person point-of-view, you want to trust him. You are made to feel like you are participating in his adventures and sufferings with him, and you develop empathy for him. He speaks in first person and shares his personal thoughts and feelings with you as the reader. 

At this point, you are actually hearing this story third-hand--from the fictional writer, who says he heard it from Mr. Adirubasamy, Pi's uncle. However, the fictional writer never appears in Part Two, yet he is still telling you Pi's story, although Pi seems to be speaking for himself. Therefore, because Pi's story is told through two other narrators, you cannot be absolutely certain that what you are reading is true. 

Lesson 6: Readings and Instructions

Today you will read the first third of Part Two-The Pacific Ocean, Chapters 37-55. As you read, pay special attention to Pi's descriptions of events. Ask yourself the following questions as you read:

1. Do you feel sympathy for Pi? Is there one event, more than any other, that affects your emotions?
2. Do you believe you can trust Pi as a narrator? Why or why not? Cite evidence from the text that supports your reactions and observations.

You should record your reactions to his descriptions in your reading journal, which you will submit at the end of this week. 

Lesson 6: Assignment-Forum Post Three

Now that you have read Chapters 37-55, I want you to consider this lesson's guiding questions as you write your third forum post. 

Place your third forum post below. These are the rules for your forum post: 

1. Post an original question designed to provoke discussion with your classmates.
2. Comment on at least one of your classmates' original posts about the poems.
3. Always give evidence from the text when you ask questions or when you respond to a classmate.

I will be grading the quality and depth of both your questions and responses with the same grading rubric that was posted in Lesson 2. (10 points for original post; 10 points for follow-up response)

Lesson 3: Begin Forum Discussion Over Life of Pi, Part Two-The Pacific Ocean Here: