Lesson 8: Life of Part, Part Two-The Pacific Ocean (continued)

Pi and Richard Parker approach death (Image: Examiner.com)

Lesson 8: Life of Part, Part Two-The Pacific Ocean (continued)

In this final third of Part Two, both Pi and Richard Parker slowly begin to die. First they endure another storm that almost destroys the lifeboat and some of their supplies. The saltwater from the ocean disintegrates Pi's clothing and begins to eat away at the rest of the lifeboat's supplies. 

In one of the strangest incidents in the book, Pi encounters a mysterious stranger on the ocean, who speaks with a French accent. At this point in the story, Pi is both delirious and blind, and the stranger is also blind. Pi and the stranger discuss food, and then Pi learns that the French-speaking stranger admits to having killed a man and a woman and eating them. Then the stranger suddenly attacks Pi, threatening to kill and eat him as well. At that moment Richard Parker attacks and kills the blind Frenchman.

As Pi and Richard Parker lay dying on the lifeboat, the raft drifts to the shore of a floating island made of algae. Richard Parker stays on the boat, but Pi explores the island and discovers that it is populated by meerkats. He is able to fish in the numerous small ponds that cover the island, and is able to find fresh sources of drinking water. He stays on the island for some time, while his body heals and he regains some strength. However, he learns that the island is carnivorous when he finds human teeth embedded inside some fruit; every night, the meerkats climb the trees and sleep in the trees. The waters of the island become so acidic that they kill the fish in the ponds and any living creature that tries to sleep on the beds of algae. 

Pi and Richard Parker immediately leave the island and somehow land on the shores of Mexico. Richard Parker wanders off into the jungle, where he is never seen again.

Richard Parker leaves (Image: thefeinprint.com)

Lesson 8: Guiding Questions

As you read this final third of Part Two-The Pacific Ocean, I would like you to keep the following guiding questions in mind:

1. Distortion of time: In Lesson 1, we learned that one of the characteristics of postmodernism is that the element of time can be distorted, so that the reader is never quite certain of what event is happening at what time. At this point in the novel, Pi is suffering from delirium, and time is distorted. This would be expected from someone who is slowly dying. 
2. Distortion of reality: Reality is often distorted in a postmodernist novel through elements of magic or surrealism. When Pi meets the French castaway, there is a strong element of the distortion of reality or, more accurately, magical surrealism. At one point Pi seems to be talking to the French castaway, and yet he also addresses the Frenchman as Richard Parker. 
3. 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.
4. Human nature: Blake's "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" suggest that creatures that are pure and innocent and creatures that are terrible and ferocious are made by the same creator. The short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" suggests that the human heart has depths of passion that are impossible to understand or predict. 

Lesson 8: Readings and Instructions

Today you will read the final third of Part Two-The Pacific Ocean, Chapters 81-94. As you read, pay very close attention to the details of Pi's strange encounter with the French castaway and his experience on the carnivorous island. 

Record your observations in your reading journal, which you will submit at the end of this week.  

Lesson 8 Assignment:

After you have finished the reading, select one of the questions listed below and write a short paragraph response to the question. Your short paragraph should be 150 words or less and is worth 10 points each. Post your both your question and response in the forum below the questions. 

1. What is the identity of the French castaway? 
2. Who or what is Richard Parker?
3. How would you interpret Pi's strange meeting with the French castaway? Is he suffering delirium at this point, or does he truly meet someone else on the ocean?
4. From the text, explain the distortion of reality that takes place when Pi meets the French castaway.
5. What proof does Pi offer that the French castaway was a real human being?
6. What characteristics do Pi and the French castaway share with one another?
7. Until this point in the story, Pi has established clear boundaries that separate and protect him from Richard Parker. However, as the two lay dying, these boundaries seem to disappear. What is the significance of this fact?
8. What does the floating island of carnivorous algae represent in the story? Does Pi offer any proof of its reality at this point in the story?
9. Does the floating island of algae seem more "real" than Pi's encounter with the French castaway? Why or why not?
10. When Pi and Richard Parker land on the shores of Mexico, Richard Parker departs. Briefly summarize the details of how Richard Parker leaves Pi, and what this departure might signify. 

Your question and response will be graded with the same rubric that was posted for your short-paragraph response in Lesson 4.

Lesson 8: Place Your Questions and Short Paragraph Responses in the Forum Below