Blog #6

“Life of Pi” by Yann Martel
For this blog, I read pages 150-220. In this passage, the hyena kills the zebra, then Richard Parker, the tiger on the lifeboat, kills the hyena. If I were on the boat, I would have found this incredibly frightening, as Pi does. He is concerned for his safety. I would be frightened beyond thinking and would scream and be beside myself. A good thing that happens to Pi is that he finds a locker full of supplies. He is overjoyed to find water and biscuits, which he quickly consumes. This makes me wonder if I would be able to survive in this situation. I’m a picky eater, which I would immediately have to overcome. I think I could force myself to eat the rations, but I think the larger problem would be to overcome mental obstacles. I would have to stay positive and sane on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean with a tiger. I don’t think I could do this. Interestingly, Pi decides he will train Richard Parker. I’m glad to see Pi’s background as a zookeeper’s son come in handy. Pi will use a whistle to train the tiger and a fish as a reward. He deduces that there is no way for him to overcome the tiger since it is much larger than him. Pi thinks he needs a companion to keep him sane so the best solution is for him to train the tiger. I obviously wouldn’t have thought of this solution since I don’t know anything about training or being around exotic animals. Instead, I would have tried to stay as far away from the tiger as possible until it ate me.