First, if you haven’t read the book by Yann Martel, please don’t read this. Read the book.
Quick question (and pretty fundamental to the book) I hope you can help me with.
A friend (via another unnamed source) gave me an interpretation of the story the other day. Read this a while ago now but I sat there and wondered if indeed I am an idiot for taking the story so literally, which I still enjoyed if was somewhat bemused at times.
The premise is that the animals in the boat represent his parents, and he kills them.
Not much more to go on but I proudly stated that the Dopers know these things. (Which is why I’m not going through google btw)
So:
a) The premise is true and I’m an idiot. I’ll be fine with that. :eek:
b) It’s not meant to be taken so literally. Just enjoy it.
c) Something else.
d) Who knows?
I’m about 3 quarters of the way through this at the minute. I don’t see how the Orang utan (Orange Juice) the Zebra and the Hyena who’ve died so far represent his parents. In any case, they kill each other without Pi’s interaction, so that only Richard Parkers left. I reckon your friends taking it too literally and reading things into it that aren’t there.
I’ll go with b too - although there is an element of the book that is about power and mutually-dependent relationships. If anything though, it would work better as a theory about partnership. For instanct I especially liked the exploration of the way in which one grows a bond with those you fear - and how two very different parties rely on each other for their survival - without ever really acknowledging it.
Berserker – and anyone else who hasn’t finished the book – don’t read this.
It’s not just his parents. IIRC, it’s his mom, a chinese guy, and the tiger is Pi’s darkside, which lurks off once he gets back to civilization.
It mirrored the point he was making about religion which basically was that they’re all about the same thing, but you’re going to be attracted to the one with the best story.
He tells the doctors as much. He says, “well if I told you it was about me, my mom, and a chinese sailor, you wouldn’t have cared” or something like that.
So, yes, much to my glee, that means he tried to eat his own poop.
I think the point of the two conflicting accounts is that it is up to you to decide which story you prefer. The somewhat implausible, but uplifting story of the animals, or the darker, perhaps more believeable, story that Pi gives as an alternative?
“Why do we believe that which we choose to believe?”- that’s the crux of it.
BTW, paulberserker- I recommend finishing the book before reading more of this thread. This is all spoilers for the final part of the book.
I think that there was originally a tiger, a hyena and a zebra, right?
The zebra (mom) had a broken leg, and the hyena (sailor) killed her because she needed killin’. The tiger (Pi) then killed the hyena while he slept. Then, Pi was left alone with his darkside.
at least that’s how I remember it. i read it at least a year ago.
Now with Trunks premise
a) Is he indeed not calling me a moron (kinda like me taking the book literally this one)
b) He is calling me a moron by qualifying it with the next few words
c) something else
d) who knows?
Badger, just to confirm, you did get to the part where the alternate explanation is offered (to some insurance adjustors I believe), involving a number of people (chef, mother, etc)? I don’t have a copy to hand but I do remember there being a 1:1 mapping between the people and the animals (assuming the tiger is Pi).
part of what made that book so good is not just that he tricked you. but that he tricked you SO CONVINCINGLY that you really need to fight it to change your mind. My wife and I talked about the book for several days after I finished it.
I read the key passage twice thinking, “why did he just lie to the doctors” (or insurance people, whatever). And by “lie”, I mean “make up the story about it being people.”
You’re MEANT to take the story completely literally. That’s why he gives all the zoo stuff at the beginning, so you believe he could live with a tiger. No question he completely pulls the wool over your eyes from page one, and then pulls it away at the end.
But that ties back into his point about religion, too. even if someone told you it was all phony, wouldn’t you still like the story, and get the lessons, and WANT it to be true.
All of that is why this book is so good, I think for an atheist or a person-of-faith alike.
Now you mention it, that’s what I remember about the book. The dabbling in religions (and the meeting in the street which was brilliant), the huge focus on animals and his uncle and swimming pools. All these are presented so richly that I guess I never wanted to look past them. I mean as soon as I heard Richard Parker, it just lodged in my head and made me smile.
The bit with the island was odd though.
I think Trunk’s point is a good one. I recommended the book to a friend who had previously been turned off of it under the impression that it was magic realism, the concept of a boy surviving an ocean journey with a tiger being preposterous. I explained that the majority of the book is extremely literal and beleivable, such as the mechanics of training the tiger to treat him as the alpha male. It does seem a cheat when he offers the alternate explanation, which on the face of it makes quite a bit more sense.
Does anyone have a reasonable explanation for the island episode?
I can’t believe it! I entirely bought the Richard Parker version. I thought the more pedestrian tale he told to the insurance man was a fascinating interpretation of what he really went through, but I never even considered that it was the true account. Now I’m going to have to reread the thing.
I agree completely. When I had finally realized I had been tricked, it took a great deal of effort not to get pissed off at the author. But after some reflection I came to appreciate the skill in which I had been tricked. Now I simply shake my head and smile in admiration.
I have to wait for it to come in for me at the library again. But I have to say, after digesting this for a day, I could not feel any stupider had I walked out of The Sixth Sense and not realized that the guy was dead all along.
I have no insight on the creepy island, other than the teeth in the fruit thing was tailor-made to totally gross me out. It’s also the point in the book where I was like “WTF?” and began to sense that something was up (as if sharing a lifeboat with a tiger wasn’t enough). But as others have said, there was still such an effective and powerful payoff at the end that it doesn’t matter so much. Meerkats, though? And the crazy ass carnivorous algae?
So, in essence, Pi’s something of a Keyser Soze, and we’re like Agent Kujan.
