Life Of Pi

Life of Pi Youssef Chahrour Ms. Arcii ENG4U 07/25/2016

Introduction

Trailer

Methods of Development

Allusion •

Religious

“Vishnu preserve me, Allah protect me, Christ save me, I can’t bear it!”

•

Historical

Captain Bligh of the celebrated mutinous Bounty and his fellow castaways survived forty-seven days.

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Literature

Owen Chase, whose account of the sinking of the whaling ship Essex by a whale inspired Herman Melville, survived eighty-three days at sea with two mates

Juxtaposition • •

Story with animals vs. story with humans Living vs. Dying

“Both the zebra and the Taiwanese sailor broke a leg, did you notice that” “No, I didn’t.” “And the hyena bit of the zebra leg just as the cook cut off the sailor’s.” “Ohhh, Okamoto-san, you see a lot.” “The blind Frenchman they met in the other lifeboat—didn’t he admit to killing a man and a woman?” “Yes, he did.” “The cook killed the sailor and his mother.” ‘Very impressive.“ “His stories match.” “So the Taiwanese sailor is the zebra, his mother is the orangutan, the cook is ... The hyena—which means he’s the tiger!”

Juxtaposition •

Story with animals vs. story with humans

•

Living vs. Dying

“I was giving up. I would have given up—if a voice hadn’t made itself heard in my heart. The voice said, “I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.” VS. “You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did.”

Tone

Two equally dominate tones: • Optimistic Tone • Pessimistic Tone Optimistic Tone: • “Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen.” • “I was not wounded in any part of my body” Pessimistic Tone: • “I’m going to die,” I blubbered through quivering lips. • “I thought they were going to skin me alive”

Connections

Loss of Innocence Life of Pi: • Very little time to mourn his family’s death. • Must provide for himself as well as Richard Parker. • Loss of innocence through killing. Hamlet: • Depressed after learning of his father’s death. • The need to avenge his father corrupts his mind.

“I will further confess that, driven by the extremity of my need and the madness to which it pushed me, I ate some of his flesh. I mean small pieces, little strips that I meant for the gaff's hook that, when dried by the sun, looked like ordinary animal flesh. They slipped into my mouth nearly unnoticed. You must understand, my suffering was unremitting and he was already dead.” (2.91.4)

“I’ll wipe away all trivial fond records, all saws of books, all forms, all pressures past that youth and observation copied there.”(1.5.100-103)

Narration Life of Pi: • Only person that survived the sinking of the Tsimtsum. • Forced to trust his narration.

Hamlet: • Horatio is the only survivor of the poison. • Recounts what happens to Fortinbras. • Fortinbras is forced to trust Horatio’s story.

Conclusion