Monday, November 23, 2009

Welcome Post

Hello, and welcome to my blog on Yann Martel's famous book, Life of Pi. This book, which has become widely renowned across the globe, is a post-modernist outlook on the themes of religion, animal and human behaviour, and survival through the eyes of a 16-year-old religious Indian boy. Piscine Molitor Patel, who prefers to be referred to as Pi to avoid the nickname "pissing", is the main character of the story, and, interestingly enough, he chooses to practice Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam--all at the same time. Originally from Pondicherry, India, the son of a zookeeper, Pi, on a ship, the Tsimtsum, is embarking for a new life in Canada when it mysteriously sinks. No one knows why, but what is known is that Pi becomes the only survivor of the disaster, trapped on a lifeboat with a vicious hyena, a wounded zebra, an orang-utan, and (worst of all) a 450-pound Royal Bengal Tiger. As the story unfolds and the animals finish each other off in a Darwinian power struggle, and only Pi and the tiger, Richard Parker, are left aboard the 26-foot lifeboat. Pi, who has always lived a vegetarian lifestyle up until this point, begins to parallel the behaviours of Richard Parker, learning to kill and eat almost anything he can to survive.

The purpose of this blog is to explore the seemingly limitless amount of interpretations that can be found within this mystifying story. I will do this in the form of journal articles, essays, and analyses of its various elements, relaying them to you, the reader. With the purpose of completing this for an Independent Study Project in English 4U, taught by Mr. Hindley, I will help you embark on a journey exploring the importance of this powerful masterpiece of Canadian literature.

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