Life Of Pi Animals Essay

Pi spends most of his exciting childhood in his father’s zoo and chooses zoology as his major. However, he meets a terrible shipwreck and starts his tragic survival with animals. Therefore, animals are indispensible in Life of Pi because he is familiar with the, they are different with humans and present another character in a different story.

Pi is familiar with animals, expecially the animals in his father’s zoo. Before Pi meets the disaster, he says, “To me, zoo was paradise on the earth. I have nothing but fondest memories of growing up in my father’s zoo.(Martel 17)” From this detail in the novel, we can notice that Pi grows up in the zoo and when he is on the ocean, those animals on his lifeboat are also his father’s. He studies the living habits and knows how to create an appropriate relationship with animals. Furthermore, he spends many hours observing animals. Because of these reasons, he can stay with animals safely on the ocean. Therefore, being comfortable with animals is important for his survival.

When the insurance company comes and asks for the wreck, Pi tells them another story. After that, they find some hints which are connecting the story of animals and Mr.Chiba says, “The Taiwanese sailor is the zebra, his mother is the orang-utan, the cook is… the hyena - which means he’s the tiger!’ (Martel 392)” Mr.Chiba also reveals that the tiger is Pi which is ferocious, the hyena is the cook which is disgusting, the orang-utan is Pi’s mother which is kind as well as the zebra is the sailor which is pathetic. Because of his religion, he can’t eat meat; however, he eats it and even his mother. Consequently, Pi uses animals in his story instead of humans because he can’t face this truth. In addition, the story about animals can let people accept easily. Therefore, animals are also spirit delegates of