Tuesday, October 09, 2007

What Was He Thinking???

Why did Pi try to save Richard Parker? It wasn't until Richard Parker was right up on the lifeboat before Pi realized what he was doing. Explain why Pi's instinct told him to save Richard Parker.

3 comments:

Katie said...

Pi says, "Tell me I'm still happy. Mother, my tender guardian angle of wisdom, where are you? And you, Father, my loving worrywart? And you, Ravi, dazzling hero of my childhood?...And what of my extended family-- birds, beasts, and reptiles? They too have drowned. Every single thing I value in life has been destroyed?" Wow!!!! Let me just take a moment here. So sad....

Okay. All better. That quote, for me, put everything into perspective. He's lost everything, literally, in just an hour or so. So, when he sees Richard Parker- the one thing in sight that is familiar to him-, Pi automatically wants to be close to and hold onto it. He needs to know that he is not alone. So it takes a few minutes for Pi to realize that Richard Parker is a freakin' Bengal Tiger!!! But, in this situation, his reaction was completely natural. Hold on to what's familiar in a time of crisis.

julietoa said...

That's what i was going to say you stealer of words. FAMILIER-key word. He associates the tiger with happiness since he's always sees these animals on a daily bases. The difference this time, as he will realize shortly, is the tiger isn't locked up.
Pi is going through some major shock-family dead, life destoyed, new environment, familiarity gone. I've never been in that situation so i have no idea how i would react. But i'm sure i would do someting crazy stupid like he did too. This brings us back to the animal vs. human nature thing. "Animals that escape go from the known into the unknown-and if there is one thing an animal hates abouve all else, it is the unknown." The unknown is death and everything around Pi except Richard Parker.

Katie said...

You've got it mixed up. Animals go from the unknown to the known. But now I'm confused. Martel says that isn't true. Animal just go away from what is scary. I might have just changed my mind. Animals go from frightening to soothing. This means that both Richard Parker and Pi wanted to be together to run from the storm. Or at least Richard Parker did. Maybe Pi was doing the whole familiar thing, but Richard Parker was definately running/swimming away from the scary storm and sinking ship. That might be the difference in humans and animals- we run away from the unknown while animal just run from the frightening things. There might not be any difference. Man, this is really thought provoking! I think I just went in a circle.