Life Of Pi Animals Essay

Words: 1330
Pages: 6

There are always two sides to every story; it is up to the reader to determine how they want to interpret it. This is the case with “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel, where two stories are presented in incredible ways. First, the protagonist, Pi, narrates his experiences on a deserted lifeboat with animals, whereas in a future encounter, he retells the story by replacing the animals with humans. The first rendition with the animals is clearly the better story because it appeals to imagination rather than confronting the reader with the stark reality and human cruelty, the story with the use of humans does not make sense, and also, certain moments on the lifeboat are too specific and unthinkable to have happened without animals.

The hardships and triumphs that Pi endured on the lifeboat are more credible in his version where Richard Parker, a tiger, Orange Juice, an orangutan, a hyena, and a zebra were involved. The validity of
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This rendition is more preferred by readers because of its magical realism and how it eludes the readers’ imagination. The alluring factor of the animals being on the lifeboat with Pi is that the idea is just so inconceivable that it suits as a valid explanation rather than if other humans were on the boat. On page 70 (chapter 22) Pi says “Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality…… and to the very end lack imagination and miss the better story”. This quote foreshadows the story as Pi later on has to explain to Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba his embarking on the Pacific Ocean. However, they did not want the original and rather “A flat story. An immobile story. Dry, yeastless factuality” without animals. They wanted a story that is acceptable and plausible, which is why Pi was almost coerced into including humans in his recall of the