Two officials from the Maritime Department of the Japanese Ministry of Transport hear of Pi being in Mexico and go to talk to him. They want to know how the ship sank and since Pi was the only one who survived they thought he would be able to tell them. He first tells them the story with the animals and they said they believe his story and want to hear the truth. Pi then tells them the real story. The alternative account for the story Pi tells is that there are actually four initial survivors of the crash: Pi, his mother, the cook, and a sailor. The sailor broke his leg when he jumped onto the lifeboat. Things started to go bad after the cook kept eating all of their food supply. Pi’s mother yells at the cook and he tells her that Pi ate some…show more content… Pi used the zebra with the hurt leg to represent the sailor that survived, the orangutan was used to symbolize his mother, he used the hyena to represent the cook, and he used Richard Parker to represent his mind. In the story the hyena kills the zebra first which represents the cook killing the sailor. The hyena also kills the orangutan and Pi kills the hyena after that. Pi has to tame Richard Parker throughout part of the book. He has this knowledge from his parents owning a zoo and he does not have to stay on the raft anymore. Symbolically he is stopping the mind from taking over the spirit. “And the human mind (represented by the tiger) is dangerous, just like Richard Parker is dangerous, for if the mind is allowed to, it will dominate the soul, which, if not sustained, will perish. But in fact, both need each other” (Source C). You need to develop your mind and spirit together so that one does not dominate the other. The reason for Pi using the story with the animals is thought to be a coping mechanism to help him through and after he is saved from the lifeboat. “And as part of his coping mechanism, he also needs to create a (perhaps) fictional account of the survival. (Source B). This also represents the survival of the fittest because the hyena who was stronger than the injured zebra and the orangutan killed them. Richard Parker, who represents Pi’s mind, killed the…show more content… He does not believe that one religion is right. Earlier in the book Pi was almost being forced to choose between practicing Hinduism, Christianity, or Islam. He wondered why he could not be all three. When his mother tried to explain to him why he said they all led to the same place Heaven. Pi believes that all religions lead to the same place so that one religion is not better or worse than another. “Martel is, ultimately, making a statement on the need of all religions to relate a tale which clarifies, or attempts to explain, life and death” (Source B). Religion is the reason why Pi was able to survive being out at sea for so
