The Lif of Pi: Memorable and Important Quotes

1) “I notice something else: his cupboards are jam-packed. Behind every door, on every shelf, stand mountains of neatly stacked cans and packages. A reserve of food to last the siege of Leningrad” (Martel 25). Early in the novel, there are chapters narrated by a reporter who interviews Pi later in life, after having survived his terrible ordeal on the Pacific. Visiting Pi’s home, the narrator notices Pi’s abundance of organized food. This, I believe, foreshadows how Pi will run out of staples during his voyage and hence teaches him to always be prepared. Looking back at this quote after finishing the novel, it can be inferred that Pi’s life, as expected, was changed permanently afterwards, effecting his actions and habits. Could it be that Pi now has a fear of disaster and therefore is always on alert, always ready for tragedy to strike?

2) “He turned to Babu and nodded. Babu left. Mahisha’s eye followed him and did not move from the door he disappeared through. He returned a few seconds later carrying a goat with its legs tied. Mother gripped me from behind. Mahisha’s snarls turned into a growl deep in the throat” (Martel 34). Before leaving for Canada, Pi’s father owned a zoo in Pondicherry, India. Pi lived here with his family, growing up among the various exotic animals. However, his father feared for the safety of his children around the wild animals and decides upon the importance of educating them in this aspect. One day, he brings them around to see what these animals will do if they sense danger, and as an example, throws a live goat into the cage of a hungry tiger. The result is obvious and gruesome. This sight chills Pi to the bones, but is effective—Pi learns to stay his distance from the cages. I think this lesson helped Pi with his situation on the lifeboat: staying as far away from Richard Parker (the Bengal tiger) as possible and training him slowly as it proved absolutely necessary.

3) “A germ of religious exaltation, no bigger than a mustard seed, was sown in me and left to germinate. It has never stopped growing since that day” (Martel, 47). There are many chapters in this book where Pi explains the importance of religion in his life; his view on religions of the world and how they affect his personal life. It is thus learned that Pi is a very religious boy who simply wants to find God and have a relationship with him. Pi learns more about himself and meets new people by practicing three religions: Hinduism, Muslim, and Christianity. Alas, he majors in this subject at college later in life.

4) “There are many examples of animals coming to surprising living arrangements. All are instances of that animal equivalent of anthropomorphism: zoomorphism, where an animal takes a human being or another animal, to be one of its kind” (Martel 84). This quote also foreshadows the plot which is yet to come—aka, Pi stuck in the lifeboat with Richard Parker. Not only did I find this an interesting quote, but important as well since Pi and Richard Parker certainly come to live together in an interesting circumstance. There were different points during their Pacific journey which showed how they adapted to one another, and it seems that Pi learned many survival skills from Richard Parker.

5) “I tried to hold him back. Alas, it was too late. Before I could say the word alone, I was alone again. I heard the merest clicking of claws against the bottom of the boat. No more than the sound of a pair of spectacles falling to the floor, and the next moment my dear brother shrieked in my face like I’ve never heard a man shriek before. He let go of me” (Martel 255). At this point in the story, Pi has become blind. The reason is not specifically stated but is most like caused by his poor living conditions in the life boat. During this period, he comes across another lifeboat with yet another man in it who too claims to be blind. The stranger pretends to be Pi’s friend, but then attempts to kill him. Therefore, Richard Parker kills the stranger, saving Pi’s life. Pi later refers to this event as something he will never forget, but what is the likelihood that in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, he stumbled upon another man in his exact same situation? (See quote below.)

6) “Then we fought and I killed him. He had no expression on his face, neither of despair nor anger, neither of fear nor pain. He gave up. He let himself be killed, though it was still a struggle. He knew he had gone too far, even by his bestial standards. He had gone too far and now he didn’t want to go on living any more. But he never said ‘I’m sorry.’ Why do we cling to our evil ways?” (Martel 310). After Pi lands on the shores of Mexico and begins his recovery process in a hospital in Tomatlán, two Japanese representatives from the Ministry of Transport go visit him to investigate the reason for the Tsimtsum (the boat Pi traveled on from India) ship’s sinking. Pi recounts them the whole story which we as the reader have just finished, but the men decide they do not believe Pi could have survived on a boat with so many wild animals. Thus, Pi tells them a tale where he replaces the animals with other survivors from the boat, one being his own mother. It was horrific enough to think of what the animals did to each other, but to think people could have done those same things (kill each other brutally, etc.)? The idea is simply disgusting. In this quote, Pi describes the story from the “people” perspective, where he really killed the stranger, not Richard Parker. Now the question is: which story is true?

7) “At night, by some chemical process unknown to me but obviously inhibited by sunlight, the predatory algae turned highly acidic and the ponds became vats of acid that digested the fish. This was why Richard Parker returned to the boat every night. This was why the meerkats slept in the trees. This was why I had never seen anything but algae on the island” (Martel 282). An important and interesting part of this novel comes during the middle of Pi’s journey when he discovers a mysterious island in the Pacific. Here he regains his strength—walking around the island and eating the great abundance of algae the island seems to be made up of. Pi tells us that during the day, Richard Parker roams the island on his own—he disappears from Pi’s view. However he comes back at the end of the day to sleep on the boat with Pi. Again the question surfaces of whether or not this should be taken figuratively or literally. Figuratively, it could be interpreted that when Pi enters this new found haven, he does not need his disguise of Richard Parker, except when he returns to the vulnerability of the boat at night, or when Richard Parker shows up to slaughter meerkats for food. Regardless, Pi finds that the algae turns very acidic at night, and feels forced to leave the island and once again search for land with Richard Parker.

8) “Then Richard Parker, companion of my torment, awful, fierce thing that kept me alive, moved forward and disappeared forever from my life” (Martel 285). When Pi reaches land, he describes Richard Parker departing into the forest off the beach and never returning again. But was the tiger, Richard Parker, really Pi? Did Pi only refer to himself as such a beast and to his previous boat mates as animals because it was easier to comprehend and survive that way? Nonetheless, Richard Parker was only something that stayed with Pi during his frightful trip through the Pacific, and without him—weather he was an inner force inside Pi or an actual companion—Pi would most likely have died like the rest of the passengers on the Tsimtsum.