Point Of View

The cool water kept me warm on this hot summer day. I swam around the pond, going about my usual routine when something strange appeared in the water. A large piece of…who knows what came swooping down on me. I could see the legs and hands of a creature much larger than me right behind this mysterious object. Now, I admit this was a stupid decision. I decided to swim toward it. The mystery object glided closer to me. I was now in a state of panic. I had no idea what this thing was, or what it's intentions were. I was frozen in fear. It approached me, trapping me within it. It felt strange, like nothing I had ever felt before. The strange foreign object lifted me out of the water. I flopped about desperately trying to escape.  Why me, why did this have to happen to me. Out of the hundreds of fish I had to suffer through this. I won't give up. I can't give up. I kept flopping, trying to get myself out of this. I had succeeded. I felt the satisfying splash of the cold water on my scales. Never has water felt so good. I sat in the water still in shock with what had just happened. I then moved on with my life as a fish.

Life of Pi

It seems to be a very popular theory that Pi is indeed Richard Parker and the animals on the boat were humans.  However, I think differently. I believe that Pi was on a boat with an orangutan, hyena, zebra, and tiger. Though these facts are low in quantity, the quality of them may have people rethinking what they know. 

Now, at the end of the book when Pi is being interviewed. He seems bothered that the interviewers don't believe his story about him and Richard Parker. When the interviews keep saying that it is something they simply cannot believe, Pi keeps trying to convince them that it could've happened. After seeming very frustrated of not being able to get the interviewers to believe him. It seems he finally caves in and tells the human version of his journey. Pi really puts up a good argument for these interviewers. He seems very passionate about making these interviewers believe him. Why would somebody seem so dedicated to backing up their story, if there is a seemingly more interesting story that really took place? 

Another thing that makes me believe Pi and Richard Parker are separate is the fact that the animal story is so well thought out with so many little details. While the human story just seems so vague. If you take out the believability factor in both of the stories, and only keep details into account. The animal story seems to be the true one. With so much more expansion than the short human version. Pi's journey with the animals took about one hundred chapters, while the human one only took about five. Sure, if Pi had more time to explain his human story it would be a bit longer. But how much? They way he summarized it didn't even seem close to the length of a summary of the animal version. How could such a short story fit into such a long period of time? If the parts of both stories match up, what about the island and the blind man? Nothing matches up to those from the human story. 

One last thing I noticed that really convinces me the most is one thing that Pi says. Just one sentence. Pi, while on the lifeboat with Richard Parker, states that he is glad his family didn't have to suffer any of this. In the human version, the orangutan was his mother. His mother is his family, isn't she? Why would Pi say that if Orange Juice truly was his mother? If anything she was the one of the ones to suffer the most. She was decapitated and eaten. She clearly suffered. Pi certainly wouldn't forget the own beheading of his mother. If the orangutan really was his mother, he wouldn't of said that. Maybe something along the lines of, "I'm sorry my mother had to suffer through this, but thankfully my father and brother didn't." Why did he say his family had to suffer? He meant his family as a whole, including his mother. 

While this may be wrong, as there is no real answered. I believe this makes more sense. With the evidence I stated before, I have proven a point. I think that this will change the minds of many or at the very least make people think over their theory. There are so many holes in the human story. If the animal and the human story are meant to match up, where does the island, the blind man, and even the raft Pi built tie together? They don't. This is why I believe the animal story we are told is true.