Pi Complete

I was stunned...in a good, can't believe it, refuse to believe it kinda way.
SPOILER ALERT!!! Pi's lifeboat eventually reaches land off the coast of Mexico, and RP bounds into the forest, never to be seen again, and much to the regret of Pi, without a proper goodbye. Let me quickly summarize the rest:

Poor, kind, Mexican people take care of Pi. Two Japanese men interview Pi in order to "get to the bottom" (hehe) of why the Japanese cargo ship that he and his family had been traveling on sank. Pi shared his story; they did not believe it. Finally, they tell Pi to be honest with them, and he tells the "real", "true", "more believable" story. The animals represented human characters that he'd actually been on the lifeboat with; a Japanese sailor, a french cook, and his mother. Here's how it went down: Cook cut off sailor's broken leg, sailor died. Cook killed and beheaded the mother, and then Pi murdered the cook after being at sea for months. Sailor=zebra, cook=hyena, mom=orangu-tan, and Pi is Richard Parker.

In order to survive, Pi had to create an alternate universe to exist in emotionally and mentally. So, in a lifeboat with a crazed frenchman and upon murdering said frenchman, Pi created the story using the animals instead as a way to escape his unreal reality. Think about it...imagine your mother being beheaded before your eyes and her head thrown into your arms over and over again...or, picture a hyena killing an orangu-tan instead. He is able to describe their behaviors so well because he is the son of a zookeeper and grows up in an Indian zoo...coping mechanism.

I do know, though, that I don't want to believe the human-infused story; I like the animals better. I love Richard Parker, and I was amazed at the survival instincts of Pi, which, if one believes the "real" story, then the survival techniques are a product of the cook's mind and actions, not Pi's. As I stated in my first post, Pi, as an older man telling his story, incorporates wisdom far beyond the years of a 16 year old boy, and often it is apparent that the thoughts that are claiming to have been thought on the lifeboat have been the thoughts of a survivor year after year and have since been honed and "beautified".

IF, however, the true story is the true story, then how did meerkat bones end up in the boat? Last I checked they weren't seafaring creatures...hmmmmm. Maybe there was a floating meerkat dominated island made solely of nocturnal, killer algae. Maybe there was a zebra and a hyena, and hopefully, a Richard Parker.

I can't wait to discuss this book with my sophomores in the fall:)

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