Sunday, October 23, 2005

 

Section 6: Chapter 37-47

First Written Oct 15/05

I find it interesting that Pi was trying to save Richard Parker, the tiger. But, I think most people would attempt that at first. It would be instinct: save the animal. It wouldn't register right away that that animal will likely try to kill you after you save it.
It is also sort of ironic that after saving the tiger, Pi himself jumps overboard. That's kind of funny.

It seems a little coincidental that Pi getsup because of the noise, and Ravi, the one who would normally have gone looking for adventure, stays in bed.

I liked the description of the storm. I especially like the part where he says, "Nature can put on a thrilling show."
Pi is actually excited by the strom, not realizing that he is soon going to be nearly killed in it (though not by it).

One of my favorite parts is right at the end of Chapter 38, when he says, "Only when they threw me overboard did I begin to have doubts."
He figures they're going to help him, and they do, just not in the way he might have wanted or imagined.

And, I wonder, how did Pi lose his lifejacket? Falling into water, the only way to lose a lifejacket is to raise your arms above your head as you hit the water, and Pi didn't land in water; he landed in a boat. The chances of losing his jacket, then are zero.

Update:
I figured out the last question. He wasn't wearing the lifehjacket. He was just holding it. That's how he lost it.

Martel reveals that the sailors weren't trying to save Pi so much as were trying to use him as hyena bait. They planned for the hyena to eat Pi, then the two of them could jump in the boat, and throw the 'now not hungry' hyena overboard. They would still have one problem: Hyena's don't need to be hungry to be dangerous!

Pi has three animals on the boat with him (the boat is 22 feet long, 8 feet wide). He has a hyena, a zebra, and an orangutan. When the orangutan gets into Pi's lifeboat, Pi grabs the net from the bananas, but leaves the bananas themselves to sink. The net, he says, will help him a lot, later. He also says that he would later kick himself for leaving the bananas.

Note:
I've always called that type of primate an o-rang-u-tang (tang and tang both sounded like the rang in boomerang). I just looked up the word in the dictionary, and found out that the word is actually pronounced
o-ranj-uh-tan. I've never heard it said that way before, but I'll try to remember it.

I find interesting the descriptions of the appearance, food choices, and mannerisms of the hyena. I'm not sure exactly how the hyena will play a part, but it will, and I don't think it will be a small part.

It's kind of neat to read about the hope Pi has of being rescued and reunited with his family.
I can think of few people who would have such optimism in those circumstances.

Gross is the mauling of the zebra by thge hyena. First, the hyena eats a leg off the zebra, then the innards, and finally, after a few more assaults, the zebra dies.

I really like the way the end of Chapter 46 is written. I like the whole section about the loss of family and what it means to him. I don't mean to say that I like that he loses his family or anything sick like that, but thatit was well-written and full of emotion and feeling.

Pi loses all hope. The zebra and orangutan are dead, and he figures that he's next. Worse still, he finds out that Richard Parker is still on the boat. Will the two predators fight it out, or gang up on Pi and kill him? I don't know.

There is a lot of action in this section. In fact, basically the first, other than the tiger eating a goat. I didn't find much of a them-like component, though.

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