Tuesday, October 25, 2005

 

Section 8: Chapters 58-70

First Written Oct 17/05

If I had to guess, I would say that the British Royal Navy commander is sort of odd. I gather this from the way his book is written. It's not horrible or anything, but the section about jellyfish, and spiked fish, and ones with beaks, and ones that puff up, is a little strange in my view. Just a thought.

I find quite interesting the information pertaining to boats, wind,and waves. It was neat learning how they all fit together and the effect of an anchor on a boat in relation to wind direction.

I've laughed a little bit several times throughout the book, but I just came across the funniest thing so far. I couldn't help but laugh about Pi's urine. It's kind of disgusting, but it's funny.
He sees the same amount of urine in the beaker as rainwater had been, and thinks of drinking it.
He says, with a touch of humor it seems, " I hesitated...my urine looked delicious...like a glass of apple juice...and it was guaranteed fresh" (pg 190).

I never knew about solar stills until now, though I may have heard the term once or twice. Actually, I've read/seen/heard of basic solar stills built in the desert. You dig a hole, place saran over top, with it dipping down in the middle, and place a container underneath. The sun heats the ground, draws moisture to the top, evaporates it, and the moisture then runs to the middle and drips into the container. They are very interesting. I thought of making one myself, just to try it out. I think it would be a simple and fun experiment to carry out sometime.

Pi is very inventive. His raft, though not much, is well-built. I don't know if I would've thought of making a raft like it. Maybe I could, under the same circumstances. Who knows? I hope I am never able to knowingly answer that question.

I really like how the fish are described as little vehicles, their swimming patterns roads and highways, the sea a city. Lots of colorful descriptions really brought the scene to life for me.
I know, too, about walking through a forest. A busy, active person (most people, I'm afraid) would walk quicky through a forest and go, "Hey, a tree." The whole time they were in there, they saw a tree, and maybe a squirrel or two.
An introvert (like myself), a reflective person, might enter the same forest, spend more time, walk slower, and see more, much more. I would see the trees, and notice their beauty, their individuality. I would see mushrooms and slugs on the ground at my feet, not majestic or anything, but pretty in their own way, and full of life. I would realize that the bird calls were more than just that, but rather songs, an orchestra of myriad birds playing their masterpiece for all who are willing to stay near and listen. I would follow the squirrel with my eyes, and notice it being chased by another, across my path, spiralling up and down a tree, up another, hopping to yet another, and finally disappearing in the distance. I would see all this and more. I can relate to Pi's story of the sea life. I know what he means.

I kind of like the quote, "Stupidity has a price. You should show more care and wisdom next time" (pg 198).
It's blunt, but true. Stupidity does have a price, often a big one. But, how are we to learn if we don't make mistakes? The only thing is, is that when we do something stupid, we have to accept that it was stupid, think it through, and decide what to do instead the next we have to make a similar decision.

I'm wondering how big a flying fish is for it to feel like a tiger. It must be huge, or fast-flying. I hope Martel describes these things, but if he doesn't, I'll research it myself.

Update:
Well, Martel doesn't describe the size of the flying fish, so I looked it up. They can actually be pretty big: some can grow to over a foot long. Also, most can glide up to 100 meters, so that would require a fair amount of propulsion. That may explain Pi's reaction to being hit by one.

When it comes to Pi trying to kill the flying fish, again I can relate. I unintentially shot a bird once with a BB gun, and had to finish it off. It was horrible, and I decided I wouldn't shoot at live targets with BB guns anymore. I feel bad for Pi. Never before had he killed anything, and then, at sixteen, he's a 'murderer' as he calls himself.

I laughed again at one of Pi's remarks: "I felt I was beating a rainbow to death" (pg 205). That statement is just funny. I also like how he says that dorados are known for their "death-knell iridescence". That's interesting, and it's true (I looked it up). I wonder what the purpose of it is, though, being able to change colors while you're dying.

Like a thud across the head comes Martel's next theme, it attempts to hit so hard.
"It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing."
That's a powerful statement, especially after Pi having only killed his second creature. But, it's true: we as humans can easily be desensitized, desensitized to violonce, to coarse language, to war, to racism, to other terrible things. It comes so easily, sometimes, that it's scary. Many of us watch killing for entertainment, listen to sick jokes for a laugh. Even sex has lost a lot of its sacredness in our society.
Why? Most of us are taught contrary to these things, yet we still lose our 'Oh my goodness, how terrible' attitude to them. It's sickening really. And, nobody really knows why people are so easily desensitized, but many of us know the effects, and that the only cure is God's grace.

227 days. that's a long time to survive in the miffle of the ocean, alone, except for a tiger which certainly isn't helping make life any easier. I like Pi's schedule that is written in the book. It's interesting to note how dedicated he is to prayer. I know that I could learn from that level of devotion.

The salt-water boils he talks about would be horrible, and there's little one could do about them in the way of prevention, or healing. Stay dry. that's all. And, that's not an easy task under the circumstances.

I don't know for certain if the author meant it spiritually, but that is the way I take it. That is, the part about the commander assuming the castaway knows his/her way to find direction, latitude, longitute, etc.
I thin that sometimes we as Christians witness this way. Many Christians, including myself, have been brought up with Christianity and the Bible, and know the spiritual lingo, but can't understand the blank look on the non-believer's face when we use the terms. We sometimes assume that they know all the background stuff and we just have to fill them in on the details. But, as I've heard, "We must give them the milk of Truth before we can feed them the meat of the Word", or something to that effect. We have to give them the basics before we can move on to the advanced stuff.

I quite enjoyed reading about Pi's hunting methods. They are interesting, as many things in the book are. His having to fight dirty to catch fush, having to tie ropes around turtles to haul them into the boat, it's all so realistic.
I'm really getting drawn into the story, which Martel has so masterfully pieced together. His themes are strong and persuasive, and his means of introducing them, though at times sneaky, are powerful. His descriptions give a sense of being there with Pi, or possibly being Pi yourself. It is a great book so far.

I'm not sure how Pi knows that he can eat all those sea creatures under the raft. It's possible that the manual says so, because if it doesn't, I don't know if I would be risking eating some poisonous snail or something.

The details of Richard Parker's behaviors and favorite positions, and the like, reveal something: we can learn much from and be fascinated by life if only we take the time observe the finer points.

"No, humanity and its unreliable ways could not be counted upon" (pg 221). Another theme statement, I would say. humanity is unreliable and can't be counted on, not even ourselves. We can only count on God. He is unchanging, thus He is always reliable.

I must admit, I was slightly repulsed by the killing of the sea turtle, the severing of arteries, and the slicing open of the shell. I refused to even picture the squirting blood, and thge drinking of it.
It was kind of funny, though, that the head continued trying to breathe and see even after being removed from the rest of the body, and that the flippers continued flipping.
I've seen the strength of animal life. The robin I shot took quite a while to lie still, and a steelhead my dad caught a long time ago, I swear, actually had a steel head. He clunked it against a rock innumerable time, and it wouldn't die. I don't even know how he finally finished it off.
Animals are tough. Humans are really one of the weaker species in many ways. Our flesh is weak. Only our minds have any chance of making us survive. and, it certainly doesn't continue thinking after head-body separation.

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