Not trapped in a zoo, not trapped in a building, not
trapped in a cage, but trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal
tiger at sea. How long would you
survive? Would you be able to overcome
your fear and try to assuage the situation?
Would the absurdity begin to make you think it all a dream? Yann Martel’s 2001 novel Life of Pi is such a story.
Playing with itself intra-textually, Martel’s story raises more
questions than it answers, in the process telling a tale of survival at sea
like has never been told.
Piscine Molitor Patel, more happily called Pi, is a
young boy growing up in Pondicherry,
India. His parents own a zoo, a facet of life that
gives pleasure to an existence that is otherwise filled with taunts about his
name. Deciding to move to Canada to better
their prospects, one day Pi’s parents pack the animals in a freighter and head
out to sea. They never arrive on Western
shores, however. The ship capsizing, Pi is left afloat with only himself, a
lifeboat, and a few animals—a hyena, orangutan, zebra, and Bengal
tiger included. His adventure has only begun.
