Life of Pi By Yan Martel ISBN 1

Life of Pi By: Yan Martel ISBN – 1 -565 -11780 -8 Power. Point Presentation by Hannah Holmberg

Characters • Piscine “Pi” Patel: Pi is a young boy who is stranded at sea. He comes from a family of zoologists and is very interested in both animals and religion. He actively practices Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam. He finds strength in all three as he is shipwrecked in the ocean. • Richard Parker is a 450 lb Royal Bengal Tiger who is stranded with Pi. Richard Parker is both Pi’s greatest challenge at sea and his lifesaver.

Key Passage • “I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: “White, white! L-L-Love! My God!”—and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, “Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain, ” and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story. ”

Quote Theme • Atheists and Agnostics: Atheists believe in the absence of God, something that Pi admires because of their belief in something that cannot be proved. Pi condemns agnostics because of their decision to make uncertainty a way of life. Pi believes that without any sort of narrative to guide our lives, they are unrisen as “yeastless” bread. • Storytelling: In Pi’s view, storytelling is essential to his survival. He believes that stories contain truth that hard facts cannot approach. He prefers the more imaginative, although maybe less factual stories to the real stories.

Discussion Topics • Many of us live our lives based on some type of story. Do you live your life based on a story? • Is living for that story better than living without? • Do you think that people without a narrative to guide their lives are missing out on something bigger or better? • Are some stories more believable than others? Does that matter? • When someone tells a story, why are we entertained by it?