Life of Pi Quotes

the color of green

"After some minutes I crept up to the side of the boat. "Look for green," said the survival manual. Well, this was green. In fact, it was chlorophyll heaven. A green to outshine food colouring and flashing neon lights. A green to get drunk on. "Ultimately, a foot is the only good judge of land," pursued the manual." (Martel 286) Introduction Green is the color of nature, fertility, and life. It symbolizes self-respect and well being. Green can be the colour of balance as well. This specific colour relates to the novel Life of Pi because it is Pi's favourite colour and also the colour of Islam. However, the island is green, and according to the survival manual, this is a colour that one must watch out for. The colour green is extremly significant as well as helpful through out Pi's journey and holds a wide range of meaning behind it. "green is a lovely colour. It is the colour of Islam. It is my favorite colour." (Martel 285) Green is a highly significant colour in Pi's journey Expreses his love for green by admiring the land around him Explains that it is his favorite colour It represents his country QUOTATION 2 "The trees were beautiful. They were like none i had ever seen before. They had pale bark, and equally distributed branches that carried an amazing profusion of leaves. These leaves were brilliantly green, a green so bright and emerald that, next to it, vegetation during the monsoons was drab alive." (Martel 285) QOUTATION 3 "Since the trees continued to to stand, I continued to look. To take in green, after so much blue, was like music to my eyes." (Martel 285) The Colour Green : Life of Pi Yann Martel displays the use of symbolism through the colour green which relates to the carnivorous island Green is the official colour of Islam. Muslims believe that green represents home and safety. People turn to religion in times of need and despair. Religion gives people a sense of hope and guidance for what is to come in the future, therefore Pi came across the Algae Island in his most time of need. Before coming across the island, Pi wrote in his journal

"I know zoos are no longer in people's good graces. Religion faces the same problem. Certain illusions about freedom plague them both."

- spoken by Pi - Mr. Patel, Pi has recently told us, runs the Pondicherry Zoo, a place that Pi considered paradise as a boy. Pi has heard many people say negative things about zoos—namely that they deprive noble, wild creatures of their freedom and trap them in boring, domesticated lives—but he disagrees. Wild animals in their natural habitat encounter fear, fighting, lack of food, and parasites on a regular basis. - Given all these biological facts, animals in the wild are not free at all—rather, they are subject to a stringent set of social and natural laws that they must follow or die. Since animals are creatures of habit, zoo enclosures, with abundant food and water, clean cages, and a constant routine, are heaven for them. Given the chance, Pi says, most zoo animals do not ever try to escape, unless something in their cage frightens them. - We have already learned that Pi studied zoology and religion at the University of Toronto, and the above quote demonstrates just how closely aligned the two subjects are in his mind. He is quick to turn a discussion of animal freedom into a metaphor for people's religious inclinations. - Just as people misunderstand the nature of animals in the wild, they also misunderstand what it means for a person to be "free" of any religious system of belief. The agnostic (someone who is uncertain about the existence of god and does not subscribe to any faith) may think he is at liberty to believe or disbelieve anything he wants, but in reality he does not allow himself to take imaginative leaps. Instead, he endures life's ups and downs the way an animal in the wild does: because he has to. - A person of faith, on the other hand, is like an animal in an enclosure, surrounded on all sides by a version of reality that is far kinder than reality itself. Pi embraces religious doctrine for the same reason he embraces the safety and security of a zoo enclosure: it makes life easier and more pleasurable.

"TO CHOOSE DOUBT AS A PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE IS AKIN TO CHOOSING IMMOBILITY AS A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION."

Agnosticism is when you are unsure if you believe in God or not. Just like immobility in the way that you're stuck between a sate of belief and disbelief with no idea of where to go. You do not take a "leap of faith" or even a "leap of disbelief" to one side; you remain stuck in indecision.

the color of white

Christianity is represented by white. if you look closely pi mentions meeting the priest who brought him to christ. he was dressed in all white and the vesicles were white. Pi says an atheists last words were "White. White. l-l-love! My God!" plus the boat that keeps him safe for 227 days is white. another example is the indian flag. the indian flag is made up of 3 colors. orange, white and green. orange= survival or hindu white= christianity and green= islam .... so no its not blue blue is tranquility and calmness.

"I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life."

Pi explains that fear is life's only enemy. If Pi let his fear of Richard Parker take control he would have not survived on the ocean, because he wouldn't have the courage to train Richard Parker or he would have attempted to kill RP and end up losing the fight.

"Nothing distracted the meerkats from their little lives of pond staring and algae nibbling" (Chapter 92).

The meerkats, of course, are the followers of religion. They have given up rational thought, allowing Richard Parker to kill them, "devouring one meerkat after another, blood dripping from his mouth, and they, cheek to jowl with a tiger, were jumping up and down on the spot, as if crying, 'My turn! My turn! My turn!'" They had accepted the religion entirely.

When I corrected her [his foster mother], I told her that in fact she was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims" (Chapter 16)

"I know a woman here in Toronto who is very dear to my heart. She was my foster mother. I call her Auntieji and she likes that. She is Quebecoise. Though she has lived in Toronto for over thirty years, her French-speaking mind still slips on occasion on the understanding of English sounds. And so, when she first heard of Hare Krishnas, she didn't hear right. She heard "Hairless Christians", and that is what they were to her for many years. When I corrected her, I told her that in fact she was not so wrong; that Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, in the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims."

The Color 'orange' in Life of Pi

In Life of Pi, the color orange symbolizes hope and survival. Just before the scene in which the Tsimtsum sinks, the narrator describes visiting the adult Pi at his home in Canada and meeting his family. Pi's daughter, Usha, carries an orange cat. This moment assures the reader that the end of the story, if not happy, will not be a complete tragedy, since Pi is guaranteed to survive the catastrophe and father children of his own. The little orange cat recalls the big orange cat, Richard Parker, who helps Pi survive during his 227 days at sea. As the Tsimtsum sinks, Chinese crewmen give Pi a lifejacket with an orange whistle; on the boat, he finds an orange lifebuoy. The whistle, buoy, and tiger all help Pi survive, just as Orange Juice the orangutan provides a measure of emotional support that helps the boy maintain hope in the face of horrific tragedy.

Intenionality (intention) of the Narrative (Narrators)

Martel chooses a very complex point of view for Life of Pi. Or rather, multiple points of view. We start out in First Person (Central Narrator) Land - meaning, the guy speaking is telling his own story. This is the book's "author." He's sad, but then he comes across Pi's story. As the "Author's Note" continues, we realize, "Oh, this is not going to be about the author but about another guy named Pi Patel." OK. That would mean a First Person (Peripheral Narrator) since our narrator will tell us Pi's story. But before we can get too comfortable, a strange thing happens. With Pi's permission, the narrator relates Pi's story to us as if he were Pi. The majority of the book happens from Pi's point of view as retold by the author, who, we should state, is a character in the book. Every now and again, the author comments on Pi's story, presumably to remind us that he's still there. We end up with a hybrid of First Person (Peripheral Narrator) and First Person (Central Narrator) since the author, who is not Pi, tells the story as if he is Pi. Pretty clever, right? You may ask: "My brain just melted. What's the point?" Well, Martel wants, more than anything, to communicate the power of fiction. He wants to remind of us of the presence - everywhere around us - of fiction. He does this, partly, through a complex point of view. By having the author interject every now and again, Martel reminds us that what we're hearing is not fact but a story. And not just someone's story, but someone's story told by someone else. However, like good readers - and because Martel can spin a dang good yarn - we fall right back into Pi's story. We even forget, at times, that we're not listening directly to Pi. Martel wants to expose the following conundrum: even if you gave the "straight facts" of your life, you'd only be telling a version of it. It would probably be less beautiful, and, strangely enough, it might even be a less truthful version.

"'So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can't prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?' Mr. Okamoto: 'That's an interesting question?' Mr. Chiba: 'The story with animals.' Mr. Okamoto: 'Yes. The story with animals is the better story.' Pi Patel: 'Thank you. And so it goes with God'" (Chapter 99).

Mr. Pi Patel moves pretty quick here. Pi has said plenty already about how we interpret reality anyway and how we might as well choose the better story. But Pi - our clever sampler of world religions - takes it a step further. He argues a world with God makes a better story than a world without God. In cases where we have no definite proof, Pi says the best fiction is the best reality. Is Pi pulling a fancy trick? Or does he have a point?

"To be a castaway is to be a point perpetually at the centre of a circle. However much things may appear to change...the geometry never changes. Your gaze is always a radius. The circumference is ever great"

Pi describes the feeling, at sea, of being the absolute center. No matter where he is, the distance to the horizon remains the same. But the phrase "perpetually at the centre," for Pi, also suggests loneliness and spiritual abandonment. And such utter and extreme isolation, for Pi and anyone else, leads to madness.

"The lower you are, the higher your mind will want to soar" (Chapter 93).

Pi narrates these words in chapter 93, toward the end of his ordeal at sea and as he is reaching the depths of his despair. As Pi mentions just before this, his situation seems "as pointless as the weather." Up to now, Pi's tedious life at sea has been alleviated somewhat with sporadic new activities: killing fish, taming Richard Parker, creating drinkable water using the solar stills, and so on. More notably, the blind French castaway and the days spent on the floating island gave Pi a change in routine. But now the novelty has worn off. This section, in which nothing is expected to happen, drives Pi into utter hopelessness, yet he must continue living. At this point Pi turns to God and, Martel implies, invents the story that we have just read. His mind is desperate to escape the physical reality of continued existence on the lifeboat, and so it soars into the realm of fiction. At his lowest point, Pi reaches for the only remaining sources of salvation available to him: faith and imagination. Through the plot's remaining action, Martel emphasizes that such a strategy for self-preservation can actually be astonishingly effective. Immediately after this moment in the text, Pi lands on a beach in Mexico. Like a deus ex machina suddenly offering resolution in an ancient Greek play, the religion of storytelling is Pi's escape hatch, rescuing him from the depths of his misery.

The name 'Pi'

Piscine Molitor Patel's preferred moniker is more than just a shortened version of his given name. Indeed, the word Pi carries a host of relevant associations. It is a letter in the Greek alphabet that also contains alpha and omega, terms used in the book to denote dominant and submissive creatures. Pi is also an irrational mathematical number, used to calculate distance in a circle. Often shortened to 3.14, pi has so many decimal places that the human mind can't accurately comprehend it, just as, the book argues, some realities are too difficult or troubling to face. These associations establish the character Pi as more than just a realistic protagonist; he also is an allegorical figure with multiple layers of meaning.

"Boundless" versus "Strict Boundaries"

The situation of much of the novel is a contradiction between boundaries and freedom. Pi is surrounded by the boundless ocean and sky but is trapped in a tiny lifeboat, and within that lifeboat he has his own clear territory separate from Richard Parker. Pi marks his territory - the raft and the top of the tarpaulin - with his urine and "training whistle," and Richard Parker has his territory on the floor of the lifeboat. From the very start of his tale Pi muses on the nature of animal territories, especially regarding zoos, as his father is a zookeeper. Pi explains that animals love rituals and boundaries, and they don't mind being in a zoo as long as they accept that their enclosure is their territory. As a castaway at sea, Pi then uses his zoological knowledge to "tame" Richard Parker, presenting himself as the "alpha" of the lifeboat and keeping himself safe. This idea of boundaries moves into the psychological realm with Pi himself, as he (possibly) creates the character of Richard Parker as a way of dealing with the darkness and bestiality within himself. By making his brutal actions belong to a totally different being, and not even a human being, Pi sets a clear boundary in his mind. Richard Parker disappears when Pi first crawls ashore, showing that the tiger (if he is fictional) was a part of Pi that existed only on the lifeboat, where he needed to do terrible things to survive. Pi is then able to move on with his life - he goes to school, gets married, and has children - because of that boundary between himself and Richard Parker. He kept himself sane and human by symbolically cutting off the animal part of his nature.

"This house is more than a box full of icons. I started noticing small signs of conjugal existence. They were there all along, but I hadn't seen them because I wasn't looking for them."

The write is in Pi's house, but it takes him a long time to see that Pi is married. The narrator is therefore surprised by the family life Pi leads because this didn't fit the mental picture and assumptions that he had made about Pi and the kind of way he would live his life now, so many years after his experience. It is only when he knows of Pi's wife that he is able to reassess and begins to see what was in front of him all the time. This enforces the idea that sometimes even when we think we're paying attention, there are still things that go surprisingly unnoticed by the human eye.

"Life on a lifeboat isn't much of a life. It is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn't be more simple, nor the stakes higher" (Chapter 78).

This passage was chosen for its power and ability to really give the reader a sense of the quality of life in Pi's situation. The explanation and description of the constant presence of multiple emotions that Pi experiences on the lifeboat allow the reader to somewhat relate to and understand what he was going through. That last two sentences of this passage really say it all, when everything is so bad, anything seems great.

"without Richard Parker, I wouldn't be alive today to tell you my story" (Chapter 57). "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, without further ado, it is my pleasure and honour to present to you: THE PI PATEL, INDO-CANADIAN, TRANS-PACIFIC, FLOATING CIRCUUUUUSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!" (Chapter 57)

Though Richard Parker is quite fearsome, ironically his presence helps Pi stay alive. Alone on the lifeboat, Pi has many issues to face in addition to the tiger onboard: lack of food and water, predatory marine life, treacherous sea currents, and exposure to the elements. Overwhelmed by the circumstances and terrified of dying, Pi becomes distraught and unable to take action. However, he soon realizes that his most immediate threat is Richard Parker. His other problems now temporarily forgotten, Pi manages, through several training exercises, to dominate Parker. This success gives him confidence, making his other obstacles seem less insurmountable. Renewed, Pi is able to take concrete steps toward ensuring his continued existence: searching for food and keeping himself motivated. Caring and providing for Richard Parker keeps Pi busy and passes the time. Without Richard Parker to challenge and distract him, Pi might have given up on life. After he washes up on land in Mexico, he thanks the tiger for keeping him alive. Richard Parker symbolizes Pi's most animalistic instincts. Out on the lifeboat, Pi must perform many actions to stay alive that he would have found unimaginable in his normal life. An avowed vegetarian, he must kill fish and eat their flesh. As time progresses, he becomes more brutish about it, tearing apart birds and greedily stuffing them in his mouth, the way Richard Parker does. After Richard Parker mauls the blind Frenchman, Pi uses the man's flesh for bait and even eats some of it, becoming cannibalistic in his unrelenting hunger. In his second story to the Japanese investigators, Pi is Richard Parker. He kills his mother's murderer. Parker is the version of himself that Pi has invented to make his story more palatable, both to himself and to his audience. The brutality of his mother's death and his own shocking act of revenge are too much for Pi to deal with, and he finds it easier to imagine a tiger as the killer, rather than himself in that role.

My foot sank into clear water and met the rubber resistance of something flexible but solid. I put more weight down. The illusion would not give. I put my full weight on my foot. Still I did not sink. Still I did not believe.

When Pi reaches the island, he is so taken aback that even with the proof right in front of him, he's in disbelief. This is very similar to what's been mentioned earlier with an agnostic, they're so adapted to not believing in anything that even if they were staring directly into the face of God, they still might not believe what's right in front of them. Pi had spent over 200 days losing hope so it was difficult for him to believe it when he found it.