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I need to write a page response on this by tomorrow

Pi asks this very question to his two inquisitors at the end.  He asks, "which story do you prefer?  Which is the better story, the story with the animals or the story without animals?"  Mr. Chiba responds, "The story with animals," and Mr. Okamoto agrees.  I agree also.  Obviously, the animal version is much more interesting; we have an entire novel telling it.  Whenever I explain that the book is about a little boy that gets stuck on a life boat with a tiger, they are immediately interested. 

However, I believe the non-animal version more.  It seems more likely.  It is horrific enough for Pi to have invented a better version of it in order to cope with the awful realities he had to endure.  It's much easier to say that a hyena killed a monkey than "I watched my mother murdered by an evil Frenchman."  Plus, Martel sets us up for good storytelling through the beginning of the book:  Pi takes part in 3 different religions, taking the bits and pieces that he liked best to fit his view.  Pi did the same thing with his story; created another reality that fit his capabilities to cope.  Bottom line for me?  I wish the animals story was real, but suspect that unfortunately it wasn't.