Life of Pi Group

Question:

luis32
luis32

How do Mr. Patel's zoo keeping abilities compare to his parenting skills. Does the lesson with the goat and tiger prepare him for his biggest challenge?

How do Mr. Patel's zookeeping abilities compare to how he raises Pi and his parenting skills? Does the goat and tiger experience prepare him for his more dangerous experience of his life?

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Posted by luis32 on Wednesday May 16, 2007 at 7:20 AM and tagged with characters, life of pi.

Answers:


  1. merehughes Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Best answer as selected by question asker.

    Mr Patel's parenting skills are on par with his zoo keeping skills - adequate but not brilliant. He makes sure that the animals and his sons have a comfortable environment with a minimum of danger and enough food.

    The goat and the tiger experience do little for Pi in preparing him for the more dangerous experience of his life. The boys hardly needed to be shown dangerous a tiger can be. The father is merely giving the boys a visual point - however, having been raised in a zoo, the boys already knew a great deal about wild animal behavior.

    What keeps Pi alive on the boat is a not the lesson in the wildness and unpredictability of animals but the day to day needs of the animals. Through his father, Pi has learned how to be a zookeeper. He has also learned how to become the alpha animal to keep himself safe. All of his childhood experiences living in a zoo contribute more to his staying alive than his father's lesson in the nature of animals.

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    Posted by merehughes on Wednesday May 16, 2007 at 7:41 AM