Life of Pi Questions and Answers
by Yann Martel

Recently Answered Questions

• Life of Pi
  do you agree with Pi's opinion that a zoo is more like a suburb that a zoo? Explain.
  In as sense, yes. The animals feel comfortable and have all they need to survive. They have pleasant neighbors meaning that predators are kept away. They have a supermarket nearby - meaning that...

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• Life of Pi
  Why do the other children make fun of Pi's name?
  Pi's full first name is Piscine which sounds like pissing. Piscine is the name of a famous swimming pool in France and he was named Piscine in honor of a family friend who was a swimmer. When it...

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• Life of Pi
  At the end of the book, what are some examples for symbol of Richard Parker? The hyena? The zebra? The Oran-gutan?
  You can read the book in terms of who the animals were supposed to represent. Richard Parker, the tiger is Pi. The hyena was the French cook, the zebra was the Chinese sailor who broke his leg...

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• Life of Pi
  What does the presence of artifacts from all three religions in Pi's house tell us about who Pi is as an adult?
  I believe that this question is asking about narration that happens in chapter 15 of the book. This chapter sees the author interjecting to describe Pi's house, and readers are told that the house...

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• Life of Pi
  Pi imagines that his brother would have teasingly called him Noah. How does Pi's voyage compare to the biblical story of Noah, who was spared from the flood while God washed away the sinners?
  There are a lot of potential directions that you could go with this answer. One comparison might be one of length. Pi and Noah are both on their respective lifeboats for a very long time. Pi is on...

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• Life of Pi
  How does Yann Martel shows the reader that a book can be both playful and serious in Life of Pi?
  Yann Martel's Life of Pi wonderfully blends seriousness and playfulness, as Pi must navigate the very serious reality of trying to survive on the raft while whimsical and fantastical events happen...

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• Life of Pi
  On page 7, what do you think is ironic about the waiter asking Pi if he just got off the boat?
  The waiter says this to Pi slightly in jest. Eating with fingers is common where Pi came from, and learning new customs can be difficult. It is clear to the waiter that Pi is new to the country and...

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• Life of Pi
  Richard Parker was quiet for the first three days on the boat. What did Pi conclude the reason was?
  Richard Parker may sound like an accountant, but in actual fact he's a fearsome, 450-pound tiger accompanying Pi in a lifeboat along with other animals who've survived the recent sinking of their...

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• Life of Pi
  What aspect of human nature does the hyena symbolize in Life of Pi?
  The hyena represents the selfish survival instinct that many human beings no doubt feel when they are stranded and the odds of survival seem dubious. Many times, the Hyena is portrayed as the most...

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• Life of Pi
  Why does Pi believe the most dangerous animal in the zoo is Man? What does that say about Pi’s relationship with the animals versus people and society?
  In The Life of Pi, the title character had spent his whole life in and around zoos before his family left India. Pi’s father, who runs the zoo, has taught Pi to have tremendous respect for the...

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• Life of Pi
  How is the will to live demonstrated throughout the entirety of Life of Pi?
  Life of Pi is a story about survival, and its protagonist, Pi, is an embodiment of the will to survive. It would be wrong to say that Pi never gives up in Life of Pi: “You might think I lost all...

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• Life of Pi
  In Life of Pi, when Pi grows up in Pondicherry, he is fortunate to have a number of older men who act as mentors. Choose any three of the men and discuss the role that each one plays in forming Pi's understanding of the world.
  Pi’s earliest mentor is Francis Adirubasamy, whom he calls Mamaji. Mamaji is a former champion swimmer who tried to teach Pi’s mother and father to swim, without success. When Pi reaches the age of...

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• Life of Pi
  What is the relationship between religion and zoology, and how we are given a supremacy or inferiority by religion in Life of Pi?
  The relationship between science and religion is one of the most profound dichotomies that can be found within the work. Throughout his experience, Pi explores their apparent contrast,...

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• Life of Pi
  How does studying religion and studying zoology become the same in Life of Pi? Justify your view using examples.
  I can't really support the idea that studying science and religion become the same for Pi in this book. In my opinion, studying science and religion always were the same thing for Pi. Pi has an...

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• Life of Pi
  How does Pi's belief in religion help shape his identity?
  Pi's whole identity is strongly shaped by religion. A deeply spiritual person, he seeks a higher truth and isn't particularly fussy about how he attains it. Whether it's through Christianity,...

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• Life of Pi
  Explain the significance of Mamaji's stories about the swimming pool.
  Mamaji is a term that translates to "Honored Uncle," and it is Pi's nickname for Francis Adirubasamy, who was a close family friend to Pi's parents. Mamaji is a world class swimmer, and relates...

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• Life of Pi
  Why has Martel chosen to begin with a fictionalized authors note?
  This question could conceivably have many answers, and of course only Martel himself would know which ones were true. However, when we see what a powerful effect the author's note has on the text,...

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• Life of Pi
  How did Pi try to help Richard Parker in Life of Pi?
  Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger, and Piscine “Pi” Patel, the Indian boy, have a symbiotic or mutually beneficial relationship during their long boat trip together. Although Richard Parker is a...

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• Life of Pi
  Consider how you would have characterized Pi Patel in the first few sections of the novel, when his family was still in India. Now compare that to how you might characterize him now. What has changed about Pi’s character? What kind of person is he...
  I would classify young Piscine "Pi" Patel, as he is portrayed at the beginning of this classic novel, as a bullied child, largely due to his birth name, hence him going by "Pi"; a deep thinker; and...

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• Life of Pi
  How does Pi's character development contribute to major themes in Life of Pi? Themes: survival, faith, storytelling, freedom, and science versus religion.
  It is through Pi's character development that Yann Martel grows and discusses each of these themes; he is the mode of communication through which the themes are shown. Pi, at the beginning of the...

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• Life of Pi
  What do these quotes from the book Life of Pi mean? "For evil in the open is but evil from within that has been let out. The main battlefield for good is not the open ground of the public arena but the small clearing of each heart."   "I...
  One of the remarkable aspects of this story is the number of highly thoughtful and often provocative quotes that it contains as Pi shares with us his strange experience and what he learned as a...

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• Life of Pi
  What does this quote from Life of Pi mean, and can it be related to everyday life? "Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it."
  This is one of the more famous quotes that have emerged from this incredible prize-winning novel. The quote itself is actually slightly ironic, as it refers to the relationship between life and...

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• Life of Pi
  In Martel's Life of Pi, how does writing a diary help Pi Patel build on his leadership skills?    
  At the end of chapter 73, Pi first divulges the fact that he had started a diary after about a week alone at sea. Pi claims that he wrote about "practical stuff" (208) such as what he caught for...

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• Life of Pi
  In Life of Pi, the title character repeatedly calls the usefulness of "reason" into question. How does Pi criticize "reason" throughout the novel?
  Well done for noticing this. It seems that the whole novel presents the power of reason alone as being unsuitable and incapable of processing and dealing with the vicissitudes of life as...

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• Life of Pi
  How are storytelling and religion related?
  Storytelling and religion are very deeply related, both in this novel and in general. In general, all religions have sacred stories at their hearts. We call these myths; they range from the...

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• Life of Pi
  In Life of Pi, what 3 religions does Pi follow and why?
  Pi is an interesting kid, because he finds much to be admired in many different religions, and decides to become members of three prominent ones. This disturbs his parents, and the leaders of each...

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• Life of Pi
  In Life of Pi, what powerful forces or obstacles does Pi struggle against?
  Pi narrates both his early life and his ordeal on the lifeboat. As a sensitive boy, he seems at the mercy of all forces. His full name, Piscine, is a terrible burden (because it sounds like...

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• Life of Pi
  What current event could be compared to Life of Pi?
  I think that some of the most profound parallels between Martel's work and the modern setting would rest in the search for meaning after tragedy. Pi's struggle for meaning and his transformation...

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• Life of Pi
  In Life of Pi, what is the significance of Pi's unusual name?
  Pi's full name is Piscine Molitor Patel. He was named after a family friend, who loved to swim and whose favorite swimming pool was the Piscine Molitor in Paris. Instead of giving their son their...

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• Life of Pi
  Pondicherry is described as an anomaly, the former capital of what was once French India. In terms of storytelling, what makes this town a appropriate choice for Pi's upbringing in Life of Pi?
  Pondicherry is an appropriate locale for Pi's upbringing and childhood because it offered a lot of diversity. The book takes place right around 1970s India, and it is a rough place. Not with gangs...

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• Life of Pi
  What are some examples of internal and external conflict in the book Life of Pi by Yan Martel?
  The external conflicts in this story mostly center around the extreme survival situation that Pi finds himself in. He has to worry about battling constant danger and impending death while he is on...

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• Life of Pi
  Identify two ways that Pi tries to kill a flying fish.
  Pi tries to use a piece of his leather shoe for bait (along with fishing tackle provided to him in the lifeboat), a sign of his dwindling supplies and growing desperation. I believe this may be the...

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• Life of Pi
  How can I relate Life of Pi to real life?
  I think one way to relate The Life of Pi to real life is to think about Pi's outlook on religion. Pi claims that he is Christian, Muslim, and Hindu . . . at the same time. Every time I see the...

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• Life of Pi
  What are some similarities between Life of Pi and Hamlet?
  Life of Pi and Hamlet have many similarities, even though on the surface they appear to be two completely different stories. For example, both stories center around one main character, a male, and...

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• Life of Pi
  What is the significance of swimming in Life of Pi?
  In Yann Martel's novel The Life of Pi, swimming is important to the title character because of his uncle. He wasn't his biological uncle, but a good friend of the family's. Pi grew up calling him...

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• Life of Pi
  What moral theories are applicable to Life of Pi?
  Morality is a system by which people determine right and wrong behavior. A moral theory explains why a certain behavior is right or wrong, and moral theories are absolutely applicable to the book...

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• Life of Pi
  In Martel's Life of Pi, what evidence shows how religion helps Pi survive his ordeal at sea?  
  Pi is a very spiritual and religious teenager. He converts to Hinduism, Islam and Christianity! It is no surprise, then, that he would turn to God during the biggest trial of his life. Pi is also...

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• Life of Pi
  In Yann Martel's Life of Pi, how do each of the animals on the lifeboat represent a different part of Pi's personality? The animals are the hyena, the zebra, Richard Parker, and the orangutan.
  That's an interesting question that deviates from the normal connections that people make to these animals. Normally, people connect these animals to real people that Pi shares in an alternate...

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• Life of Pi
  Once at sea, how does Pi draw upon his experience with animals, and his faith, in order to survive? And, how does his success reflect the contradictions and balance in his view on life?
  This question is asking more than one thing, so this answer will address the first question in the post. Once Pi is in the lifeboat with Richard Parker, he is forced to draw on the knowledge that...

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• Life of Pi
  Pi explains ways in which religions and zoos are both steeped in illusion. Discuss some of the other ways in which these two fields find unlikely compatibility.
  Some of the critics of religion mention how it can make people entrenched in their own ideas, particularly in regard to science. Historically, religious organizations like the Catholic Church have...

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• Life of Pi
  Besides the loss of his family possessions, what else did Pi lose When the Tsimtsum sank in Life of Pi? What did he gain?
  When the Japanese cargo ship Tsimtsum sank, Pi Patel lost much, but he gained a little, too. Besides his family's possessions, including most of the zoo animals they were transporting to Canada, Pi...

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• Life of Pi
  In terms of storytelling, what makes this town an appropriate choice for Pi's upbringing in Life of Pi?
  Pondicherry, India is a city with a very diverse population. It has changed hands frequently between the French and the British, but it is now Indian. It is also a tourist destination and is home...

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• Life of Pi
  Follow the relationship between pi and richard parker. They endure over two hundred days of hardship together, but in the end, Richard Parker leaves and Pi feels abandoned. Why is this significant?
  During their months together at sea, Pi formed a bond with the Bengal tiger. Pi never forgot that Richard Parker was a 450-pound carnivorous beast, and they never were on friendly terms. Yet in...

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• Life of Pi
  How would the novel's flavor be different if Pi's sole surviving animal had been the Zebra or Orange Juice in Life of Pi?
  In the final chapter of Life of Pi, having come to the end of his fantastic, harrowing journey, Pi presents the possibility to the rapt interviewer that his entire story is an allegorical account...

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• Life of Pi
  In his introductory note, Yann Martel says,"This book was born as I was hungry." What sort emotional nourishment might Life of Pi have given to its author?
  Canadian author Yann Martel believes that there is a strong relationship between religion, faith, and storytelling. I’ve always been struck how . . . religion is profoundly narrative. All...

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• Life of Pi
  Did Pi's tale alter your beliefs about God? If so, in what way?
  There is no single correct answer to this question. It is definitely the type of question that is asking for an individual reader's opinion. Additionally, the answer to this question is either...

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• Life of Pi
  What is the significance of Pi's unusual name in Life of Pi?  
  Pi's full name is Piscine Molitor Patel. Pi's parents named him after a family friend of theirs who loved to swim. Well, that's not exactly true. The family friend loved to swim and his favorite...

  2 Educator Answers

• Life of Pi
  In Life of Pi, how did Piscine Molitor overcome the stigma associated with his name at his new school?
  Pi Patel's full name is Piscine Molitor Patel; he was named after a famous swimming pool and hotel complex in Paris. His unusual first name sounds a lot like "pissing," and so, unsurprisingly, he...

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• Life of Pi
  In Life of Pi, how does faith and imagination rescue Pi from the depth of his misery?
  Imagination enabled Pi to take what was an awful tragedy, a horrific experience, and a living nightmare, and turn it into an endearing tale of survival, friendship, and endurance. The harsh...

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• Life of Pi
  Is Pi a hero by the end of the book Life of Pi?
  It depends what you mean by hero. Over the course of the story, Pi does do some incredible things including saving his own life, escaping peril, and caring for the tiger that resides on the boat...

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