Pi And The Tiger example essay topic

The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again.

The Japanese authorities that interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them 'the truth. ' After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional - but is it more true? Pi, short for Piscine Monitor Patel, is a young Indian boy growing up in South India in the 1970's. His father owns a zoo and, with increasing political unrest in India, decides to sell up and emigrate to Canada.

They accompany the wild animals on board the ship on their journey to the new zoos in North America. The ship sinks and Pi finds himself the only human survivor on board a life raft that contains, rather remarkably, a zebra, a large motherly orangutan, a frenzied hyena and a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Of course, the law of nature eventually rules and Pi ends up as the tiger's last remaining occupant. He must use all his knowledge of zoology and animal behavior to create boundaries and survive.

Which he does for 227 days. In Pondicherry, India, Piscine "Pi" Patel enjoys his childhood as the son of the local zookeeper means plenty of fun things to do. In that role, Pi learns a great deal about the wild beasts that his father keeps. Though a Hindu, Pi also finds pleasure in learning about Christianity and Islam and willingly practices the three belief systems over the objections of his family and religious leaders. Now sixteen, Pi's father decides to relocate to Canada. His dad sells most of the animals, but takes a few with them on their sea voyage.

However, disaster strikes with the ship sinking. Pi accompanied by a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra and Richard Parker the 450-pound Bengal share a raft. Richard eliminates the other animals leaving the raft to Pi and him. With water everywhere and no land in sight, Pi will have to use everything he knows about tigers to stay alive. If he makes it to land, Pi wonders whether to tell the truth about his harrowing adventure or make up something more comfortable for the authorities.

This novel centers on young Pi Patel, an Indian boy whose family owns a zoo in Pondicherry, India, but decides to move to Canada when he is 16. They manage to sell many of the animals, some of which are also bound for Canada or the United States; they are all aboard the same Japanese cargo ship the Tsimtsum. As soon as the boat reaches the open Pacific, it sinks. Pi manages to get aboard a lifeboat, and then discovers he shares it with a wounded zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger. Soon only the tiger is left, and Pi does not want to be the next meal. So his job is to act as zookeeper, catching enough fish and gathering enough fresh water to feed both the tiger and himself, as well as establishing separate territories for himself and the tiger.

And then there is the long, slow drift across the ocean. It is not giving away anything to say that Pi and the tiger, named Richard Parker make it to Mexico, this is given to the readers at the end of part one so that they focus on the story as opposed to worrying themselves sick with the suspense of whether they will survive or not. It took 227 days, a truly amazing feat of survival. The tiger is Pi's suffering, his burden in life. We all have such a bundle that we carry around, and we are very much in danger of being attacked and swallowed by it.

Pi slowly learned to contain it, not by ignoring it or denying its existence, but by seeing it clearly as something that can be managed with bravery and a cool head. He drifted on the ocean's currents, just as we must follow our practice where ever it leads us. He didn't try to control where he was, but he did pay careful attention to his surroundings, taking precautions when storms were coming and doing his best to preserve his food and water, and provide protection for himself. He recognized early on that his actions had consequences, and could be fatal if he made a major mistake. Similarly, we must realize and see clearly how our actions affect ourselves and the world, taking care not to do damage in our voyage through life. Pi lives only in the present.

What else can he do? He stops worrying about his destination, since it is unknown. He stops worrying about the past, since it already happened. He spends his energy with maximum utility just in surviving (and indeed, living) each day.

It's a simple existence, and it doesn't bring many pleasures, but Pi notes every occurrence and finds creative ways to adapt to each new event. Stripped of his old lifestyle, he finds all sorts of new skills (and indeed, freedoms) that he didn't know he had. He suffers greatly. We all do.

That is the First Noble Truth. But Pi moves all the way through the Four Noble Truths, learning to let go of everything he knew or thought he knew, thus attaining a state where his pain was something to observe, not something to suffer from. He begins to reach states of higher consciousness due to the sheer blankness of his daily life. This corresponds to deep meditation and the levels of j hana attainable with powerful concentration. The bizarre island that he encounters represents the false states of rapture that mediators can become attached to. Higher states of consciousness in meditation can be seductively appealing, working against the effort to stop clinging.

It is a dangerous time in a meditator's development. Pi sustains himself from this island for a while until he realizes in horror that it will kill him. He makes the correct choice to let go even of the rapturous pleasure he has found after so long drifting in the seemingly endless sea. Soon after, at long last, he reaches land. He attains Enlightenment.

The tiger bounds off into the jungle -- Pi's suffering is released completely. He is nursed back to health and lives a relative normal life, with the distinction that his experience has fully awakened him. He walks as a true adult among the many spiritual children of the world. He still has the normal problems, challenges, and disappointments of life; Enlightenment does not mean everything is perfect. But Pi can bring forth what is needed in each moment, and does not suffer from the pains, failures, and sorrows of being human.

He lives through them without getting caught in them. (Similarly, he is fully awake for all the wonderful pleasures and intimacies of life. And in all occurrences, he brings a deep compassion and love for all beings). The best part of the story is the end. (Stop reading if you don't want to know). This is a true story.

It doesn't need all the longwinded interpretation you just read. It stands on its own as truth. Maybe it's just a story of a boy and a tiger on a boat. Either way, Pi Patel shows us the compelling power of the human spirit in the face of deep suffering.