I bought a copy of Yann Martel's Life of Pi when it came out in 2001 and Self 1996 but will confess I got around to reading neither. Suppose I like to support Canadian writers. It took, it seems the production of this movie to garner the author enough attention to gain him a Booker Prize in 2012. Funny, I just finished reading about Lachlan MacQuarry, Viceroy to Australia who earlier served in Pondicherry, India. As the movie says, an Indian from the French part of India living in an Indian section of Montreal, Quebec.
Before I watch this DVD a second time I should read the book. There’s a lot happening here and since only one of the principal characters has the power of speech a great deal of the dialogue is stream of consciousness in Pi’s mind. The overall effect is somewhat overwhelming however the book is excellent reading.
The book begins with two joint themes: the origin of Pi’s name and the philosophy of zoo keeping. Children can be cruel and parents do their children a disservice when they saddle them with odd-sounding names. Pi was named for his Uncle's favourite public pool in Paris a word that phonetically sounds like "Pissing". There are countries that now refuse to register controversial or unusual children's names, but our subject had no such luck. We tend to anthropomorphize animals and romanticize their desire to be free. Animals can be treated cruelly but arguments over whether captivity in a well-run zoo is inhumane continue to this day. Would the animal, given its ability to choose, rather live in the wild or in captivity and is their return to their cages a conditioned response? Certainly most animals live much longer in captivity than they would in the wild due to the care of zoo vets, lack of parasites, and regular proper nutrition.
The book moves on to describe his inquiries into religion. Pi sees no conflict in being actively involved in at least 4 distinct religious observances simultaneously. As his brother says, (Hindu) Temple on Thursday, Mosque on Friday, Synagogue on Saturday, Church on Sunday; three more and you could be on vacation the rest of your life. He requests baptism and a prayer rug. Whereas Hinduism has millions of God’s, the others believe in One God so Pi reasons in going to different holy places he is worshipping the same God. The altercation that occurs when three of his mentors meet Pi and his family in Chapter 24 is hilarious.
As an aside billions of people give no second thought to the fact that they keep a former wolf in their home, the domesticated dog. The dog retains its canine habits adopting its human family as its pack and their home as its territory. We do object to its flagging its indoor territory with scent markers but every dog walker can testify to the fact that they mark it out of doors. I would argue that keeping a large dog in a small city apartment, with little opportunity to run free, is inhumane and many dogs suffer stress because of it. On the other hand the animals in a zoo may become sensitized to the presence of humans in close proximity but remain savage, undomesticated creatures of the wild. Whether a cat is ever truly domesticated is open for debate.
Part 2 jumps over the sinking of Pi’s ship to his life drifting in a lifeboat on the Pacific Ocean. From the Malay Peninsula to Mexico the Pacific is 11,000 miles wide. A drifting lifeboat should make it in just over 2 years, we know that Bligh and his men did make it after the Bounty Mutiny near Figi.
The second half of the book became tedious for me so I put it down for months. Read the last 100 pages in two sittings. Pi’s conversations with the two Japanese investigators make a sick and recovering boy sound acutely intelligent and just a little flippant. One can believe they had trouble buying his story. Interesting interpretation of his second story. And there the book ends.
Before I watch this DVD a second time I should read the book. There’s a lot happening here and since only one of the principal characters has the power of speech a great deal of the dialogue is stream of consciousness in Pi’s mind. The overall effect is somewhat overwhelming however the book is excellent reading.
The book begins with two joint themes: the origin of Pi’s name and the philosophy of zoo keeping. Children can be cruel and parents do their children a disservice when they saddle them with odd-sounding names. Pi was named for his Uncle's favourite public pool in Paris a word that phonetically sounds like "Pissing". There are countries that now refuse to register controversial or unusual children's names, but our subject had no such luck. We tend to anthropomorphize animals and romanticize their desire to be free. Animals can be treated cruelly but arguments over whether captivity in a well-run zoo is inhumane continue to this day. Would the animal, given its ability to choose, rather live in the wild or in captivity and is their return to their cages a conditioned response? Certainly most animals live much longer in captivity than they would in the wild due to the care of zoo vets, lack of parasites, and regular proper nutrition.
The book moves on to describe his inquiries into religion. Pi sees no conflict in being actively involved in at least 4 distinct religious observances simultaneously. As his brother says, (Hindu) Temple on Thursday, Mosque on Friday, Synagogue on Saturday, Church on Sunday; three more and you could be on vacation the rest of your life. He requests baptism and a prayer rug. Whereas Hinduism has millions of God’s, the others believe in One God so Pi reasons in going to different holy places he is worshipping the same God. The altercation that occurs when three of his mentors meet Pi and his family in Chapter 24 is hilarious.
As an aside billions of people give no second thought to the fact that they keep a former wolf in their home, the domesticated dog. The dog retains its canine habits adopting its human family as its pack and their home as its territory. We do object to its flagging its indoor territory with scent markers but every dog walker can testify to the fact that they mark it out of doors. I would argue that keeping a large dog in a small city apartment, with little opportunity to run free, is inhumane and many dogs suffer stress because of it. On the other hand the animals in a zoo may become sensitized to the presence of humans in close proximity but remain savage, undomesticated creatures of the wild. Whether a cat is ever truly domesticated is open for debate.
Part 2 jumps over the sinking of Pi’s ship to his life drifting in a lifeboat on the Pacific Ocean. From the Malay Peninsula to Mexico the Pacific is 11,000 miles wide. A drifting lifeboat should make it in just over 2 years, we know that Bligh and his men did make it after the Bounty Mutiny near Figi.
The second half of the book became tedious for me so I put it down for months. Read the last 100 pages in two sittings. Pi’s conversations with the two Japanese investigators make a sick and recovering boy sound acutely intelligent and just a little flippant. One can believe they had trouble buying his story. Interesting interpretation of his second story. And there the book ends.
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