Agenda:
Discuss one of the 3 themes (Religion, Literature and Writing, Man and the Natural World) posted here with a partner and post a response to the questions that follow from your discussion.
Be sure to read Martel's essay "How I Wrote Life of Pi" (see link below.
Begin work on your multi-genre project.
Life of Pi Theme of Religion
At times, Life of Pi reads like a defense of religion.
Has science proved religion wrong? Here's a protagonist who believes
passionately in both zoology and religion. What about the fact of
multiple faiths? Don't these faiths contradict each other, cause wars,
and other problems? Here's a protagonist who is Muslim, Christian, and
Hindu – all at the same time. The book defends not only the common
spirit behind these three religions, but the rituals and ceremonies of
each. It's as if all three religions find harmonious common ground in
this character. Seems unlikely, but then again, the protagonist argues
passionately that the miraculous happens in our darkest moments.
Questions About Religion
- One beef atheists have with religious belief is that an all-powerful and benevolent God couldn't possibly allow evil. Wouldn't God stop evil things from happening? Does the fact of evil mean God isn't all-powerful? Or maybe God is not benevolent? How do you think Pi deals with this question? Or does he deal with it?
- Pi talks a lot about freedom in Part1, Chapter 4. Do you think religion makes Pi freer?
- In Part 1, Chapter 16, Pi discusses atman and Brahman, two aspects of the divine that always try to reach each other. Name some points during Pi's ordeal where you think atman, the divine in humans, meets Brahman saguna, the divine present in the world. Do you think there are points when the divine abandons Pi?
- The Catholic ritual of communion could be seen as somewhat cannibalistic. After all, believers do symbolically eat "the body of Christ." In what ways does Martel include cannibalism in this novel? Is it always a horrific, degrading thing? Or is it religious and sacred?
Life of Pi Theme of Literature and Writing
In his essay "How I Wrote Life of Pi,"
Yann Martel says, "I had neither family nor career to show for my 33
years on Earth. [...]. I was in need of a story. More than that, I was
in need of a Story." Martel's novel is full of ruminations on writing
and the meaning writing and literature give to our lives. In fact,
Martel's character, Pi, argues we should choose the most compelling
story when we have no confirmation of actual events. Suspicious?
Intrigued? You've fallen right into Martel's trap.
Questions About Literature and Writing
- What do you think actually happened in the lifeboat? What does your answer say about the power of fiction? (Over you, at least.)
- Have you ever read a very skillfully written novel that failed to move you? Do you agree with Martel in the "Author's Note" that passion in writing is just as important as skill?
- Unravel – and this might be pretty messy – the connections between belief and fiction in the novel. How does Martel intertwine the two? Should they be wound up together in this big, bright ball of yarn?
- Should Pi's various and conflicting stories make us question his reliability? Does it really matter, or is the story we get in the end all that all that is important?
Life of Pi Theme of Man and the Natural World
There's an interesting blurring of divisions between man and the natural world in Life of Pi.
Human beings become more animalistic; animals become more human. The
novel warns against projecting human values onto the animal world.
However, the novel also admits it's impossible to experience anything
without a way-of-being. The trick, therefore, is to make concessions to
other species. Animals in the zoo, while essentially retaining their
instincts, take on certain domestic, human-like traits. Human beings in
the wild, while still retaining a few human traits, become more
animalistic. Through this exchange human beings may learn – dare we say
it – a spiritual truth or two about themselves and the natural world.
Questions About Man and the Natural World
- Does Richard Parker seem more savage than Pi? Is Richard Parker more spiritually attuned than Pi?
- Think of all the times Pi mentions "the eating of flesh." How does he characterize this act?
- Explain how Pi could call the mako and blue sharks swimming below him "beautiful."
- Which settings in the book are "man-made"? Which are "natural"?
1. The second story, even though it's much less aesthetically pleasing, sounds more likely than the improbability of ending up on a lifeboat with a tiger. It makes us sad to abandon the first story, which was told with such grace and art, for the second one that makes us cringe, and that is the power of fiction.
ReplyDelete2. Yes, *cough* Fugitive Pieces *cough* we have. Yes, passion is just as important, maybe even more so. Readers are like dogs/horses/bees, they can smell fear, although in this case we can tell when a writer is passionate about what they're writing about and when they just...dont quite hit the nail on the head.
3. Martel intertwines fiction and belief by creating a story within a story - one of which is true and one of which is fiction.
4. It does not really matter because the story at the end is powerful in itself and it doesn't matter if it is true, because the story and the emotion is true and the story being real or not does not effect the emotions that it evokes.
Julie and Clara too
DeleteLiterature and writing
DeleteLiterature and Writing
ReplyDelete1) I think that Yann Martel doesn't even know what happened for sure. I'm sure he leans towards the main storyline with Richard Parker, but part of the point is that there's no one answer. Maybe it was the first story with the animals, maybe it was the second story with the people, or maybe it was all a giant hunger-induced hallucination. I like the main storyline the most, it's the best story. If this were supposed to be nonfiction I wouldn't pick that one, I'd go with the most plausible explanation. But it's fiction, it doesn't matter. You can be as implausible as you want as long as you're not just being stupid. It's about the story; not the truth.
2) I totally have. A lot of books that are supposed to be really sophisticated have been really boring for me. I do like to examine stories a little, but my favorite part of any fiction of any kind is enjoying the story. I think that anybody who tries to be a writer but doesn't have any passion for it would just be a silly person. I think skill, creativity, and passion are some of the most important things for writing anything.
3) Martel said that he likes to pick the most compelling story, not the most logical one. I feel like he likes to connect fiction with belief to create a spiritual connection, where it's not about logic, it's about feeling peaceful and connected. I think that fiction and spirituality certainly go well together.
4) As I said in question 1, the story is the most important part. Reliability is not essential in fiction. Pi's reliability is questionable, but it doesn't matter. It's a good story that you can enjoy, whether it seems logical or not.
Question 4 about literature and writing
ReplyDeleteThe reliability of Pi's story is questionable, but that's not what matters. People can never record "true" history, and many people accept this. Similarly, the importance of Pi's story lies in that it is a story; what "really happened" is unimportant.
1. In the beginning of the book when Pi and Richard Parker were first on the lifeboat it seemed that Pi attempted to be as civilized as possible, however the longer they spent on the ocean the more more and he seemed to fall pack onto survival instinct mode, for example when he peed on the boat in attempt to claim it as his territory. As for being spiritually attuned it seems that Pi is also very in tune with a spiritual world, blending concepts from all of the religions he delved into as a child into his own belief of god.
ReplyDelete2. He'd never eaten live meat. Even when he went to the extent of killing the fish and eating it, he felt disgusted at first and ashamed, but thankful because it would help him survive. When he gives the story of the man who eats the live bait and goes to the extent of cannibalism, the man is a monster. But in the same way Pi begins to partake in the "eating of flesh" and refers to the man as "my dear brother" shows how he accepts his animalistic nature. He acknowledges that he was reduced to a bestial state.
3. While the sharks that swam around him on the raft were dangerous they still carried a level of beauty and awe inspiring power that Pi was inspired by. This same concept was recreated by the island because even though it was beautiful it could have killed him.