Yann Martel blurs the line between fiction and nonfiction in hisnovel Life of Pi. After reading the novel, I believe that the Pi’s storyis nonfiction. Pi’s story about being stranded on a life boat with atiger, a hyena, an orangutan, and a zebra with a broken leg seems to havemore truth in it then the story about a cook, a sailor, and Pi’s motherstranded together. There are three main reasons that support my theory.
First, the animal story provides you with a whole encyclopedia full offacts. Second, the animal story goes into a lot more detail then the otherstory. And third, I want to believe it. The animal story provides all different kinds of facts such as “Ofthe five senses, tigers rely the most on their sight. Their eyesight isvery keen, especially in detecting motion” shows that Pi has a largeknowledge about tigers (Martel 108). When people know more facts aboutsomething they have a tendency to believe it.
It is easier to believesomething that is based on facts, then to believe something that is basedon nothing. “Hyenas attack in packs whatever animal can be run down” showsthat Pi knows about hyenas (116). Now, I’m sure that Pi Patel is not theonly human being that has knowledge about tigers and hyenas, but it isextremely unusual for a boy to know so much about all different types ofanimals, which could then back up the fact that Yann Martel claims thatPi’s father owns a zoo. There is an unbelievable amount of details in this story. ” Hiscarrot orange face had a broad bridge and a pink nose, and it was made upwith brazen flair” is used by Pi in order to describe the greatness of thetiger (151). Pi also adds that “Wavy dabs of black circled the face in apattern that was striking yet subtle, for it brought less attention toitself that it did to the one part of the face left untouched by it, thebridge, whose rufous luster shone nearly with a radiance” gives a lot ofdetail that I cannot possibly see how a boy could come up with such gravedetail without actually experiencing it first hand.
Also when Pi explainsabout how the tiger became constipated and then relieved himself gives manydetails, almost too many (214). The more detail you give about somethingthe more believable it is because you can then picture it in your mind, sowhen you have a whole book of details in which you can picture all of them,then the book seems to be very believable. When Pi tells about the zebra”It had a two-foot-wide hole in its body, a fistula like a freshly eruptedvolcano, spewed half-eaten organs glistening in the light of giving off adull, dry shine, yet, in its strictly essential parts, it continued to pumpwith life, if weakly” it literally paints you an unpleasant picture aboutwhat this zebra is going through (128). He also gives detail when tellingabout how he killed his first fish while being stranded on the lifeboat aswell as his emotional struggle with killing a living creature (183).
“Onthe day when I estimated it was Mother’s birthday, I sang “Happy Birthday”to her out loud” is a detail to the whole book which could have been veryeasily been left out, but it wasn’t (209). It was put in the story inorder to help you understand Pi and that through all of the ordeals that hehas gone through he still longs for his family. The last reason that I believe that Pi’s animal story is true isbecause well, I want to. You can believe in anything if you want to. Thestory, Life of Pi, has the same concept as landing on the moon. We honestlytruly don’t know if we really did land on the moon, unless we were one ofthe astronauts.
Same with Pi, we honestly truly do not know if Pi reallysurvived 227 days on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, unless we are PiPatel. However, you go and ask ten people today if we landed on the moonor not…and I guarantee at least nine out of those ten people well say “Ofcourse we landed on the moon!” Why will they say that? Because they believethat we landed on the moon, .
