Life of Pi

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Life of Pi

• By Yan Martel

ISBN 1-565-11780-8 PowerPoint Presentation by
Hannah Holmberg
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Characters

• Piscine Pi Patel Pi is a young boy who is
  stranded at sea. He comes from a family of
  zoologists and is very interested in both animals
  and religion. He actively practices Hinduism,
  Christianity, and Islam. He finds strength in all
  three as he is shipwrecked in the ocean.
• Richard Parker is a 450 lb Royal Bengal Tiger who
  is stranded with Pi. Richard Parker is both Pis
  greatest challenge at sea and his lifesaver.

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Key Passage

• I can well imagine an atheists last words
  White, white! L-L-Love! My God!and the
  deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if
  he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays
  beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try
  to explain the warm light bathing him by saying,
  Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the
  b-b-brain, and, to the very end, lack
  imagination and miss the better story.

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Quote ? Theme

• Atheists and AgnosticsAtheists believe in the
  absence of God, something that Pi admires because
  of their belief in something that cannot be
  proved. Pi condemns agnostics because of their
  decision to make uncertainty a way of life. Pi
  believes that without any sort of narrative to
  guide our lives, they are unrisen as yeastless
  bread.
• StorytellingIn Pis view, storytelling is
  essential to his survival. He believes that
  stories contain truth that hard facts cannot
  approach. He prefers the more imaginative,
  although maybe less factual stories to the real
  stories.

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Discussion Topics

• Many of us live our lives based on some type of
  story. Do you live your life based on a story?
• Is living for that story better than living
  without?
• Do you think that people without a narrative to
  guide their lives are missing out on something
  bigger or better?
• Are some stories more believable than others?
  Does that matter?
• When someone tells a story, why are we
  entertained by it?