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I chose the swarm of flying fish as a significant symbol in the novel because it represented hope. Whenever the fish appeared he not only received food from the actual fish but was also able to use them towards catching bigger bait than he used to tame Richard Parker allowing him to him live and be able to hope for land and have the necessary ingredients to a survive. Assignment 2 (peg. 14) “The Benedictory Zoo was the source of some pleasure and many headaches for Mr.. Santos Patella, founder, owner, director head of a staff of fifty-three, and my ether.
To me, it was paradise on earth. I have nothing but the fondest memories of growing up in a zoo. I lived the life of a prince. ” (peg. 100) “l don’t understand. For days the ship had pushed on, bullish indifferent to its surroundings. The sun shone, rain fell, winds blew, currents flowed, the sea built up hills, the sea dug up valleys-the Tsunami did not care. It moved with the slow, massive confidence of a continent. ” (peg. 235) “The ship slid by for what seemed like a mile, a mile of high, black canyon wall, a mile of castle fortification with not a single sentinel to notice us languishing in the moat.
I fired Off rocket flare, but I aimed it poorly. Instead of surging over he bulwarks and exploding in the captain’s face, it ricocheted off the ship’s side and went straight into the Pacific, where it died with a hiss. I blew on my whistle with all my might. I shouted at the top of my lungs. All to no avail. ” (peg. 256) “In the near distance I saw trees. I did not react. I was certain it was an allusion that a few blinks would make disappear. The trees remained. In fact, they grew to be a forest. They were part of a low-lying island. I pushed myself up. I continued to disbelieve my eyes. ” (peg. 86) ” ‘So farewell, Richard Parker, farewell.
God be with you. ‘ The people who found me took me to their village, and there some women gave me a bath and scrubbed me so hard that I wondered if they realized I was naturally brown-skinned and not a very dirty white boy… The next day a police car came and brought me to a hospital, and there my story ends. ” Throughout the entire novel the setting impacts the meaning of the work by making a point to the reader how challenging of a time Pi actually has, from seeing his family for the last time sink in a ship to surviving on a boat for half a year and almost being accused but then realizing he wasn’t noticed by anybody.
The setting, such as the carnivorous island towards the end of the novel really brings out the true meaning of a challenge, threatening life to the end and in some cases, actually ending it. Although the setting seems pleasant at the beginning, it seems too perfect, foreshadowing future conflicts. But the setting really demonstrates to the reader how much pain and suffering someone can endure causing the reader to feel sympathy for Pip’s deadly odyssey. Assignment 3 I(peg. 5) “It’s true that he had all new animals blessed by a priest and there were too mall shrines at the zoo, one to Lord Changes and one to Human, gods likely to please a zoo director, … ” 2(peg. 98) “l woke up to what I was doing. I yanked on the rope. ‘Let go of the lifebuoy, Richard Parker! Let go, I said. I don’t want you here, do you understand? Go somewhere else. Leave me alone. Get lost. Drown! Drown! ” 3(peg. 280) “It shrunk from the size of an orange to the size to that of a mandarin. My lap and the branches below were covered with thin, soft leaf peelings.
It was now the size off orangutan. I still get shivers in my spine when I think of it. The size off Herr. And then it came to light, an unspeakable pearl at the heart of a green oyster. A human tooth…. The feeling of horror came slowly. I had time to pick at the other fruit. Each contained a tooth. ” 1. Piecing is a very religious child, although his father is not religious at all, selecting specific Gods or idols from a religion he does not even believe in poses a question as to why set up shrines for Lord Changes and Human and not other Gods.
I found out that Lord Changes is worshipped as the God of education, knowledge, wisdom, and wealth. But Human is the God worshipped for hysterical strength, perseverance and devotion. Knowing this the reader can realize as why a business man who must endure through issues especially pertaining to wild animals that have been tamed to a certain degree but that still maintain their dangerous natural instincts. 2. This outburst by Pi is very alarming if the reader does not know who Richard Parker actually is.
Most probably assume it is a real person that Pi hates. I’m pretty sure there are people out there who hate other people, but would still save their lives, the only answer to who Richard Parker or what he is actually is mentioned in the novel later on, he is a tiger named after the trapper that trapped him. But without knowing this, it causes the reader to view Pi as an insensitive, uncaring child, completely changing the mood of the novel. 3. This is the most striking image/object that any author I have ever read has created visually.
I became so enthralled with the idea of this carnivorous island because of the author’s descriptions I simply wondered if such an island actually does exist, searching many sources only to be disappointed. If such descriptions caused me to start believing in such islands, many other readers also very likely began to view Yawn Marten’s work as Non-fiction instead of Fiction. His descriptions cause the reader to start fantasizing about such an adventure, luring them into the book changing the new fiction novel into the highly adored, ancient Holy Bible of all literature.
Assignment 4 1 (peg. 97) “The ship sank. It made a sound like a monstrous metallic burp. ” 2 (peg. 97) “Everything was screaming: the sea, the wind, my heart. ” 3 (peg. 21 5) “The sea roared like a tiger. ” 4 (peg. 21 5) “The sea whispered in your ear like a friend telling you secrets. 5 (peg. 21 5) “The sea hissed like sandpaper working on wood. ” 1. The simile here not only describes what the ship sounded like sinking, but it also shows the reader how afraid Pi was to see it sink by mentioning it sounded like a monster. 2.
As the Tsunami sank Pi describes the sounds he hears, but he also gives insight to what he feels as he watches it sink. He is pained to see the ship sink not knowing whether he will see his family ever again. 3. As a castaway, Pi spends a lot of time on the open ocean being able to fully describe what the sea sounds like, while hinting at his fear of it eke tigers since an early age. 4. Pi being stranded on open water for months also causes him to view the sea as another companion, therefore personifying it in a way that would make it sound like a companion he likes. . Piecing shows his displeasure that he receives from the sea by representing it in different sounds or noises that the reader may know, sounds that to some people may be very unpleasant. Assignment 5 1 . “The ship sank. It made a sound like a monstrous metallic burp. Things bubbled at the surface and then vanished. Everything was screaming: the sea, the wind, my earth. From the lifeboat I saw something in the water” (Marten 97). Grabbed an oar. I dropped it in an oarlock and pulled as hard as I could, meaning to move the lifeboat away.
All I accomplished was to turn the lifeboat a little, bringing one end closer to Richard Parker. I would hit him on the head! I lifted the oar in the air. He was too fast. He reached up and pulled himself aboard” (Marten 99). 3. “Finally, it was my nose that was the Judge of land. It came to my olfactory sense, full and fresh, overwhelming: the smell of vegetation. I gasped. After months of nothing but salt- eater-bleached smells, this reek of vegetable organic matter was intoxicating. It was then that I believed, and the only thing that sank was my mind; my thought process became disjointed.
My leg began to shake. ‘My God! My God! ‘ I whimpered. I fell overboard” (Marten 258). 1. This passage is one of the most plot and character affecting of all of the passages in this novel, because it causes major character development on Pl. Although to the very end he continues to think that his parents are alive and looking for him, there is a gut feeling that they might not, but because e believes his family is alive he builds himself the will to live. This is also a major plot affecting scene because now it can lead us to the climax of the novel, his survival on a lifeboat with wild animals. . This scene on the other hand is only a character affecting scene because Pi has been stranded on the boat for several months and the will to live that he built himself is starting to deteriorate. The sight of the oil tanker is an uplifting sight renewing his will to live knowing that land must be nearby. 3. Next to Pectin’s rescue by the Mexican people, this is one of the most important scenes in he entire novel, because it is a change in the plot, for the first time in months he has actually felt land beneath his feet giving him for hope for survival.
It is also important for character development because Pi was on the verge on death both physically and mentally, and this is another event that refurbishes his will to survive. Assignment 6 “Beyond the agreeable fragrance of vegetable, it had a neutral smell. I licked it. My pulse quickened. The algae was wet with fresh water. I bit into it. My chops were in for a shock. The inner tube was bitterly salty?but the outer was not only edible, it as delicious. My tongue began to tremble as if it were a finger flipping through a dictionary, trying to find a long-forgotten word. It found it, and my eyes closed with pleasure at hearing it: sweet.
Not as in good, but as in sugary. Turtles and fish are many things, but they are never, ever sugary. The algae had a light sweetness that outdid in delight even the sap of our maple trees here in Canada. In consistency, the closest I can compare it to is water chestnuts ” (Marten 25). Yawn Marten’s writing style is a very unique one, with diction that is easy to understand until he throws in a large Hellenizing word that one might have absolutely no idea what it could mean, but because of the context clues he has around the word, the reader can assume the definition, and correctly to an extent.
Marten’s sentences vary from very long sentences that include either really descriptive items or include many metaphors, similes, and personifications to sentences that are only three words long. His writing style has a paragraph structure where if something important or something that affects the plot it is separated either causing long boring paragraphs or short dramatic ones. But none of Yawn’s style would matter if not for his easy punctuation specifically placed at key positions that allow the reader to easily fly through the novel even at the most boring of scenes.
Assignment 7 What is Pip’s motivation that creates his will to live through all the suffering he goes through? Pectin’s strong motivation builds his will to live allowing him to push through the rigors of survival that he faces for 227 days until his landing on a Mexican beach where he is rescued and taken to a hospital. But Pip’s survival would not be possible if not for his strong personality. It was in India, where as a young child he developed the main attributes of his strong personality because of his love of faith that led him to follow three separate different religions building his faith and the key: hope. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation” (Marten 28). This is where Pi realizes that we can doubt but uses doubt every day of our lives will get us nowhere. So he begins to hope. That is what allowed Piecing to survive throughout all the hardships he faced on the open sea and the troubles that Richard Parker may have caused him.
Even at the brink of death Pi still had hope to the very end not only in a single scene but a couple, actually Marten includes hope in throughout the entire novel. Pi has hope for survival because of his family that he believes is waiting for him but that he might have actually known had no chance of survival. Yawn Marten creates this novel, and Pi to show that hope will get us through our hardships in life and that we should never doubt.