I have a question about the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel?

Question

When Pi was on the boat, before he got to the island with the meerkats, what was the whole thing about the Frenchman? Was that really just his imagination playing tricks on him, like what he thought Richard Parker might be saying if he had a voice, or was it actually a person there? I'm a little bit confused about that whole section of the book, and if it's supposed to symbolize something or not.

As a response to the third answer on here:

When I read that, I thought that Pi was just saying that so as to satisfy Mr. Chiba and Okamoto because they didn't like his original story with the animals.

I guess as another question, why do you think he would have replaced the animal characters with human characters?

Answer 1

It seems that it did happen, at least it ws real to Pi. He prayed for his soul everyday thereafter, and he also claims to have used the stranger's remains as bait, which would imply that it was an actual person.

I don't think there is anything in the book that doesn't symbolize something, as you see at the end of the book in the parallel stories he tells the Japanese men.

If you look at Pi's conversation with Richard Parker, about him killing two people, RP says "it was them or me". Pi calls him an animal. Then Pi meets a friend who enters his boat, then tries to strangle and kill Pi and eat his organs so he can survive. RP then kills the stranger, but spares Pi's life. To me, it made me think, among many things, about the difference between a human and an animal, if there really was one.

I also think there is no answer, as the reader you can make your own interpretation about ambiguities.

Answer 2

The lifeboat finally washes up on the beach in Mexico at which point Richard Parker bounds off into the jungle never to be seen again. When Pi is rescued and taken to a hospital two men representing the Japanese Ministry of Transport quiz him on his remarkable story. They are dissatisfied with his story, so Pi offers an alternative explanation. He was on board the lifeboat with three other people: the ship's French chef, Pi's mother, and a wounded sailor. The barbaric chef first kills and eats the sailor, then brutally kills his mother. Upon seeing this, Pi kills and eats the chef. Pi asks the men from the shipping company which story they prefer. The novel ends with the report to the Japanese government, in which the two men have told the first story.

Answer 3

that was a little confusing. i think it really happened because he found the bones in richard parker's "layer" and he also tells how richard paker jumped on the guy right before he killed Pi. i think thats how it happened at least, i havent read the book for about 6 months.

Answer 4

Check out http://www.cliffnotes.com to help you out. You can enter the title of the book and navigate by chapters in the book. They explain the book by chapters in details.