Unit 6: Life of Pi

The following is the reading schedule for Life of Pi.  You are responsible for reading the assigned chapters prior to the day they are due in class. Be sure to stay on track as you will fall behind quickly if you do not keep up!  Since you know what you should be reading, even if you are absent, there is no excuse to not be on track with this reading. PLAN AHEAD.

If you want a copy of this to track your own reading, you can open it in Sheets and then go to FILE and then MAKE A COPY.

Audio to Accompany Reading

Free: Youtube, you can find the chapter index in the comments--SIGN IN WITH YOUR SCHOOL EMAIL TO YOUTUBE TO ACCESS TITLE.

There is no option on Spotify for this audiobook.

Part 1

Pre-reading: What do you know about India? What do you wonder about India? Find out in this Crash Course World History. The link will take you to a Google Form worksheet in which you will be able to answer the questions and watch the video.

The Author's Note (Fictional Author)

Close Reading and Critical Thinking Questions: Author's Note

1. The author uses metafiction when he describes the writing process and how real the entirety is before it completely flops. To what effect does this description have on the introduction to the story? What might he be trying to prepare the reader to understand about the story?

2. In what way does the "Author's Note" create intrigue by stating the story "will make you believe in God" (X)? How does that develop through the next couple of pages by the speaker (author) stating, "that this was, indeed, a story to make you  believe in God" (XI)?

3. What does it say about the coming story that the book that he set out to write about Portugal in 1939 was not the book he wrote? What larger meaning can be derived from his failed (potential) book and the success that came from that failure?

Questions for Discussion and Review: Author's Note

1. How is fact different than fiction?

2. Can fact and fiction coexist? Explain.

3. What do you think the author means when he says, “This book was born because I was hungry?” What evidence from this section supports your interpretation of these words?

4. In this section the author describes one of his failed books. It had promise, but “An element is missing, that spark that brings to life a real story, regardless of whether the history or the food is right. Your story is emotionally dead, that’s the crux of it. The discovery is something soul-destroying, I tell you. It leaves you with an aching hunger.” What connection do you think storytelling has to hunger?

5. What is suggested by the author’s description and reasoning for truth? “I would have liked to say ‘I’m a doctor,’ to those who asked me what I did, doctors being the current purveyors of magic and miracle. But I’m sure we would have had a bus accident around the next bend, and with all eyes fixed on my I would have to explain, amidst the crying and moaning of victims, that I meant in law; then, to their appeal to sue the government over the mishap, I would have to confess that as a matter of fact it was a Bachelor’s in philosophy…I stuck to the humble, bruised truth.”

6. What purpose does the anecdote about wanting to tell people he was a doctor rather than a writer and the reason he decided against this action. What purpose does this serve? 

The character of the author states in his note that he believed the story should be told in first person, specifically through Pi’s voice. What role does the author’s note serve for this book? Because of this approach, what liberties can this narrative take?

7. What might be a topic that could develop into a theme based solely on this section of the text?

Chapters 1-4

Close Reading and Critical Thinking Questions Chapters 1-4

Chapter 1

1. Pi begins by discussing the research he did at the university getting a double major in religious studies and zoology. In what way can one explain how the studies are similar?

2. What might Pi mean by his "strange religious practices"? What would make a religious practice strange?

3. A large section of the first chapter is devoted to describing the practices of the three toed sloths. Consider what qualities of sloths might be useful for someone stranded on a lifeboat. What might Pi be inadvertently telling the reader about how he survived at sea?

4. What might it mean that the first time Pi turned on the water from the faucet "its noisy, wasteful, superabundant gush was such a shock that [he] became incoherent and [his] legs collapsed beneath [him] and [he] fainted in the arms of a nurse"?

5. What do the words "fresh off the boat" imply? How could this insult cut him deeper than any newly immigrated person? How is this insult particularly cruel understanding that he was a shipwreck survivor having his native food for one of the first times since he had been rescued?

Chapter 2

1. This chapter uses fragments as sentences. What affect does this have on the way a reader perceives the writing's purpose?

2. The text in this section is in italics, like the author's note. What is the message conveyed by the use of italics in large sections of this novel?

Chapter 3

1. In what way is Pi's name prophetic and (most probably) help save his life?

Chapter 4

1. Contrast Pi's father's experience with the zoo with that of Pi's experience with the zoo.

2. Explain Pi's stance on zoos, animal freedom and happiness. When it boils down to it, he is discussing what concept?

3. How might a zoo be similar to life on a raft or lifeboat at sea?

4. In this chapter Pi states, "I have heard nearly as much nonsense about zoos as I have about God and religion" (15). Later his says that both zoos and religion "are no longer in people's good graces […] Certain allusions about freedom plague them both (19). Re-read the section on zoos as if it is an extended metaphor about religion. What might this comparison bring to light about the dissatisfaction modern humans have about organized religion?

Chapters 5-10

Chapter 6

1. What effect does it have on the reader that the "author" interjects? 

2. Why do you think Pi has “a reserve of food to last the siege of Leningrad”?

3. A motif of hunger is starting to be built. Notice that the "author" discusses the fullness of adult Pi's cupboards. Go back through the entire text so far and note the instances of food and hunger mentioned. Keep track of these moving forward.

Chapter 7

1. In this chapter Pi discusses his biology teacher who had a profound impact on him. In describing this man he calls in an avowed atheist. Later he states that “[i]t was my first clue that atheists are my brother and sisters of a different faith, and every word they speak  speaks of faith. Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them—and then they leap.” What does this mean? Do you think that atheists are believers of a non-religion religion.

2. What is the difference between atheists and agnostics? Why does Pi feel that atheists have faith? Why does he dislike agnostics?

3. Based on Pi’s explanation of atheists and agnostics, which would be easier to convert to faith? Explain.

4. Pi describes an unlikely pair of animals who find a way to get along in a pen. In what ways does this foreshadow events to come?

5. When one come into faith it is called enlightenment. In this chapter Mr. Kumar states that religion is darkness. What does he mean by this? Why does it confuse Pi?

Chapter 8

1. What does “Animalus anthropomorphicus” mean? And why is it so dangerous?

2. Pi describes the ways in which humans can be seen as the most dangerous animals at the zoo. In what ways can one extend that argument to on the Earth? 

3. In addition to demonstrating a lesson Pi learned at a young age about the dangers that animals--that seemed like pets to him and his brother--could possess, what other purpose does this chapter serve in the larger breadth of the story? 

Chapter 9

1. Explain what makes Pi's father a good zookeeper.

2. Summarize this chapter objectively.

3. What may the details of this chapter foreshadow?

Chapter 10

1. According to Pi, why do zoo animals seek to escape?

2. In the chapter, Pi claims "animals don't escape to somewhere but from something." In what way can this quote relate to the characters in the story? As you read the rest of the chapters, keep this in mind for each character. How does this idea influence each character throughout the novel.