life of pi better story essay

Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Key characters, plot summary, themes and personal opinion.

Life of Pi is a popular fantasy novel by Yann Martel, an author from Canada. It tells the story of Piscine, a boy who travels on a life raft with a tiger after surviving a shipwreck. After a series of hardships, the main character returns to civilization and manages to succeed in life. Martel raises several problems, ranging from the costs of survival to the details of religious self-expression.

The discussed novel is not short, but there are very few active characters that participate in the majority of critical events. Pi is a middle-aged Canadian of Indian descent, but he tells the story that happened when he was only sixteen (Palmer 2016). As a teenager, Pi believes in God, practices vegetarianism, and admires wildlife (Martel 2001). The author does not provide many details about Pi’s family. His father, Santosh, owns the Pondicherry Zoo and is skeptical about religion (Martel 2001). Gita, the main character’s mother, is a Hindu woman who implants the love of knowledge in Pi and supports him. Richard Parker also acts as a separate character – he is a three-year-old tiger named after a hunter by mistake. In this book, Richard serves as the symbol of physical power, beauty, and threat (Palmer 2016). Other characters, including Pi’s wife, brother, teacher, and children, are described in brief.

The book in question consists of three sections, each of which is devoted to the specific phase of the story. In the first part, the protagonist, known as Pi, reflects on his early life in Southern India and his relationships with parents and other family members (Martel 2001). In the first few chapters, some exciting details about Pi are revealed, including the origin of his full name, the experience of being bullied at school, and his father’s zoo and hotel businesses. Apart from these facts, Pi remembers the start of his spiritual journey when he wanted to practice three religions at the same time (Martel 2001). During the so-called Emergency period in India, Pi’s family decides to move to Canada to live in safety.

The next section is focused on Pi’s dangerous adventures during the trip to Canada. After a few days of overwater travel, “the Japanese cargo ship Tsimtsum” carrying the family and their animals runs into a gale and sinks (Martel 2001, 45). Serendipitously, Pi manages to survive and sails away with four animals on a life raft. The animals start killing each other, and Pi eventually finds himself left one on one with a “three-year-old adult Bengal tiger” named Richard Parker (Martel 2001, 47). He starts training the tiger with the help of food and tricks and becomes able to share the boat with Richard without obvious threats to life.

Different mental effects of lonely drifting with no hope of deliverance manifest themselves and make Pi approach the delirious state of mind. The tiger saves him from death a few times, and Pi wrongly assumes that they can communicate verbally. Pi and the tiger discover an island inhabited by suricates and other animals but return to the ocean due to dangerous plants. A few days after, they arrive at a Mexican beach, and the tiger runs away. In the final portion of the book, the narrator describes his communication with the Japanese authorities that investigate the case of Tsimtsum. He meets them in one of the hospitals in Mexico and tells his story, but the officials do not believe him. To avoid problems, he has to invent the second, a more realistic version of the tale by replacing animals with people.

The popularity of the novel is probably related to the number of essential ideas and issues that it raises. First of all, Life of Pi is about the need to change and the survival instinct and its manifestations in life-threatening conditions. In the first chapters, Pi is presented as a vegetarian and a person who never hurts animals. Still, as the story develops, he gradually becomes capable of hunting and eating anything to survive (Palmer 2016). Being alone with wild animals on the boat, Pi becomes an eyewitness of violence in nature when the hyena “plunges head and shoulders into the zebra’s guts” (Martel 2001, 58). This “ghastly, but natural, animal ferocity” urges Pi to challenge his ideals (Palmer 2016, 100). He has to choose between being guided by primal fear and death.

Another major theme is religion or, more specifically, Pi’s self-determination, understanding of God, and connections between religious movements. The reader is told that Pi has been raised as a Hindu but manages to understand the core ideas of the most practiced religions due to his clear-sightedness and love for God (Kuriakose 2018). Pi recognizes things that the adherents of Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity have in common, thus demonstrating his “religious imagination” (Wagner 2016, 1). He believes the concept of God to be universal and describes Hindus as “hairless Christians,” Muslims as “bearded Hindus,” and Christians as “hat-wearing Muslims” (Martel 2001, 26).

In my opinion, the novel is unique since it makes totally different worlds coexist peacefully, and it does not refer only to religion. The author uses various writing techniques and proceeds from obviously fantastic scenes to naturalistic descriptions of what Pi observes during his long journey. To me, Life of Pi is among the books that can be understood in plenty of ways. It means that all people can learn more about themselves when going through a series of unexpected adversities with Pi and trying to imagine what they would do if they were him. From my perspective, Life of Pi encourages individuals to value life just like other shipwreck narratives do. It also teaches the readers that finding their inner strength in critical situations may require revising their views of life.

Personally, I am sure that the book also has a deep meaning when it comes to culture and religion. The author’s multicultural background enables him to make references to different traditions without raising conflicts (Kuriakose 2018). To some extent, the plot demonstrates that a person’s religious affiliation does not matter when his or her life hangs in the balance. From Pi’s inner dialogues, it becomes clear that religious rivalry stems from several artificial barriers between people. Conceivably, the book can make those believing in the superiority of their religion challenge their views, thus improving mutual understanding.

To sum it up, Martel’s novel raises many philosophical themes, including religious self-determination, God’s universality, and behavioral changes that people experience in the face of death. Being quite dynamic, the plot can be interpreted in a variety of ways and lead people to different conclusions. In my opinion, the book teaches the audience to build inner strength, value life, and avoid dividing people by religion.

Kuriakose, John. 2018. “Religious Pluralism in Yan Martel’s Life of Pi: A Case of Intertextual Correspondence with Swami Vivekananda’s Religious Philosophy.” Advances in Language and Literary Studies 9 (2): 138–145. Web.

Martel, Yann. 2001. Life of Pi . Toronto, Canada: Knopf Canada.

Palmer, Christopher. 2016. Castaway Tales: From Robinson Crusoe to Life of Pi. Middletown, NJ: Wesleyan University Press.

Wagner, Rachel. 2016. “Screening Belief: The Life of Pi, Computer Generated Imagery, and Religious Imagination.” Religions 7 (8): 1–22. Web.

• A Lesson Before Dying: Summary, Characters, Theme, and Personal Opinion
• Moral of Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
• Film Studies: "Life of Pi" by Ang Lee
• Dual Consciousness in the Novel Life of Pi
• Animals as Symbols of the Human Behaviour
• A Christmas Carol by Dickens
• The Outsiders by Susan Eloise Hinton
• The Coming of Age in Mississippi: Memoir by Anne Moody
• The Bluest Eye by Morrison: Characters, Themes, Personal Opinion
• Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, December 3). Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/

"Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." IvyPanda , 3 Dec. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes'. 3 December.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." December 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

1. IvyPanda . "Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." December 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Life of Pi: Key Characters, Plot, and Themes." December 3, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/life-of-pi-key-characters-plot-and-themes/.

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

• Basic site functions
• Ensuring secure, safe transactions
• Secure account login
• Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
• Remembering privacy and security settings
• Analyzing site traffic and usage
• Personalized search, content, and recommendations
• Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

• Remembering general and regional preferences
• Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy .

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy .

by Yann Martel

Life of pi themes, belief in god.

Belief in God is clearly a major theme in Life of Pi , and has been the most controversial in reviews of the book. Throughout the novel, Pi makes his belief in and love of God clear—it is a love profound enough that he can transcend the classical divisions of religion, and worship as a Hindu, Muslim, and Christian. Pi, although amazed by the possibility of lacking this belief, still respects the atheist, because he sees him as a kind of believer. Pi’s vision of an atheist on his death bed makes it clear that he assumes the atheist’s form of belief is one in God, without his realizing it until the end. It is the agnostic that truly bothers Pi; the decision to doubt, to lack belief in anything, is to him inexcusable. This is underscored in that essential passage in the novel when Pi asks the Japanese officials which of his two stories they preferred—he sees no reason why they should not believe the better story.

Pi’s devotion to God is a prominent part of the novel; it becomes, however, much less prominent during his time aboard the lifeboat, when his physical needs come to dominate his spiritual ones. Pi never seems to doubt his belief in God while enduring his hardships, but he certainly focuses on it less. This in turn underscores the theme of the primacy of survival.

The Primacy of Survival

The primacy of survival is the definitive theme in the heart of the book, Pi’s time at sea. This theme is clear throughout his ordeal—he must eat meat, he must take life, two things which had always been anathema to him before his survival was at stake. Survival almost always trumps morality, even for a character like Pi, who is deeply principled and religious. When Pi tells the second version of his story to the Japanese men, this theme is highlighted even more vividly, because he parallels his survival instincts in the second story to Richard Parker in the first—it is he, when he must survive, who steals food, he who kills the Frenchman. If the first version of the story is seen as a fictionalized version of the second, the very fact that he divides himself from his brutal survival instinct shows the power of that instinct.

Storytelling

The act of storytelling and narration is a significant theme throughout Life of Pi , but particularly in the narrative frame. That Pi’s story is just that—a story—is emphasized throughout, with interjections from the author, Pi’s own references to it, and the complete retelling of the story for the Japanese officials. (This is not to mention chapter ninety-seven, which contains two words: “The story.”) By including a semi-fictional “Author’s Note,” Martel draws the reader’s attention to the fact that not only within the novel is Pi’s tale of survival at sea an unverified story, but the entire novel itself, and even the author’s note, usually trustworthy, is a work of fiction.

This is not to say that Martel intends the reader to read Life of Pi through a lens of disbelief or uncertainty; rather, he emphasizes the nature of the book as a story to show that one can choose to believe in it anyway, just as one can choose to believe in God—because it is preferable to not believing, it is “the better story.”

The Definition of Freedom

The true definition of freedom becomes a question early in Life of Pi , when Pi refutes the claims of people who think that zoos are cruel for restricting animals’ freedom. Pi offers evidence against this, questioning the very definition of freedom. An animal in the wild is “free” according to the opponents of zoos, and it is true that that animal is not restricted in its movement by a physical cage. It is, however, profoundly restricted by its survival needs and its instincts. If that animal is guided solely by its need for food, water, and shelter, is it really free? If it will never intentionally wander outside of the territory it has defined for itself, is it really free? In a zoo, where the animal’s needs are always provided, isn’t it more free?

The question of freedom arises again as Pi finds himself in a fight for survival at sea. He is without responsibility to anyone else, he is without any need to be anywhere in the world, he is perpetually in motion; yet he has probably never been less free, for he must always be putting his survival above all else. An example of this is that he can no longer choose to be a vegetarian—he must eat meat to stay alive. Throughout Life of Pi , the primacy of survival, of life, greatly restricts “freedom,” and thus redefines the very word.

The Relativity of Truth

The relativity of truth is not highlighted as a major theme in Life of Pi until the last part of the novel, when Pi retells the entire story to make it more plausible to the officials who are questioning him. He then asks the officials which story they liked better, since neither can be proven and neither affects the information they are searching for—how the ship sunk. This question implies that truth is not absolute; the officials can choose to believe whichever story they prefer, and that version becomes truth. Pi argues to the Japanese officials that there is invention in all “truths” and “facts,” because everyone is observing everything from their own perspective. There is no absolute truth.

Science and Religion

The theme of science and religion as not opposed but in concert with each other is present primarily in the framing of the narrative. It is exemplified in Pi’s dual major at the University of Toronto of Religion and Zoology, which he admits he sometimes gets mixed up, seeing the sloth that he studied as a reminder of God’s miracles. Similarly, Pi’s favorite teacher, Mr. Kumar, sees the zoo as the temple of his atheism. The theme of the connection between science and religion also is related to Pi’s respect for atheists, because he sees that they worship science as he worships God, which he believes is not so very different.

Loss of Innocence

The theme of loss of innocence in Life of Pi is closely related to the theme of the primacy of survival. Its significance is reflected in the geographic structure of the book—in Part 1, Pi is in Pondicherry, and there he is innocent. In Part 2, Pi is in the Pacific Ocean, and it is there that he loses his innocence. That Part 2 begins, not chronologically with the Tsimtsum sinking, but with Pi inviting Richard Parker onto the lifeboat, also reflects this, for it represents Pi reaching out for what Richard Parker symbolizes—his own survival instinct. And it is this survival instinct that is at the heart of Pi’s loss of innocence; it is this survival instinct that drives him to act in ways he never thought he could.

Throughout Part 2 there are other representative moments of a loss of innocence, besides the symbolic one of bringing Richard Parker onto the lifeboat. The most important of these is the death of the Frenchman, which Pi describes as killing a part of him which has never come back to life. That part can certainly be read as his innocence.

Life of Pi Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Life of Pi is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

how pi describe the hyena

"I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not well served by its appearance. It is ugly beyond redemption. Its thick neck and high shoulders that slope to the hindquarters look as...

What is flight distance? Why is this important for zookeepers to know?

Flight distance is the amount of space that one animal will allow another animal before fleeing. Zookeepers need to be aware of this distance in order to keep from frightening the animals.

Please state your question.

Study Guide for Life of Pi

Life of Pi is a novel by Yann Martel. Life of Pi study guide contains a biography of author Yann Martel, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Life of Pi
• Life of Pi Summary
• Life of Pi Video
• Character List

Essays for Life of Pi

Life of Pi essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Life of Pi written by Yann Martel.

• Living a Lie: Yann Martel’s Pi and his Dissociation from Reality
• A Matter of Perspective: The Invention of a Story in Martel’s Life of Pi
• Religion as a Coping Mechanism in Life of Pi
• Hope and Understanding: Comparing Life of Pi and Bless Me, Ultima
• Religious Allegories in Life of Pi

Lesson Plan for Life of Pi

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Life of Pi
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Life of Pi Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Life of Pi

• Introduction

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — Life of Pi

Essays on Life of Pi

Prompt examples for "life of pi" essays, the power of storytelling.

Discuss the role of storytelling in "Life of Pi." How does Pi's storytelling shape his survival and coping mechanisms, and what does it reveal about the human need for narrative and imagination in difficult circumstances?

Survival and Resilience

Analyze Pi's journey of survival and his resilience in the face of adversity. How does he adapt to life on the lifeboat, and what inner strengths and survival strategies does he employ?

Religion and Faith

Examine the theme of religion and faith in the novel. How does Pi's multi-faith background and spirituality play a role in his survival and outlook on life? Discuss the symbolism of the animals in Pi's story.

Reality vs. Fiction

Discuss the blurred lines between reality and fiction in the novel. How does the narrative structure challenge the reader's perception of truth? Explore the different interpretations of Pi's story and its impact on the characters and readers.

The Human-Animal Connection

Analyze Pi's relationship with Richard Parker and the broader theme of the human-animal connection. How do the interactions between Pi and the tiger symbolize the complexity of human nature and the animal instincts within us?

Isolation and Solitude

Explore the theme of isolation and solitude in the novel. How does Pi cope with the loneliness of being stranded at sea for an extended period? Discuss the psychological effects of isolation on the protagonist.

Hook Examples for "Life of Pi" Essays

Anecdotal hook.

Imagine being stranded in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, your only companions a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker and your wits. This is the extraordinary journey of Pi Patel in "Life of Pi."

Question Hook

What does it mean to survive against all odds? How does faith shape our perception of reality? Yann Martel's novel "Life of Pi" poses profound questions about the human spirit and the power of storytelling.

Quotation Hook

"I have survived because I have remained sane through it all. I remain sane because I am a storyteller. A storyteller, in the beginning, is trying to be good. In the course of the trying, she'll become wise." These words from Yann Martel highlight the significance of storytelling and sanity in Pi's journey.

Survival and Resilience Hook

Explore the remarkable story of Pi Patel, a young boy who demonstrates incredible resilience and resourcefulness in the face of adversity. How does his will to survive shape the narrative of the novel?

Faith and Belief Hook

"Life of Pi" weaves a complex tapestry of faith, spirituality, and belief. Dive into the religious themes and philosophical questions raised by Pi's experiences on the lifeboat.

The Power of Storytelling Hook

As Pi tells his incredible tale, we're reminded of the transformative power of storytelling. Analyze how storytelling becomes a lifeline for Pi and a means of making sense of his ordeal.

Truth and Perception Hook

Is truth an absolute concept, or is it subject to individual perception? "Life of Pi" challenges us to consider how our beliefs and experiences shape our understanding of reality.

Human Story in Yann Martel's "Life of Pi"

The multifaceted role of religion in "life of pi", made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences

+ experts online

The Role of Atheism in "Life of Pi"

The idea of survivalism in yann martel’s life of pi, self-perception in the life of pi by yann martel, yann martel's "the life of pi": book review, let us write you an essay from scratch.

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

The Religious Symbolism and Metaphors in The Life of Pi

Faith as the way of coping with tragedy in the life of pi, analysis of life of pi: moral lesson in the novel, the theme of dissociation from reality in the life of pi, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

Expert-written essays crafted with your exact needs in mind

The Character's Development and Controversial Sacrifice in The Life of Pi

Tiger as the best companion for pi in "life of pi", it is all about perspective: how the story is invented in the life of pi, allusions in the life of pi, reflection on the novel life of pi, coming of age in the "life of pi" by yann martel, physical and emotional survival in the life of pi, hope and understanding: comparing life of pi and bless me, ultima, life of pi: the contrast between words and visuals, comparative study of the films "life of pi" and "the great gatsby", richard parker character analysis, literary essay: life of pi by yann martel, life of pi: theme analysis, symbolism in life of pi.

11 September 2001, Yann Martel

Philosophical fiction

Life of Pi tells the magical story of a young Indian, who finds himself shipwrecked and lost at sea in a large lifeboat. His companions are four wild animals: an orangutan, a zebra, a hyena, and, most notably, Richard Parker, a tiger. Soon there remains only Pi and the tiger, and Pi’s only purpose in the next 227 days is to survive the shipwreck and the hungry tiger, supported by his own curious brand of religion, an eclectic mixture of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.

Within the story are themes of spirituality and religion, self-perception, the definition of family, and the nature of animals. Life of Pi is a rich and dynamic text full of discussion of morality, faith, and the ambivalence of what constitutes truth.

Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel (narrator and protagonist), Richard Parker (Bengal tiger)

The novel has sold more than ten million copies worldwide. It was rejected by at least five London publishing houses before being accepted by Knopf Canada, which published it in September 2001. The UK edition won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction the following year. It was also chosen for CBC Radio's Canada Reads 2003, where it was championed by author Nancy Lee. Martel’s novel was adapted as a 2012 film directed by Ang Lee.

“It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.” “To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.” “You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.”

1. Duncan, R. (2008). " Life of Pi" as Postmodern Survivor Narrative. Mosaic: A journal for the interdisciplinary study of literature, 167-183. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/44029501) 2. Karam Ally, H. (2020). ‘Which Story do you Prefer?’: The Limits of the Symbolic in Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. Literature and Theology, 34(1), 83-100. (https://academic.oup.com/litthe/article/34/1/83/5717397) 3. Stephens, G. (2010). Feeding tiger, finding God: science, religion, and" the better story" in Life of Pi. Intertexts, 14(1), 41-59. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/76/article/400842/summary) 4. Martel, Y. (2002). Life of Pi. 2001. Vintage Canada. (https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/scl/2004-v29-n2-scl29_2/scl29_2art01/) 5. Allen, T. E. (2014). Life of Pi and the moral wound. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 62(6), 965-982. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0003065114559834) 6. Mensch, J. (2007). The intertwining of incommensurables: Yann Martel’s Life of Pi. Phenomenology and the non-human animal: At the limits of experience, 135-147. (https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-6307-7_10) 7. Browning, H., & Veit, W. (2020). Confined freedom and free confinement: The ethics of captivity in Life of Pi. (https://philarchive.org/archive/BROCFA-9) 8. Ashdown, B. K. (2013). ‘Faith is a house with many rooms’: Religion and spirituality in Life of Pi. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Brien-Ashdown/publication/256536875_Faith_Is_a_House_With_Many_Rooms_Religion_and_Spirituality_in_Life_of_Pi/links/00b7d52338f55637c9000000/Faith-Is-a-House-With-Many-Rooms-Religion-and-Spirituality-in-Life-of-Pi.pdf PsycCRITIQUES, 58(22).

Relevant topics

• All Summer in a Day
• Frankenstein
• Catcher in The Rye
• All Quiet on The Western Front
• A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
• Consider The Lobster
• Purple Hibiscus
• Chronicle of a Death Foretold

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Life of Pi is a sensory delight with a powerful message: storytelling helps keep us alive

Life of Pi production. Evan Zimmerman/Supplied

• Title: Life of Pi
• Written by: Lolita Chakrabarti, adapted from the novel by Yann Martel
• Director: Max Webster
• Actors: Divesh Subaskaran, Fred Davis, Daisy Franks, Akash Heer, Katie Kennedy-Rose, Aizah Khan, Mark Matthews, Kate Rowsell
• Company: Mirvish
• Venue: CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre
• City: Toronto
• Year: To Oct. 6, 2024

The Frank R. Stockton short story The Lady, or the Tiger? – about a seemingly impossible choice – may come to mind as you watch another tiger magnificently roar to life in Life of Pi , Lolita Chakrabarti’s theatrical adaptation of Yann Martel’s Booker Prize-winning 2001 book, now at the Ed Mirvish Theatre.

Teenager Pi (Divesh Subaskaran), short for Piscine (French for “swimming pool”), aptly finds himself at the mercy of the waters for more than 200 days. A shipwreck on his journey from India to Canada casts him away on a life raft with some of his family’s zoo animals – including Richard Parker, a tiger named via clerical error. His outsized tale of improbable survival and enduring faith confounds an investigator who is desperate to know the truth about the incident. But truth, like the fish that swim beside Pi’s lifeboat, is a slippery thing full of small, sharp bones.

Martel’s tiger tale, an epic story weighted with philosophical metaphor, was surely a daunting prospect to stage, but this Olivier- and Tony-winning production is more than up to the task. Combining stunning design and fluid, evocative puppetry with a streamlined, action-oriented rendering of Martel’s story, director Max Webster creates a sensory delight that succeeds in its new medium by emphasizing its message’s truth in both life and theatre: storytelling helps keep us alive, and a little suspension of disbelief holds great power.

Unlike Martel’s novel, there is no author here teasing out an older Pi’s past; instead, we begin in 1978, directly at the end of the adventure, in a Mexican hospital. In this version, the young man is attended by shipping company rep Mrs. Okamoto (Lilian Tsang) and Canadian embassy official Leela Chen (Bhawna Bhawsar). A classic good-cop, bad-cop team, Chen is compassionate and patient with the troubled teen, while Mrs. Okamoto is strict and no-nonsense, having a plane to catch and a mystery to solve. The similarly sterile white walls of the hospital change in an instant as Pi begins his recollection, warming the space while transporting us to the Pondicherry botanical garden and zoo operated by Pi’s family.

Tim Hatley’s creative jewel box of a set seamlessly opens up to become a market, then the deck of the Tsimtsum cargo ship, later fading into the background to focus on Pi’s claustrophobic lifeboat refuge made of panels that come together or fly apart at any given moment. In a particularly nice touch, Pi’s hospital bed forms the lifeboat’s stern, blurring the line between events as they happen and his recollection of the experience.

The warm tones of Pi’s hometown mimic that of the community Pi remembers: swimming instruction with the robust Mamaji (Chand Martinez), life advice disguised as science from Mrs. Biology Kumar (also Bhawsar), feuds with math genius sibling – in this adaptation, a sister – Rani (Riya Rajeev, appropriately annoying), and attendance at weekly temple, mosque, and church services to the confusion of his parents (a quietly warm Ameet Chana and Goldy Notay). God is everywhere, he muses, and religion is simply choosing the story you like best. Pi chooses them all, and he’ll return often to the subject of the expansiveness of faith and its relationship to storytelling.

Not just a method of instruction, the show’s intricate, finely crafted animal puppets are its chief delight. Evan Zimmerman/Supplied

Political unrest, however, forces Pi’s father to consider emigration to Canada; in the midst of teaching his son a painful lesson to never forget the dangerous nature of the wild beasts they care for, he posits that man is just as unpredictable an animal and even more dangerous.

Not just a method of instruction, the show’s intricate, finely crafted animal puppets are its chief delight. Nick Barnes and Finn Caldwell’s designs show every detail of musculature in portraying a goat, hyena, orangutan, zebra, and the superlative beast Richard Parker, who in a sort of mutual taming takes Pi on an emotional journey from hatred to acceptance and even love.

Outside of one deliberately hallucinatory sequence, Caldwell’s direction of the animals’ behaviour feels impressively realistic, wild rather than Disneyfied. You can almost forget puppeteers Fred Davis, Daisy Franks, Akash Heer, Katie Kennedy-Rose, Aizah Khan, Mark Matthews and Kate Rowsell are there, and it’s hard not to instinctively recoil as your hindbrain reacts to the big cat leaping in your direction.

Another fine discovery is Subaskaran, who takes on the mammoth role of Pi in his professional debut with a keen grasp of the character’s wide spectrum of emotions. Pi is a sage-like character in his pronouncements about faith and fear, explaining how one elevates and the other destroys, and how assigning language to the concepts sustains the former and overcomes the latter. In his tiger and mouse game of logic with Okamoto, he elegantly makes the point that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in any person’s philosophy, and that a normal experience to one may seem fantastical to another.

Though he could give some of his larger pronouncements more space to fully land, Subaskaran smartly refuses to let Pi feel too remote, letting us see the scared, needy, sometimes petulant child peeking through.

That’s a good thing, because any story that boldly declares it will make you believe in God runs the risk of becoming heavy-handed, and Life of Pi has its share of obvious, Pi-in-the-sky moments.

The sheer elegance of its animal handling, however, prevents it from ever getting off-puttingly sanctimonious. As a puppeteer simply detaches from a deceased beast’s carcass and exits to the wings, you might swear you saw a flicker of a soul – the lady and the tiger.

In the interest of consistency across all critics’ reviews, The Globe has eliminated its star-rating system in film and theatre to align with coverage of music, books, visual arts and dance. Instead, works of excellence will be noted with a critic’s pick designation across all coverage. (Television reviews, typically based on an incomplete season, are exempt.)

Report an editorial error

Report a technical issue

Editorial code of conduct

Follow related authors and topics

Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following .

Interact with The Globe

• Ask LitCharts AI
• Discussion Question Generator
• Essay Prompt Generator
• Quiz Question Generator

• Literature Guides
• Poetry Guides
• Shakespeare Translations
• Literary Terms

Yann Martel

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

A fictional author travels to India, and there he hears an extraordinary story from a man named Francis Adirubasamy . The author tracks down and interviews the story’s subject, Piscine Molitor Patel , usually called Pi, in Canada. The author writes the rest of the narrative from Pi’s point of view, occasionally interrupting to describe his interviews with the adult Pi.

Pi grows up in Pondicherry, India in the 1970s. He is named after a famous swimming pool in Paris. Pi’s father is a zookeeper, and Pi and his brother Ravi are raised among exotic wild animals. Pi’s tale frequently digresses to explain about zookeeping, animal territories, and boundaries. His father warns him of the danger of wild animals by making Pi watch a tiger eat a goat, but Pi also learns that “the most dangerous animal at a zoo is Man.”

Pi is raised culturally Hindu, but his family is generally unreligious. As a youth Pi becomes devoutly Hindu and then converts to Christianity and Islam. He practices all three religions at once, despite the protests of his parents and the religious leaders. The “Emergency” brings political turmoil to India and Pi’s parents decide to sell the zoo and move the family to Canada. They board a Japanese cargo ship called the Tsimtsum , traveling with many of the zoo animals.

There is an explosion one night and the Tsimtsum starts sinking. Pi is awake at the time, and some sailors throw him into a lifeboat. The ship sinks, leaving no human survivors except for Pi. Pi sees a tiger, Richard Parker , and encourages him to climb aboard. Pi eventually finds himself on the lifeboat with a zebra , a hyena , and Orange Juice the orangutan. The hyena kills the zebra and eats it. The hyena then fights and kills Orange Juice. Pi notices that Richard Parker is still in the boat, hiding under a tarpaulin. Richard Parker kills the hyena, leaving Pi alone with the tiger.

Pi makes a raft for himself and finds supplies in the lifeboat, and he sets about marking his territory and “taming” Richard Parker using a whistle. Pi kills and eats fish and turtles, filters seawater, and collects rainwater. Pi and Richard Parker each occupy their own territory in the lifeboat and live peacefully, though they are constantly starving.

Pi loses track of time as months pass. He remembers episodes like seeing a whale, experiencing a lightning storm, and watching a ship pass by. Pi goes temporarily blind and hears a voice talking to him. At first he thinks it is Richard Parker, but then he realizes it is another castaway who is also blind. The two discuss food and then bring their boats together. The castaway attacks Pi, intending to kill and eat him. Richard Parker kills the castaway.

Later the boat comes to a mysterious island made entirely of algae and inhabited by thousands of meerkats. Pi and Richard Parker stay there for a while and recover their health. One day Pi finds a tree with human teeth as its fruit, and he realizes that the island is carnivorous. Pi decides to leave with Richard Parker. Finally the lifeboat washes up on a beach in Mexico. Richard Parker disappears into the jungle without looking back, and Pi is rescued by some villagers.

The last section is a transcript of an interview between Pi and two Japanese officials who are trying to figure out why the Tsimtsum sank. Pi tells them his story, but they don’t believe him. He then tells them a second story, replacing the animals with humans – in this version Pi is on the lifeboat with a French cook , a Chinese sailor , and his own mother . The sailor dies and the cook eats his flesh. The cook later kills Pi’s mother, and then Pi kills the cook. The officials are horrified, but they believe this story. They note that the hyena is the cook, the zebra is the sailor, Orange Juice is Pi’s mother, and Richard Parker is Pi himself. Pi asks the officials which story they prefer, and they say the one with animals. In their final report they commend Pi for surviving at sea with a tiger.

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.