Title:
Life of Pi
Genre: Fiction
Characters:
Pi/ Piscine Patel-
The main character in the story. He is
an enthusiastic boy, full of courage and faith with GOD. He has a great heart
with animals around him, and has a respect to the nature because he was raised
in a vegetarian family.
Gita Patel-
Her
compassionate mother, a pure Indian with beliefs of Hinduisms. She is passionate
to her child, she even tell some stories to them before bed time that later
become an inspiring words for Pi to live a righteous life. She is the reason why Pi was named Piscine,
because she likes so much the Piscine pool, which she believed the best pool in
the world.
Santosh Patel
The
father of Piscine, a man full of wisdom that teaches Pi the realities of life. Unlike
her mother, Santosh wants his child to see what is real and what is proper in
living. One thing he wants that Piscine to develop is the rational mind that not
just accepting everything blindly. In the contrary, he don’t believe that Richard
Parker has a soul, indeed he is stressing to Pi that Richard Parker is an
animal, he don’t have a heart.
Richard parker the tiger
The
tiger who journeyed with Pi along the sea. He is a beast in nature, a hungry
ever animal, but in the middle of the film became a friend to Pi. He served as one of the strength of Piscine,
though it is hard for them to interact with each other. A tiger that proved the
belief of Pi, that animal has souls.
Setting:
Pondicherry, India; the Pacific Ocean;
Mexico; Canada
Plot:
Exposition:
The story started
with the narration of Pi in the origin of his name, his name was got from the
Piscine pool from France, where they are partly living. His mother is a hindu
believer and his father is an owner of a zoo. He was called Pi because in the
different classes he has, he always finds way on how to illustrate his name “Pi”.
Conflict:
There was a great
storm that passed during the travel of Piscine’s family, it spared Pi from his
family, and he was left alone in a boat together with the animals. He struggled
through survival, he fought with the storms that came and he hardly managed to
keep the animals as his friends especially the tiger.
Climax:
There was a strong
storm that raged Pi and Richard Parker; they were torn up and down the boat. Pi
finds it hard to steady himself and Richard parker is getting weak because of
too much waves that hurts him.
Falling action:
It was the moment
that Richard parker is almost dying and Pi almost lost his will to live. He thought
of giving up his life and just leaving everything to God. He is almost out of
hope that he will be surviving.
Resolution:
It was then Pi woke
up with a mystical carnivorous islands, he finds a hope. He rested their for a
moment, and at night he found out the real characteristic of that place, that
he is lucky enough to realize that he didn’t became a victim of a lotus rather
of that carnivorous island. He found another day to live and as he continues
his journey, and there was an island of Mexico where he landed off. Richard Parker went off the shore and found a
jungle, there he left Pi and they separately live with their own worlds.
Theme:
Spiritual life as the
only means to the way of survival:
The movie has shown
the real essence of having spiritual life during certain circumstances. For it
will bring hope to every hopeless situation and will keep us alive despite hunger
and thirst, this will never let us drown from the deep waters that seems to
swallow us.
Symbolism:
Richard
Parker/Tiger- an animal that when referred to a person is aggressive, audacious
and fierce. His role is a representation of people who are sometimes hard to be
reached out because of their strong personalities. But they also have soul,
just what Pi believes what the tiger has. This symbolizes the inner heart of
every person or animal; there will be no hard heart if a person shows goodness.
Mystical Island:
This
Island is said to be carnivorous, which is the representation of the struggle
for existence. Just like in some common situations we had, a person stabs
people, for them to survive; they have to injure another species. Also it
symbolizes that Life in the earth or in this world is full of deception that
what we thought to be beautiful in our eyes could possibly harm us. If we will
not be careful enough in sensing each danger that comes our way, we will not
able to live long and exist in this world.
1. What does the title mean in relation to the film as a
whole?
The movie was entitled as the life of Pi. The title life of
Pi truly relates to the whole movie because it focuses on the struggles of
Piscine from her young age, how he got his name, when he started to believe in
God up to the stage of his life where he has that great struggle at sea and how
he survived the circumstances together with his tiger- Richard Parker. It is narrated by Piscine itself.
2. among the characters, to who can you relate to?
I can relate most to Piscine/ Pi’s character not because I
have experienced also struggling alone at sea but the faith he has that makes
him survive despite of hunger, thirst and hopelessness sometimes, is also the
faith that keeps me intact as a person, keeping a strong hold to God even
though everything that keeps you going was taken by the strong storms in life. These characteristics of Pi, makes me see my
inner strength in surpassing great challenges and making every bitter memories
an aid to move on with a happy life.
3. Which part of the presentation struck you the most? Why?
The part of the movie that struck me the most is when Pi
found that Richard Parker which is his only companion at sea is about to lose
its life. He suddenly gives water to Richard Parker to make the animal survive;
this makes me realize that even the man we have known to be courageous and
hopeful has his weakest part where he would almost wanted to give up. And the part
where he looked up the sky and called for his Mama and Papa has touched me so
much because I felt fortunate enough to have my parents and family alive with
me. But despite of this so much longing that he is fighting with; still he
thanked God for giving a life to him and surrendered everything to his own
creator. As a Christian, I have realized how important to always thank God for
giving me a wonderful life, because not everyone could have it and most people today
struggle so much to survive each day of their lives.
4. What is the movie’s message?
Generally, the writer of this story and the director of the
movie want the audience to feel how hard it is to fight for your life. This movie
wants us to appreciate what we have today, for we would not know what lays
ahead our journey, like Pi, we could be alone or be left without our loved ones
in an unexpected happening. It is also to teach us that in life, letting go is
not easy for everyone, it make us cry so much, down to sorrow and depression,
but no matter how painful to let go, we still have to continue living and face
another journey. Each time that we learn to let go, we also learn to close
another chapter of our lives and open another part with new experiences and new
companions.
5. Did I like this in general? Why?
I really like the movie, because the story of Pi helped me gain
more strength to pursue living with my dreams and I have learned various ways
on how to deal with great storms in my journey and one way is by learning to
appreciate those problems while conquering it all.
The lines are extraordinary that makes me listen more
because I know I can get a lesson from it. The actor played his character in a
very impressive way, how he cried makes me also want to cry. The settings are great,
creative imagery, and the music got a very good timing to every scene,
especially in the drama parts.
6. Did I agree with the main theme/purpose? Why or why not?
Yes I agree with the spiritual theme that I have seen on the
movie. this gives me a reason to love God more and letting him direct my path.
7. What specifically did I like/dislike? Why?
I don’t like the part where hyena keeps on hurting the
zebra...and making it as a food for its hungry stomach. I pity much the zebra, for
it has no enough strength to fight the hyena. I can compare it to our society
today, where strong forces always oppress those who can’t battle with them. The
hyena reminds me of greed which hinders small people to go on.
8. Are there any aspects of theme which are left ambiguous at the end? Why?
The only thing that is unclear to me is the point that there
is no rescue operation during the sink of the ship. It appears to be exaggerated when a ship
passed by and not recognizing Pi’s signal, I just find it awkward because this
should has been shown to illustrate a realistic situation during accidents at
sea.
9. How does this film relate to the things that are happening in your life?
I am a person who loves to deal with storm but gets weak sometimes.
Recently, I am faced with great challenge on my part as a student and I feel so
burdened that the person I expect to lift me up puts me down. I feel
discouraged but I was retrieved when I reflected upon the dreams I want to
pursue and to get myself a justice from what they thought me to be. This film
is an exact description on how I struggle so much to attain life and build myself
as a person. I am proud enough to say that like Pi, I am built with big faith
that keeps me go on.
