The other in literature - life of Pi

L’autre en littérature : 5 minutes presentation

The theme “the other in literature” will be dealt with through the literary animal encounter of Life of Pi. This novel was written by Canadian writer Yann Martel in 2001 and then adapted by film director Ang Lee in 2012.

The first part of the book narrates the life of Pi as a child, mainly how he grew up in an India zoo, in Pondichery. He was then taught to fear animals, and especially the Bengal Tiger, that was introduced to him as an extremely dangerous predator. His father showed him how voracious the tiger was by having him eat a goat alive in front of Pi and his brother «  I’m  going  to show  you  how  dangerous  tigers  are,  »  his father said  «  I  want  you to  remember  this  lesson for  the  rest  of your  lives.  »

Pi learnt that humans project things on animals, instead of understanding animal psychology ; his father explained to him that an animal seen through human eyes is very dangerous. In the first text of my portfolio, the narrator playfully gives this behaviour a Latin species name : Animals anthropomorphicus.

Pi also learns, though, that some species have learnt to live together and to cooperate. Sometimes, dogs are used as foster mothers for lion cubs. Animals are aware of the real truth – the lion cubs know that the dog isn’t their real mother – but they embrace the “imaginary” relationship in order to maintain order in their life. They need such a comforting fiction to live happily. He also mentions a goat that lives among rhinos and a mouse among vipers.

So, there is this glimpse of hope that there can be a cooperative way to live together, and this is what Pi will experience in the second part of the book.

Not only does he learn to survive with a Bengal Tiger on the same lifeboat for more than 200 days, but he even goes as far as saying that without him, he would not have survived.

Being so terrified about Richard Parker at first made his survival instinct kick in, when he may have otherwise let himself die instead ; it was then just beautiful to see Richard Parker move, and he loved having someone to take care of, and to feed. Also, at times, when he felt a very human kind of feeling, like despair, he would look at Richard Parker, and feel better. Like just after a boat passed just near them without seeing them. Richard Parker remains calm, whereas Pi goes through an intense emotional roller coasted because he had hoped the boat would save them and now, he can’t hope anymore. At that moment, : he tells Richard Parker :    «  I  love  you!  » «  Truly  I  do.  I  love  you,  Richard  Parker.  If I  didn’t  have  you  now,  I  don’t  know  what  I  could  do.  I  don’t  think  I  would  make  it.  No,  I  wouldn’t. I  would  die  of  hopelessness. (…) I’ll get  you  to land,  I  promise,  I  promise!”

In the third part, the previous story is sprinkled with doubts. Some Japanese officers question Pi’s testimonial and even wonder whether he made up the whole thing, and whether Richard Parker was not just him, who needed to reawaken his animal quality to survive. At the end of the novel, though, we can read that they have decided to believe Pi.

This masterpiece, that was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 2002, addresses the question of “the other” in different ways : is it possible to learn to cooperate? Is it possible not to project our own identity onto others? Is loneliness so utterly unbearable?

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