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In this section, Pi recounts his 227-day survival at sea with Richard Parker, focusing on routines, fishing, and adaptation. Questions on prayer, survival, and motivation are raised.
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Life of PiChapters 63 to 69 By Gabrielle Wiltse and Jessica Mackie
Summary In this rather uneventful section, Pi is still drifting along with Richard Parker. Pi recounts people who have survived at sea, and then mentions that he lasted 227 days. Pi’s schedule consists of praying five times a day, along with various other monotonous routines. Pi altogether stops waiting for ships to come, and instead focuses on the up keeping of Richard Parker and himself. Pi’s survival mechanism is to completely forget time. His clothes deteriorate and he gets boils from always being wet. Pi tries figuring out navigation, but gives up and moves on to fishing with gaffs (somewhat like a long hooked spear). Pi becomes skilled at fishing, and even has days where he catches so much he cannot eat it all. Small organisms started living in and around the boat and raft, and Pi ate all of them except the worms. Pi has troubles sleeping because of anxiety and apprehension, but not from the sea or the wind because he got used to that. Pi sets off flares that smell like the spice cumin whenever he sees a light in the distance, and they remind him of his hometown Pondicherry.
Important Lines “On a lifeboat, even on a raft, there’s always something that needs doing.(210)” “A tiger is a fascinating animal at any time, and all the more so when it is your sole companion.(212)” “…I felt the feelings of wonder and smallness that we all feel, and I got a clear sense of direction from the spectacle, most definitely, but I mean that in a spiritual sense, not a geographic one. I hadn’t the faintest idea how the night sky might serve as a road map.(214)”
Important Lines Continued “I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible.(218)” “Every time they appeared, I popped them one after another into my mouth like candy until there were none left.(219)” “What I saw was an upside-down town, small, quiet, and peaceable, whose citizens went about with the sweet civility of angels.(219)” “From a single smell a whole town arose.(221)”
Questions Is it necessary for Pi to pray five times a day? Why or why not? What were Pi’s reasons for staring at Richard Parker? Would it have been easier for Pi to adapt to the inhumane ways of killing sea life if he was not raised in a zoo? Why or why not? If you look at the number of days other people survived in the Pacific Ocean compared to Pi, Pi lasts much longer. What do you think Pi’s motivation is?
