Chapter-by-Chapter Study Guide (Student Copy)
Chapter-by-Chapter Study Guide (Student Copy)
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
• Vocabulary
bamboozle:
“To a clerk at a train station I said, ‘I didn’t think the fare would be so expensive.
You’re not trying to bamboozle me, are you?’” (author’s note, pp. vii–viii).
ruddy:
“Your characters are so ruddy with life they practically need birth certificates”
(author’s note, p. viii).
crux:
“Your story is emotionally dead, that’s the crux of it” (author’s note, p. ix).
obscurely:
“He showed me the yellowed newspaper clippings that made him briefly,
obscurely famous” (author’s note, p. xi).
• Questions for Essay and Discussion
1. Discuss the last line of the Author’s Note: “If we, citizens, do not support our
artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end
up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams” (p. xii). What modern–day
examples support Martel’s arguments?
2. What do you gain by reading the Author’s Note both before and after reading
the novel? Discuss what you have written with a partner/small group/entire
class.
3. Trace the role of storytelling in your life. Is the ability to tell a good story
enough to qualify a work as art or literature? Defend your position with examples.
4. How are storytelling and religion related? Are all religions a form of
storytelling?
CHAPTERS 1–5:
• Vocabulary
zoology:
“My majors were religious studies and zoology” (ch. 1, p. 3).
cosmogony:
“My fourth–year thesis for religious studies concerned certain aspects of the
cosmogony theory of Isaac Luria, the great sixteenth–century Kabbalist from
Safed” (ch. 1, p. 3).
Kabbalah:
See sentence above.
in situ:
“I had the great luck one summer of studying the three–toed sloth in situ in the
equatorial jungles of Brazil” (ch. 1, p. 3).
indolence:
“It’s only real habit is indolence” (ch. 1, p. 3).
trifling:
“When you’ve suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both
unbearable and trifling” (ch. 1, p. 5).
incoherent:
“The first time I turned a tap on, its noisy, wasteful, superabundant gush was
such a shock that I became incoherent and my legs collapsed beneath me, and I
fainted in the arms of a nurse” (ch. 1, p. 7).
lasciviousness:
“To speak frankly, many are sexual deviants, either terribly repressed and
subject to explosions of frenzied lasciviousness or openly depraved, in either
case regularly affronting management with gross outrages of free sex and incest”
(ch. 4, pp. 13–14).
founders:
“But language founders in such seas” (ch. 4, p. 15).
raiments:
“They show their raiments” (ch. 4, p. 15).
• Study Questions
Chapters 1–2
1. How does the three–toed sloth survive?
2. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to nonhumans.
Find examples of anthropomorphism on pp. 4–5.
3. Describe some examples of imagery, figurative language on pp. 6–7.
4. In chapter 2, in italics, who is the narrator and who is the subject?
Chapters 3–5
1. Describe how Pi comes to be named after a French swimming pool.
2. Pondicherry Zoo, which once loomed so large in Pi’s life, is now only a place
of memory. Describe a childhood experience or place which has “shrunk” in your
memory.
3. Pi does not agree with people who “think animals in the wild are ‘happy’
because they are ‘free’” (ch. 4, p. 15). Why?
4. Describe how and why Piscine Molitor Patel becomes Pi. Describe a similar
name change in your school experience.
5. Pi writes his name on the blackboard with every teacher during the day. He
says that “repetition is important in the training not only of animals but also of
humans” (ch. 5, p. 23). Explain.
• Questions for Essay and Discussion
1. Discuss Pi’s statement that “I have nothing to say of my working life, only that
a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless if he’s
not careful” (ch. 1, p. 6).
2. How does the word “bamboozle” represent the India Martel and Pi describe?
3. How do you feel about zoos? Have your ideas about zoos changed? What is
your favorite zoo animal?
4. Compare school or society to a zoo using the features Pi describes in chapter 4.
5. Pi finds “refuge” in a Greek letter. Why are names so important to our sense
of self?
CHAPTERS 6–22:
• Vocabulary
apothecary:
“His spice rack looks like an apothecary’s shop” (ch. 6, p. 24).
enteritis:
“One of our sloth bears became seriously ill with severe hemorrhagic enteritis
after being given fish that had gone putrid by a man who was convinced he was
doing a good deed” (ch. 8, pp. 30–31).
ungulates:
“We passed birds, bears, apes, monkeys, ungulates, the terrarium house, the
rhinos, the elephants, the giraffes” (ch. 8, p. 33).
canton:
“They only rid the canton of its few half–wild dogs” (ch. 11, p. 42).
absconding:
“That a big, black, tropical cat managed to survive for more than two months in a
Swiss winter without being seen by anyone, let alone attacking anyone, speaks
plainly to the fact that escaped zoo animals are not dangerous absconding
criminals but simply wild creatures seeking to fit in” (ch. 11, p. 42).
anarchy:
“Until it knows its rank for certain, the animal lives a life of unbearable anarchy”
(ch. 13, p. 44).
alpha:
“They are in the presence of a strongly dominant male, a super–alpha male, and
they must submit to his dominance rituals” (ch. 13, p. 43).
omega:
“It is interesting to note that the lion that is the most amenable to the circus
trainer’s tricks is the one with the lowest social standing in the pride, the omega
animal” (ch. 14, p. 44).
compliant:
“It is this compliant animal, to the public no different from the others in size and
apparent ferocity, that will be the star of the show, while the trainer leaves the
beta and gamma lions, more cantankerous subordinates, sitting on their colourful
barrels on the edge of the ring” (ch. 14, p. 45).
Beta:
See above.
gamma:
See above.
cantankerous:
See above.
Kaaba:
“Next to it is a framed photo of the black–robed Kaaba, holiest sanctum of Islam”
(ch. 15, p. 45)
atman:
“If you ask me how Brahman and atman relate precisely, I would say in the same
way the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit relate: mysteriously” (ch. 16, p. 49).
defiler:
“‘How dare you enter this sacred place, you defiler?’” (ch. 17, p. 52).
avatar:
“It was wrong of this Christian God to let His avatar die” (ch. 17, p. 54).
Bedouins:
“Why, Islam is nothing but an easy sort of exercise, I thought. Hot–weather yoga
for the Bedouins” (ch. 18, p. 60).
imam:
“We sat cross–legged listening to the imam until the time came to pray” (ch. 19,
p. 61).
hafiz:
“He was a hafiz, one who knows the Qur'an by heart, and he sang it in a slow,
simple chant” (ch. 20, pp. 61–2).
ineluctably:
“… an alignment of the universe along moral lines, not intellectual ones; a
realization that the founding principle of existence is what we call love, which
works itself out sometimes not clearly, not cleanly, not immediately, nonetheless
ineluctably” (ch. 21, p. 63).
• Study Questions
Chapters 6–7
1. Pi’s house is both overheated and overstocked. Any guesses as to why?
2. What is the difference between an atheist and an agnostic?
3. Describe Mr. Kumar.
4. Why is Mr. Kumar so important to Pi?
5. Why does Pi dislike agnostics more than atheists?
Chapter 8
1. How does Pi’s father teach him that “an animal is an animal?”
2. How does Ravi, Pi’s older brother, terrorize him after the tiger incident?
Chapters 9–14
1. Describe territoriality as it relates to Pi’s father’s zoo and to animals in
general.
2. Martel’s statement, “Memory is an ocean and he bobs on its surface” (ch. 12,
p. 42), is an allusion. What does it refer to? (Note: allusion is a passing or casual
reference to a person, event, place, or phrase, either directly or implied.)
3. In chapter 13, Pi notes: “Much hostile and aggressive behavior among
animals is the expression of social insecurity” (p. 43). An animal’s social rank is
central to how he leads his life (who he associates with, when he eats, etc.). To
feel secure, an animal needs to know his place in the social hierachy. Does this
hold true for humans as well? Explain.
4. Who are the best performers in the circus and why?
Chapter 15
1. Describe Pi’s house in a paragraph. What is most striking?
2. Compare Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism.
• History
Christianity:
Islam:
Hinduism:
• Beliefs
Christianity:
Islam:
Hinduism:
• Scripture
Christianity:
Islam:
Hinduism:
• Worship
Christianity:
Islam:
Hinduism:
Chapters 16–20
1. In these chapters, Pi becomes a disciple of all three religions. For each,
discuss his means of discovery, what he finds peculiar, why he feels a
connection, and a favorite quote.
Chapters 21–22
1. What must the “better story” include, and what does a “dry, yeastless
factuality” represent?
2. Chapter 22 has an important insight. What is it?
• Questions for Essay and Discussion
1. In chapter 7, Mr. Kumar notes: “If we had politicians like these goats and
rhinos we’d have fewer problems in our country” (p. 27). Comment on this
statement in the context of the novel and in the context of a current government.
2. Have we “made the entire planet our prey” (p. 29) as Pi asserts in chapter 8?
Elaborate, using specific examples to support your argument.
3. Pi notes in chapter 10: “All living things contain a measure of madness that
moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways” (p. 41). Comment on both
the benefits and disadvantages of this tendency using specific examples.
4. In chapter 16, Pi says: “A plague upon fundamentalists and literalists!” (p. 49).
Knowing that Pi juggles three religions, comment on this statement using
knowledge, observation, or experience.
CHAPTERS 23–36:
• Vocabulary
pandit:
“‘Your son has gone Muslim,’ said the pandit” (ch. 23, p. 64).
pastoral:
“Each must have assumed that the others were there for some business other
than pastoral and had rudely chosen that moment to deal with it” (ch. 23, p. 65).
existential:
“He was a businessman, pronounced busynessman in his case, a hardworking,
earthbound professional, more concerned with inbreeding among the lions than
any overarching moral or existential scheme” (ch. 23, p. 65).
hanuman:
“It’s true that he had all new animals blessed by a priest and there were two
small shrines at the zoo, one to Lord Ganesha and one to Hanuman, gods likely
to please a zoo director, what with the first having the head of an elephant and
the second being a monkey, but Father’s calculation was that this was good for
business, not good for his soul, a matter of public relations rather than personal
salvation” (ch. 23, p. 65).
impious:
“A Hindu upbringing and a Baptist education had precisely cancelled each other
out as far as religion was concerned and had left her serenely impious” (ch. 23,
pp. 65–66).
idolaters:
“‘Hindus and Christians are idolaters. They have many gods’” (ch. 23, p. 67).
flunkies:
“‘They are the flunkies of a foreign god’” (ch. 23, p. 68).
apoplectic:
“Three apoplectic faces turned to him” (ch. 23, p. 68).
lampoonery:
“And other lampoonery of such kind” (ch. 24, p. 70).
depravity:
“To me, religion is about our dignity, not our depravity” (ch. 25, p. 71).
aviary:
“And when that tree was in bloom, it was a regular aviary of crows, mynahs,
babblers, rosy pastors, sunbirds and parakeets” (ch. 28, p. 77).
precarious:
“The life of a zoo, like the life of its inhabitants in the wild, is precarious” (ch. 29, p. 79).
nemesis: an unconquerable opponent or rival
“Is she the nemesis of my digestive tract?” (ch. 30, p. 80).
assimilated:
“The most famous case is also the most common: the pet dog, which has so
assimilated humans into the realm of doghood as to want to mate with them, a
fact that any dog owner who has had to pull an amorous dog from the leg of a
mortified visitor will confirm” (ch. 32, p. 84).
amorous:
See above.
Methuselah:
“While other mice dropped in the terrarium disappeared within two days, this little
brown Methuselah built itself a nest, stored the grains we gave it in various
hideaways and scampered about in plain sight of the snakes” (ch. 32, p. 85).
agouti:
“The golden agouti, like the rhinoceros, was in need of companionship” (ch. 32,
p. 85).
• Study Questions
Chapters 23–28
1. Pi’s allegiance to all three religions is brought into question. How does Pi
triumph and make all three spiritual leaders appear petty and intolerant?
2. In chapter 25, how does Pi challenge the hypocrisy of some “religious”
people?
3. How do Piscine’s parents resolve Pi's religious “zealotry”?
Chapter 29
1. Why do people move, according to Pi?
2. What finally prompts Pi’s father to leave India?
3. What clever word play does Martel employ on page 78 to illustrate Mr. Patel’s
discontent?
Chapters 30–31
1. Why does Martel seem surprised by Pi’s nuclear family?
2. How do the two Mr. Kumars react to the animals at the zoo?
Chapters 32–33
1. Explain Pi’s rationale for zoomorphism, “where an animal takes a human
being, or another animal, to be one of its kind” (p. 84).
2. What do you take away from chapter 33’s photographic mementos?
Chapters 34–36
1. What is amazing to Pi about the selling of the zoo animals?
2. How do Pi and his brother, Ravi, feel about moving from India to
Canada?
3. Anticipate what the last sentence of Part One, “This story has a happy ending”
(p. 93) might mean.
• Questions for Essay and Discussion
1. “People move in the hope of a better life” (ch. 29, p. 77). Discuss this theory
is the context of other novels you’ve read, direct experience, or observation.
2. Pi notes, “The Greater Good and the Greater Profit are not compatible aims,
much to Father's chagrin” (ch. 29, p. 78). Discuss this observation in the context
of the Pondicherry Zoo and in the context of modern society, giving specific
examples to support your arguments.
3. Pay says, “Bad politics is bad for business” (ch. 29, p. 79). Discuss.
CHAPTERS 37–47:
• Vocabulary
dyspeptic:
“All around me was the vomit of a dyspeptic ship” (ch. 38, p. 101).
innumerable:
“The stage is vast, the lighting is dramatic, the extras are innumerable, and the
budget for special effects is absolutely unlimited” (ch. 38, p. 102).
ensconced:
“I was a spectator safely ensconced in his seat” (ch. 38, p. 103).
flotsam:
“Only rain, marauding waves of black ocean and the flotsam of tragedy” (ch. 41,
p. 107).
fodder:
“They were using me as fodder” (ch. 41, p. 110).
geotectonics:
“The sea briefly imitated every land feature—every hill, every valley, every plain.
Accelerated geotectonics. Around the world in eighty swells” (ch. 41, p. 110).
fathomless:
“The sea, so immense, so breathtakingly immense, was settling into a smooth
and steady motion, with the waves at heel; the wind was softening to a tuneful
breeze; fluffy, radiant white clouds were beginning to light up in a vast fathomless
dome of delicate pale blue” (ch. 41, pp. 110–11).
dissembling:
“Oh, enough of this dissembling. Let me say it plainly: I love you, I love you, I
love you” (ch. 42, p. 111).
cataleptic:
“Orange Juice had seemed practically cataleptic. My guess was she was dying
of shock” (ch. 43, p. 113).
exuded:
“The look was nearly the typical look of a hyena—blank and frank, the curiosity
apparent with nothing of the mental set revealed, jaw hanging open, big ears
sticking up rigidly, eyes bright and black—were it not for the strain that exuded
from every cell of its body, an anxiety that made the animal glow, as if with a
fever” (ch. 43, p. 115).
prototype:
“Its thick neck and high shoulders that slope to the hindquarters look as if they’ve
come from a discarded prototype for the giraffe, and its shaggy, coarse coat
seems to have been patched together from the leftovers of creation” (ch. 43, pp.
115–16).
ostentation:
“The colour is a bungled mix of tan, black, yellow, grey, with the spots having
none of the classy ostentation of a leopard’s rosettes; they look rather like the
symptoms of a skin disease, a virulent form of mange” (ch. 43, p. 116).
virulent:
See above.
catholicity:
“In fact, a hyena’s catholicity of taste is so indiscriminate it nearly forces
admiration” (ch. 43, p. 117).
indiscriminate:
See above.
expirations:
“From nearer in the blackness I began hearing loud expirations and groans and
grunts and various wet mouth sounds” (ch. 44, p. 119).
remonstrations:
“The victim bore its suffering patiently, without showy remonstrations” (ch. 45, p.
120).
incessant:
“This jerky and incessant motion was making me feel queasy” (ch. 45, p. 121).
simians:
“Simians are the clearest mirrors we have in the animal world” (ch. 45, p. 122).
frugivorous:
“But it seemed to me highly improbable, if not totally incredible, that when
brought together these frugivorous tree–dwellers and carnivorous savannah–
dwellers would so radically carve out their niches as to pay no attention to each
other” (ch. 45, p. 122).
durian:
“And surely a hyena would smell of a predator to an orang–utan, a reason for
being vigilant when a piece of durian has been dropped to the ground
accidentally” (ch. 45, p. 122).
incongruous:
“It looked incongruous, floating there in the water, so odd in its shape compared
to the sleek, slippery design of fish” (ch. 45, p. 123).
chromatic:
“It was a placid explosion of orange and red, a great chromatic symphony, a
colour canvas of supernatural proportions, truly a splendid Pacific sunset, quite
wasted on me” (ch. 46, p. 124).
abomination:
“Once or twice it reared its head straight up, as if appealing to heaven—the
abomination of the moment was perfectly expressed” (ch. 46, p. 126).
coagulating:
“There was blood everywhere, coagulating to a deep red crust” (ch. 46, p. 127).
formidable:
“Everyone in the vehicle finds it a strange and formidable place” (ch. 47, p. 129).
empirical:
“That is the plain empirical truth” (ch. 47, p. 130).
• Study Questions
Chapter 37
1. How would you describe Pi’s state of mind in this chapter? Give evidence
from the text.
2. How does Pi prove to be “the next goat”?
Chapters 38-47
1. Describe the ecosystem on the lifeboat.
2. What great loss does Pi many times lament?
3. What important item does Pi manage to save for future use? How might this
prove useful?
4. These are difficult chapters to read due to the graphic detail of the carnage.
What do you find most horrific? What does Pi seem most upset about?
5. Who or what might the zebra represent?
• Question for Essay and Discussion
1. How might the animals aboard Pi’s lifeboat be metaphors for people in Pi’s
life? Or, give the attributes of the animals on the lifeboat and compare them to
people or types of people in the world.
2. Discuss the significance of Pi’s statement: “Had I considered my prospects in
the light of reason, I surely would have given up and let go of the oar, hoping that
I might drown before being eaten. But I don't recall that I had a single thought
during those first minutes of relative safety. I didn’t even notice daybreak. I held
on to the oar, I just held on, God only knows why” (ch. 40, p.107).
CHAPTERS 48–58:
• Vocabulary
marauder:
“She was the seventh person killed in two months by the marauder” (ch. 48, p.
132).
Imperative:
“Of hunger and thirst, thirst is the greater imperative” (ch. 48, p. 133).
befuddled:
“But the shipping clerk at the Howrah train station was evidently a man both
befuddled and diligent” (ch. 48, p. 133).
diligent:
See above.
sustenance:
“I thought of sustenance for the first time” (ch. 49, p. 134).
conundrum:
“How I had failed to notice for two and a half days a 450–pound Bengal tiger in a
lifeboat twenty–six feet long was a conundrum I would have to try to crack later,
when I had more energy” (ch. 49, p. 134).
insouciant:
“But in the final set, when the challenger has nothing left to lose, he becomes
relaxed again, insouciant, daring” (ch. 49, pp. 134–35).
asphyxiation:
“After a few minutes you die and the discomfort of asphyxiation goes away” (ch.
49, p. 135).
chandler:
“What ship chandler would not think of making a little extra money under the
noble guise of saving lives?” (ch. 49, p. 135).
cache:
“The floor lay flat against the hull; there could be no cache beneath it” (ch. 51, p.
139).
unambiguous:
“Between the life jackets, partially, as if through some leaves, I had my first,
unambiguous, clear–headed glimpse of Richard Parker” (ch. 51, p. 140).
supplication
“‘God preserve me!’ No supplication was ever more passionate yet more gently
carried by the breath” (ch. 51, p. 140).
ampoule:
“6 morphine ampoule syringes” (ch. 52, p. 145).
lucidity:
“You see with utter lucidity all that you are losing” (ch. 53, p. 147).
affected:
“The stance had something of a pose to it, as if it were an intentional, even
affected display of mighty art” (ch. 53, p. 151).
lithesome:
“His presence was overwhelming, yet equally evident was the lithesome grace of
it” (ch. 53, p. 151).
rufous:
“Wavy dabs of black circled the face in a pattern that was striking yet subtle, for it
brought less attention to itself than it did to the one part of the face left untouched
by it, the bridge, whose rufous lustre shone nearly with a radiance” (ch. 53, pp.
151–52).
freeboard:
“It continued to float, rising above every wave, but there was no freeboard and
the surf of every breaking wave rode clear across it, washing around me like a
river washing around a boulder” (ch. 54, p. 157).
attrition:
“Plan Number Six: Wage a War of Attrition” (ch. 54, p. 158).
mantra:
“‘The words ‘Plan Number Six, Plan Number Six, Plan Number Six’ repeated
themselves in my mind like a mantra and brought me a small measure of
comfort, though I couldn’t recall for the life of me what Plan Number Six was” (ch.
55, p. 159).
edification:
“Here it is, for your enjoyment and instruction, for your gratification and
edification, the show you’ve been waiting for all your life, THE GREATEST
SHOW ON EARTH!” (ch. 57, p. 165).
brackish:
“You’ve seen them in brackish mangrove swamps” (ch. 57, p. 165).
cryptic:
“There were also a few highly cryptic lines distilling the art and science of
navigation” (ch. 58, p. 167).
distilling:
See above.
injunction:
“The injunction not to drink urine was quite unnecessary” (ch. 58, p. 167).
tantamount:
“To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one’s life away” (ch. 58, p.
169).
• Study Questions
Chapters 48–49
1. How did Richard Parker get his name?
2. Pi says, “You might think I lost all hope at that point. I did. And as a result I
perked up and felt much better” (ch. 49, p. 134). How does this ironic statement
make sense? (Note: irony is an incongruity between what might be expected
and what actually occurs.)
3. Why is Pi unable to think logically at this point?
4. What might account for Richard Parker’s passivity?
Chapters 50–51
1. Draw or describe the lifeboat and the location of its inhabitants in chapter 50.
2. Pi notes that “necessity is the mother of invention” (ch. 50, p. 139). How does
this prove to be the case?
3. What is one detail Pi notes that could save his life?
4. Give one example of imagery, figurative language in chapter 51 that
expresses Pi’s enjoyment of his first taste of water in three days.
5. Why is “animal fat” italicized in Pi’s description of the fortified biscuits’
ingredients?
6. How does Pi show both resourcefulness and joy in his find?
Chapters 52–53
1. Chapter 52 is largely a list. How does this abrupt change in Martel’s writing
style affect the reader?
2. What instincts for survival does Pi exhibit in chapter 53?
3. “I felt like a prisoner being pushed off a plank by pirates” (p. 154). Explain.
Chapters 54–55
1. During Pi’s long, sleepless, rain–soaked night, he devises several plans for
defeating Richard Parker. Which of these does he ultimately decide upon?
Which would you choose?
2. In the daylight, Pi thinks better of “Plan Number Six.” Why?
Chapters 56-57
1. Why does Pi think fear is “life’s only true opponent”?
2. How is fear personified in chapter 56?
3. How does Richard Parker himself calm Pi down?
4. What is Pi’s epiphany?
5. Pi says, “But there’s more to it. I will come clean. I will tell you a secret: a part
of me was glad about Richard Parker. A part of me did not want Richard Parker
to die at all, because if he died I would be left alone with despair, a foe even
more formidable than a tiger” (ch. 57, p. 164). How might Pi’s new plan to keep
Richard Parker alive assist him spiritually, physically, and intellectually?
Chapter 58
1. Name one possibly life–saving and one humorous survival tip from
the survival manual Pi finds.
2. Explain Pi’s statement that “a castaway’s worst mistake is to hope too much
and do too little.”
• Question for Essay and Discussion
1. Compare Pi’s description of Richard Parker on pp. 151–52 with William
Blake’s poem “The Tyger.” What tone do both Martel and Blake employ in their
descriptions? How do they feel about their subjects? Find other animal/nature
novels, poetry, short stories for comparison/contrast purposes.
The Tyger
by William Blake
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? What the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
CHAPTERS 59–70
• Vocabulary
disconsolate:
“It was a disconsolate growl, with something indefinably green and queasy in its
tone” (ch. 59, p. 170).
galleon:
“The result was no galleon. The mast, so called, ended hardly a few inches
above my head” (ch. 59, p. 174).
mien:
“What a stunning creature. Such a noble mien” (ch. 59, p. 175).
tapir:
“What if I had ended up with a creature that looked silly or ugly, a tapir or an
ostrich or a flock of turkeys?” (ch. 59, p. 175).
evanescent:
“At multiple depths, as far as I could see, there were evanescent trails of
phosphorescent green bubbles, the wake of speeding fish” (ch. 59, p. 175).
phosphorescent:
See above.
luminescence:
“There were many collisions—all involving fatalities, I’m afraid—and a number of
cars spun wildly out of control and collided against barriers, bursting above the
surface of the water and splashing down in showers of luminescence” (ch. 59, p.
176).
sentient:
“It was the first sentient being I had ever killed” (ch. 61, p. 183).
iridescence:
“I felt I was beating a rainbow to death. (I found out later that the dorado is famed
for its death–knell iridescence.)” (ch. 61, p. 185).
sanguinary:
“I could explain it by arguing that profiting from a pitiful flying fish's navigational
mistake made me shy and sorrowful, while the excitement of actively capturing a
great dorado made me sanguinary and self–assured” (ch. 61, p. 185).
plight:
“The feeling of busyness was profoundly satisfying; I hadn’t thought at all about
my plight or myself” (ch. 61, p. 186).
gaffs:
“It was the gaffs that finally proved to be my most valuable fishing equipment”
(ch. 66, p. 194).
ambit:
“Fish that were local in their ambit made the net their neighbourhood, and the
quick ones, the ones that tended to streak by, the dorados, slowed down to visit
the new development” (ch. 66, p. 195).
tilaks:
“I wore these spots of shine and silver like tilaks, the marks of colour that we
Hindus wear on our foreheads as symbols of the divine” (ch. 66, p. 196).
carapace:
“I did it by bringing the victim alongside the bow of the boat, carapace against
hull, and tying a rope to its neck, a front flipper and a back flipper” (ch. 66, p.
196).
cumin:
“By some freak of chemistry they smelled exactly like cumin” (ch. 69, p. 199).
aureole:
“It was too bright for me, a blinding white centre with a pinkish red aureole” (ch.
69, p. 200).
• Study Questions
Chapters 59–70
1. These chapters deal with Pi’s survival. In chapter 59, how does Pi make the
tarpaulin his?
2. How else does Pi improve his odds at survival?
3. How long does Pi survive as a castaway in the Pacific and why is this a
significant number?
4. In chapter 68, why does Pi say he has difficulty sleeping?
5. Why does Richard Parker not attack Pi during this time?
• Questions for Essay and Discussion
1. How and why has Pi changed from a peace–loving vegetarian to a blood–
thirsty carnivore who wrestles sea turtles?
2. “‘Life is a peephole, a single tiny entry onto a vastness—how can I not dwell
on this brief, cramped view I have of things? This peephole is all I’ve got!’” (ch.
60, p. 177). Explain Pi’s peephole and contrast it with yours. How does one’s
“peephole” influence one’s view of the world?
3. “Time is an illusion that only makes us pant” (ch. 63, p. 192) Comment on
how Pi’s survival depends on his ability to forget time. How are we all prisoners
of time?
CHAPTERS 71–91
• Vocabulary
affronted:
“Be quick to be affronted” (ch. 71, p. 204).
construe:
“Don’t wait to construe—misconstrue as fast as you can” (ch. 71, p. 204).
persnickety:
“The point here is to make your animal understand that his upstairs neighbour is
exceptionally persnickety about territory” (ch. 71, p. 204).
malaise:
“Just one shrill blow and you will see your animal shudder with malaise and
repair at top speed to the safest, furthest part of its territory” (ch. 71, p. 205).
ordnance:
“The shield was heavier than I would have liked, but do soldiers ever get to
choose their ordnance?” (ch. 72, pp. 205–06).
covert:
“I wonder if those who hear this story will understand that my behaviour was not
an act of insanity or a covert suicide attempt, but a simple necessity” (ch. 72, p.
206).
deference:
“Conversely, to hide them, or try to, was a sign of deference—of deference to me
(Chapter 76, p. 210).
vestiges:
“It fell into my cup with a clink, and no doubt I will be considered to have
abandoned the last vestiges of humanness by those who do not understand the
degree of my suffering when I say that it sounded to my ears like the music of a
five–rupee coin dropped into a beggar’s cup” (ch. 77, p. 214).
acrid:
“The taste was acrid, but it wasn’t that” (ch. 77, p. 214).
curmudgeonly:
“They were like curmudgeonly old friends who would never admit that they liked
me yet came round to see me all the time” (ch. 79, p. 218).
tubercles:
“A shark’s skin is covered with minute tubercles that make it as rough as
sandpaper” (ch. 79, p. 220).
archipelago:
“They would emerge a short distance away, sometimes three or four of them, a
short–lived archipelago of volcanic islands” (ch. 84, p. 230).
behemoths:
“These gentle behemoths always lifted my spirits” (ch. 84, p. 230).
albatross:
“Twice I saw an albatross” (ch. 84, p. 230).
petrels:
“Another time, a short distance from the boat, two Wilson’s petrels skimmed by,
feet skipping on the water” (ch. 84, p. 230).
shearwater:
“We at last attracted the attention of a short–tailed shearwater” (ch. 84, p. 231).
booby:
“I had better luck with a masked booby” (ch. 84, p. 231).
manifestations:
“Blessed be you in all your manifestations, Allah–Brahman!” (ch. 86, p. 234).
juggernaut:
“Richard Parker finally sensed the looming juggernaut” (ch. 86, p. 235).
subjugation:
“It kept Richard Parker in partial subjugation” (ch. 89, p. 238).
emaciated:
“We were two emaciated mammals, parched and starving” (ch. 89, p. 239).
imminent:
“I was more affected by his imminent demise than I was by my own” (ch. 90, p.
242).
sacriligious:
“Where were these disgusting, sacrilegious recipes coming from?” (ch. 90, p.
245).
obtuse:
“Don’t be so obtuse” (ch. 90, p. 247).
eviscerated:
“His eviscerated torso, with its broken ribs curving up like the frame of a ship,
looked like a miniature version of the lifeboat, such was its blood–drenched and
horrifying state” (ch. 91, p. 256).
• Study Questions
Chapters 71–75
1. How does Pi set about training Richard Parker?
2. How does Pi manage to keep his faith in God despite unremitting hardships?
3. Chapter 75 is one sentence only: “On the day when I estimated it was
Mother's birthday, I sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her out loud.” What effect does this
have on the reader?
Chapters 76–84
1. What are some signs of Pi’s physical and spiritual deterioration?
2. The storm in chapter 83 causes much loss. What remains to keep Pi from
certain death?
3. How does Pi regard birds and mammals that are not prey?
Chapters 85–86
1. “I remember that close encounter with electrocution and third–degree burns
as one of the few times during my ordeal when I felt genuine happiness” (ch. 85,
p. 233). How can this be?
2. “At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts
that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the
near and the far” (ch. 85, p. 233). Comment on Pi’s use of opposites here. Have
you ever felt similarly?
3. In chapter 86, Pi’s hopes are dashed when a massive ship bears down on
them without ever seeing them. How does he recover from such a crushing
blow?
Chapters 87–91
1. These chapters represent extreme anguish for Pi. Describe some of the
worst things to befall Pi during this section.
2. In chapter 90, Pi has a hallucinatory conversation between a carnivorous
sailor who tries to strangle him, and himself, a peace–loving vegetarian. What is
the purpose of this chapter?
• Questions for Essay and Discussion
1. “To be a castaway is to be a point perpetually at the centre of a circle.…The
circumference is ever great” (ch. 78, pp.215–16). Comment on this geometric
observation from Pi’s viewpoint and from your own.
2. Reread the last paragraph of chapter 78, p. 217. Write about some of the
highs and lows that Pi experiences as a castaway.
CHAPTERS 92–100:
• Vocabulary
chimera:
“I felt satisfaction because such a geology confirmed that I was right, that this
island was a chimera, a play of the mind” (ch. 92, p. 257).
porosity:
“Its shore could not be called a beach, there being neither sand nor pebbles, and
there was no pounding of surf either, since the waves that fell upon the island
simply vanished into its porosity” (ch. 92, p. 257).
olfactory:
“It came to my olfactory sense, full and fresh, overwhelming: the smell of
vegetation” (ch. 92, p. 258).
commensal:
“Either there was soil deeper down, or this species of tree was a remarkable
instance of a commensal or a parasite” (ch. 92, p. 260).
cordate:
“The cordate leaves were large and broad, and ended in a single point” (ch. 92,
p. 260).
vertigo:
“I have read that there are two fears that cannot be trained out of us: the startle
reaction upon hearing an unexpected noise, and vertigo” (ch. 92, p. 263).
meerkats:
“But it was the meerkats that impressed themselves most indelibly on my mind”
(ch. 92, p. 265).
diurnal:
“It is an agile and keen–sighted creature, diurnal and social in habits, and feeding
in its native range—the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa—on, among other
things, scorpions, to whose venom it is completely immune” (ch. 92, p. 265).
ferment:
“Meerkats were jumping up and down in a state of great ferment” (ch. 92, p. 267).
corroded:
“I felt even my soul had been corroded by salt” (ch. 92, p. 268).
euphoria:
“My running became smooth and unselfconscious, a source of euphoria”
(Chapter 92, p. 269).
perturb:
“The storm, and the resulting minor earthquakes, did not perturb the meerkats in
the least” (ch. 92, p. 271).
leviathan:
“It is this: that the island was not an island in the conventional sense of the
term—that is, a small landmass rooted to the floor of the ocean—but was rather
a free-floating organism, a ball of algae of leviathan proportions” (ch. 92, pp.
271–71).
copiously:
“I always made sure I was there before him, copiously marking my territory with
urine so that he didn’t forget who was who and what was whose” (ch. 92, p. 272).
arboreal:
“These trees were without a doubt the gates into a meerkat arboreal city with
more bustle in it than Calcutta” (ch. 92, p. 278).
rambutan:
“It was now the size of a rambutan” (ch. 92, p. 280).
surreptitiously:
“Their car broke down and the mechanic who fixed it surreptitiously cannibalized
the motor of parts, putting in used parts instead, for the replacement of which
they had to pay the rental company and which resulted in the car breaking down
a second time, on their way back” (ch. 95, pp. 289–90).
cannibalized:
See above.
verbatim:
“What follows are excerpts from the verbatim transcript” (ch. 95, p. 290).
bonsai:
“’He’s a bonsai master’” (ch. 99, p. 294).
capybaras:
“’If you took the city of Tokyo and turned it upside down and shook it, you’d be
amazed at all the animals that would fall out: badgers, wolves, boa constrictors,
Komodo dragons, crocodiles, ostriches, baboons, capybaras, wild boars,
leopards, manatees, ruminants in untold numbers’” (ch. 99, p. 297).
scimitars:
“’Huge. Teeth like this! Claws like scimitars!’” (ch. 99, p. 298).
• Study Questions
Chapter 92–93
1. We know from the outset that the island is empirically impossible. Why then
do we believe it as readers?
2. The island seems to be entirely vegetarian. Why?
3. Like most things too good to be true, the island is, too. How does it show its
true colors?
4. What might the island and its true nature symbolize?
6. “Nothing distracted the meerkats from their little lives of pond staring and algae
nibbling” (ch. 92, p 269). Is Pi talking about meerkats or human nature in this
passage?
7. As Pi begins to rejuvenate on the island, so, too, does Richard Parker. Why?
Chapter 94
1. After more than seven months, Pi reaches land. Richard Parker disappears
into the forest immediately. Why no goodbyes?
2. Pi says, “It’s important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you
let go” (p. 285). Discuss the truth of these words.
Chapters 95–100
1. How is the trip of Mr. Tomohiro Okamoto and Mr. Atsuro Chiba of the
Japanese Ministry of Transport to visit Pi in the hospital a “comedy of errors”?
2. In many ways, these chapters are the most humorous part of the novel. On
what premise does this humor rely?
3. Why is chapter 97 only two words?
Chapters 99–100
1. What do the floating bananas and the cultivated bonsai trees illustrate?
2. How does the bonsai tree story remind the reader of the two Mr.
Kumars?
3. What is the significance of Mr. Okamoto saying, “‘The cook on the Tsimtsum
was a Frenchman’” (ch. 99, p. 299).
4. Pi tells the “real” story at last. Why do Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba ultimately
report Pi’s original story—with animals—instead?
• Questions for Essay and Discussion
1. Pi says, “I am a person who believes in form, in the harmony of order. Where
we can, we must give things a meaningful shape” (Chapter 94, p. 285). How
important are form and structure to people’s happiness?
2. Pi says to Mr. Okamoto and Mr. Chiba, “‘If you stumble at mere believability,
what are you living for? Isn’t love hard to believe?’” (ch. 99, p. 297). Discuss this
in the context of faith and storytelling.
3. Discuss the idea that Richard Parker is part of Pi and necessary for his
survival on the lifeboat.
4. In the beginning of the book, Martel insists that this is a story “to make you
believe in God” (author’s note, p. xi). Do you agree or disagree with this
assertion?
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