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Chapter 11
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Life of Pi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival
Religion and Faith
Storytelling
Boundaries
Summary
Analysis
The author interrupts again to explain how the adult Pi’s tales are still interrupted by his own memories. The author says that “Richard Parker still preys” on Pi’s mind. The author made the mistake of telling Pi that he liked spicy food, so now Pi always serves him painfully hot food on his visits.
We still don’t know who Richard Parker is, but the novel’s end forces us to look back at scenes like this and see that Pi’s musings on zoology have been referencing Richard Parker the whole time, and reinforce the effect that Richard Parker has had on Pi.
Themes
