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Chapter 17
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
Less than a year later Pi converted to Islam as well. He was exploring the Muslim quarter of Pondicherry, and he admired the beautiful mosque. He went into a Muslim baker’s shop. The baker started a conversation with Pi but then excused himself to go pray. Pi was intrigued by the “callisthenic” prayer routine.
As with Christianity, Pi has only an outsider’s knowledge of Islam and so first sees the ritual without the faith’s essence. This is similar to the people who blithely assert that zoos are “prisons” for animals.
Themes
