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Foreshadowing
Author’s Note
Explanation and Analysis:
The entirety of Life of Pi is a frame story: even though the reader is told the account as if from Pi’s perspective, it is, of course, actually the author’s account of Pi’s story. A fictionalized version of the author serves as the interlocutor between Pi and the reader for the entire novel, which is made clear by the brief chapters told only from the author's point of view. In the Author's Note, the author even takes responsibility for any mistakes: "It seemed natural that Mr. Patel’s story should be told mostly in the first person—in his voice and through his eyes. But any inaccuracies or mistakes are mine."
By making the novel a frame story, Martel highlights the fact that all stories are filtered through different people’s perceptions and that there is no way to have a singular, objective account of any sequence of events. The notion that there is no singular "true" story is mirrored in Pi's storytelling. The primary frame story of Pi’s time on the boat has two versions: the story with animals and the story without animals. Pi is flippant about the difference between the two, which emphasizes his role as an unreliable narrator. By having both versions, the reader is also given greater insight into Pi’s emotional state both during and after being stuck on the lifeboat as he struggles to cope with these harrowing memories. Thus, Martel's use of the frame story encourages the reader to look for what these various perspective add to the story rather than try to find a singular factual account.
Related Themes:
