Life of Pi: Setting 1 key example

In Part 1, Pi focuses on his interactions in zoos, schools, and places of worship. The focus on these buildings allows the book to introduce the idea that boundaries are integral to the lives of all animals (including humans). Furthermore, the way Pi’s childhood parallels (and indeed foreshadows) his time at sea further emphasizes Pi’s lack of interest in telling a “factual” account compared to providing a more interesting story. While it is improbable that the lessons of Pi’s childhood regarding hungry hyenas and religious experiences line up so neatly with his time at sea, their actual happening is irrelevant to Pi’s goal of storytelling. Pi's childhood is also a time of political turmoil in India, which provokes Pi's family to move. However, politics become insignificant while he is on the boat, demonstrating the relative unimportance of various human affairs in the grander scheme of survival.

Part 2 covers Pi’s time on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days. Like in Part 1, the setting plays with the idea of boundaries, as Pi is in an enormous ocean that seems to go on forever. And yet, he is more trapped than ever, confined to the small lifeboat that keeps him safe. His situation recalls his previous discussion of territory and boundaries in the context of zoos. The book emphasizes this parallel by detailing the dimensions and layout of the boat, showing not only how Pi is confined but also how much he has to lose in his negotiation of territory with Richard Parker (the tiger who is on the boat with him in Pi's animal version of the story). Furthermore, Pi's time at sea also mirrors that of religious ascetics who live in isolated, hostile environments (such as the desert) and forgo physical nourishment in order to pursue spiritual nourishment.

Pi eventually washes up in Mexico in Part 3, where he recovers and is questioned about his time at sea for the first time by two Japanese maritime officials. This setting is simultaneously familiar yet foreign to Pi, as he has finally returned to human civilization. However, it is nothing like the India he left nor the Canada he was en route to before the ship sank. Pi must readjust to civil life and societal norms that were once innate to him but now feel alien after his experiences on the lifeboat.

Finally, it's important to note that all of these settings are portrayed through the lens of Pi and the author in the modern day, where Pi lives in Toronto as a middle-aged man. At various parts of the novel, the setting switches to snapshots of the author’s meetings with Pi. The switches in and out of the setting of Pi's memories highlight the constructed nature of the story. Furthermore, the fact that Pi ends up in Toronto and never returns to India demonstrates his seeming inability to return to a life before his suffering, despite how he seems to miss India and his old life.