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Similes
Chapter 38
Explanation and Analysis:
Life of Pi employs a casual, conversational style, primarily from Pi's first-person perspective. Some chapters, though, are from the author’s point of view. In both cases, the casual first-person perspective creates intimacy with the audience, which is furthered by how both narrators sometimes include the reader in the storytelling experience by addressing them directly. This personal and colloquial style also makes Pi’s broader poetic reflections more poignant by contrast.
Martel also uses varied narrative pacing to enhance the emotional impact of his story. Pi provides a slow but episodic account of his childhood. In Part 1, he describes his growing understanding of animals and religion. This section prepares the audience to think more deeply about the themes that eventually become central to Pi's journey on the lifeboat. Furthermore, the slow pace allows the reader to grow fond of the compassionate humanity of Pi, which only intensifies the later depictions of Pi struggling and resorting to a more ruthless, survivalist lifestyle on the lifeboat. In contrast to Part 1, Martel uses shorter, choppier sentences to convey moments of dire and sudden peril in Part 2. In Chapter 37, Pi’s account of the boat sinking is thrust upon the reader on the first page of Part 2 after the slow and serene Part 1:
The ship sank. It made a sound like a monstrous metallic burp. Things bubbled at the surface and then vanished. Everything was screaming: the sea, the wind, my heart. From the lifeboat I saw something in the water.
The sentences in this passage (and in sections that follow) contain brief, scattered observations as everything moves quickly and chaotically around Pi. Just as he had no time to acclimate to the drastic change of events, neither does the reader. The subsequent flashback to the moments before the ship sinks intensifies this disorienting shift in pace. This quick style of writing dominates the second part of the novel, especially in moments where Pi is stressed and struggling to survive. Although the book momentarily describes the gory horror of the fights and deaths of the animals in the lifeboat, these moments come and go quickly. Pi has no time in these instances to linger on the beauty of the world or process his grief. Instead, he must be constantly in motion.
Martel also employs writing quirks that are unique to Pi's storytelling, such as unnecessary capitalization of certain important concepts like "Greater Good" or "Greater Profit" because, as Pi remarks in Chapter 17, "...Christians are so fond of capital letters." Details like this, as well as Pi’s broader religious language and allusions, illuminate how all of Pi's religious beliefs blend to form his worldview.
Related Themes:
