This document entails a detailed analysis of the Island of Life of Pi, delving into the representation and meaning behind the situation happening in the story. Included, is a summary making it easy to memorise the timeline.
The island
● Green = colour of islam
○ Shown by the nature and green trees
● Interpretations:
○ Garden of Eden which seems like paradise
○ Pi then discovers the “forbidden fruit” on the branch of “Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil”
○ A kind of heaven and hell associated with day and night on the island
○ The island acts as a religious symbol for Pi’s spiritual journey.
■ In one sense it represents an easy, shallow kind of faith – it seems stable
at first and promises worldly delights of food and comfort, but it has a
treacherous underbelly.
■ In another sense the island is a kind of “Garden of Eden,” a place where
Pi loses his innocence (whatever he had left after experiencing so much
horror).
■ The island seems like an Edenic paradise at first, where the meerkats are
tame and peaceful, but upon discovering the “Forbidden Fruit” of the
teeth-tree, Pi gains knowledge of the evil the island is capable of.
■ He leaves the place of his own accord, both rejecting an easy,
treacherous faith and refusing to live in a spoiled paradise.
● For Pi
○ This is a point of his lowest faith
○ He is testing his faith - can he bear to go back to lifeboat of extreme suffering or
stay in comfort on island but not live properly ie. with no faith
○ When leave - ensures RP is onboard - he has learnt to accept his alter-ego
○ The island is carnivorous - everything makes sense
○ The island appears to be a utopia
○ Whether Pi really finds an island or not (up to interpretation), it ultimately
represents a point that Pi reaches in his journey when he needs to choose: will
he choose the easy way out (death, a life without his faith), or will he choose the
hard way of survival and trust his faith?
● Rough story of island
○ He sees a tree - wonders if it is a parasite because there is no soil -
foreshadowing
○ The sweetness of the algae conveys an illusion of goodness
○ Pi goes back to the lifeboat at night and RP returns too - not safe on island
○ In the middle of the night, Pi experiences discomfort in his belly but thinks
nothing if it - foreshadowing
○ Pi always resorts to place of safety on the boat
○ He finds the ponds where the meerkats fish - fish already dead - danger is very
close
○ He sees RP kill beyond his need, tension builds - when Pi reach low faith
○ Realises the island is desolate - no insects or other life
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