SUmmary
Pi Patel is born in Pondicherry, a small village in India. His father, Santosh Patel, is the owner of a Zoo and mother, Gita Patel, a house wife. He is born a Hindu and adopts Christianity and Islam at a young age. Due to this he receives much ridicule in Pondicherry. For many years the government homicides in India at the time trouble Pi's father and finally, when Pi is 16, they push him to the point of moving. Santosh sells off there Zoo and its animals and charters a cargo ship, The Tsimtsum, so they can move to Canada. During the voyage The Tsimtsum sink and Pi is stuck on lifeboat for 277 days. When he finally finds salvation he is sought out by the owners of the Tsimtsum and interviewed about the events leading up to and after the sinking of The Tsimtsum. He tells the Interviewers 2 stories.
Story 1
The first is a fantastical narrative which entails him being stuck with a tiger, hyena, orangutan and zebra on the boat. The animals slowly kill each other off until only Pi and the tiger, named Richard Parker, remain. In this version of the story he explains how he would fish and feed both himself and Richard Parker and he eventually becomes the Alpha male on the boat and makes the hungry Richard Parker fear him. They eventually reach the shores of Mexico at which point Richard Parker runs off into the Mexican jungle and is never seen again.
The interviewers, Atsuro Chiba and Tomohiro Okamoto, do not believe this story and pester him until he finally tells a second story.
The interviewers, Atsuro Chiba and Tomohiro Okamoto, do not believe this story and pester him until he finally tells a second story.
Story 2
In the second story he narrates his life on the lifeboat which involves him being stuck with not animals but instead his mother, the ships cook and a sailor with a broken leg. In this story everyone except him slowly dies or is killed. The people in this version of the story share characteristics of an animal in the animal story, the zebra had a broken leg like the sailor, the hyena was a cannibal and killed the sailor and orangutan like the chef killed the sailor and Pi's mother in the human story, the orangutan was motherly and protective like Pi's mom. That leaves the tiger which killed the Hyena, just as Pi killed the chef in this second story. The tiger was representative of Pi's will to survive.
The interviewers finally come to conclusion that the second story was true, and decided that the cause of the sinking will never be explained. Before they leave, Pi asks them which story they prefer and they both agree the story with the animals was better and though they do not believe it both interviewers agree that the story with the animals made for a better tale.
The interviewers finally come to conclusion that the second story was true, and decided that the cause of the sinking will never be explained. Before they leave, Pi asks them which story they prefer and they both agree the story with the animals was better and though they do not believe it both interviewers agree that the story with the animals made for a better tale.