Chapters 8-14

These chapters all share a common theme: zoology.

Chapter 8

This chapter covers how Pi's father taught him how dangerous the animals in the zoo are. From Pi's descriptions of the evils man can do to animals, it seems as though he prefers animals to other humans. Whenever he's talking about animals, he always speaks about all the positive aspects of them. Comparatively, he usually mentions the negative aspects of humans. For instance, the torment he received in school from his peers or the negative comments from the waiter at the Indian restaurant.

The negative aspects of humans are even covered in this chapter. Even though his father is teaching him an important lesson, Pi focuses on how cruel the way he teaches him is. Pi also mentions the torment from his brother at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 9

This chapter focuses on human-animal interaction. Pi discusses how important to know an animal's flight distance and how to handle that specific animal. This immediately made me think back to the cover of the novel. Pi is on a boat, no more than a couple metres away from a tiger. This is interesting because in the previous chapter, Pi's father teaches him to essentially stay away from the tigers, and in this chapter, Pi discusses how animals like to keep people a certain distance away. The cover essentially contradicts both of these lessons.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 covers why animals desire to escape from zoos. I think this chapter is more about Pi wanting to escape everything rather than the animals. I'm starting to think Pi uses animals as a front to explain his own emotions, which kind of ties in with my previous thought that he connects better with animals rather than humans. A line that stood out to me was "Animals that escape go from the known to the unknown - and if there is one thing animals hate above all else, it's the unknown." (Martel 45) I feel this line was used intentionally to put the thought in the reader's mind that humans aren't too different from animals. If I had to guess, I would assume the unknown is the most common fear across all humans. This is in line with my hypothesis that Pi is actually talking about his own feelings while talking about the animals.

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 is about escaped zoo animals surviving peacefully in the wild.

Chapter 12

This chapter breaks from Pi Patel's narrative and switches to Yann Martel's. Yann describes present-day Pi as a sweet man (Pi prepares a meal for him every time he visits).

Chapter 13

This chapter is about how circus trainers train their animals. This chapter also supports my hypothesis. Pi's trainers are almost certainly his parents. He is almost forced to do what they ask for him, much like a lion is forced to do what their trainer asks of them. This chapter may just be introducing the groundwork for later, possibly helping explain how Pi is able to spend time on a boat with a tiger with no negative consequences. It could also just be introducing the concept of alpha vs. beta

Chapter 14

This chapter only added credibility to my hypothesis. I immediately thought back to Pi being a social outcast in school when I read "It is interesting to not that the lion that is the most amenable to the circus trainer's tricks is the one with the lowest social standing in the pride, the omega animal." (Martel 49) Could Pi be referring to himself as an omega? Or am I completely off base and looking for meaning that just isn't there?