Part 3: Chapters 95-100

This section will be done as a whole, much like the first of part two was.

In this section, two investigators interview Pi in an attempt to determine the cause of the shipwreck. Pi tells them the same story Pi told the reader, but the investigators seem doubtful. He then tells the same story, this time replacing the animals with humans. In this story, he is on the boat with a French Cook, a sailor with a broken leg and Pi’s mother are with him on the lifeboat. The cook cuts off the sailor’s leg and when he dies, eats him, greatly disturbing Pi and his mother. A while later Pi’s mother and the cook argue and the cook kills Pi’s mother, throwing her head to Pi. Afterwards, Pi kills the cook and finally, alone, he turns to God. The investigators remark on the similarities of the two stories. Pi asks them which they like better and they agree the one with the animals. The investigators file their report, stating Pi Patel's story is one of remarkable survival as he survived “in the company of an adult Bengal tiger.” (Martel 354)

The introduction of the second story is extremely intriguing. It is possible this second story is reality, Pi simply created the animal version to deal with the horrific events which occurred. The noble zebra represents the Chinese sailor. The maternal orang-utan represents Pi's own mother. The vicious hyena is the gutless French cook. The tiger is Pi himself, at times ravenous and feral, while at other times contained and passive. It would make sense for Richard Parker to run away at this point because the animal side of Pi no longer exists off that lifeboat.

The idea of the "better story" is a powerful tool. It presents two possible sequences of events for the reader to decide on the validity of each. Pi recognizes that the story with animals is a much better story because it is full of wonder and amazement, whereas the human story is full of heartbreak. It serves as a reminder that humans are not too far from animals.

The two stories also opens up another idea that there is no right account of an event. Everything is open to interpretation. This is where the significance of the quote "Doesn't the telling of something always become a story?" (Martel 335) comes into play. No recounting of an event is free from embellishment, bias, and filling in the blanks. The retelling of the events that occurred on that lifeboat became a story in itself. Pi created a story around the events that took place to shield himself, and the reader, from the horrors that went on on the boat. Pi challenges the reader to suspend their disbelief in order to better enjoy the story, but under the scepticism of the investigators, cracks and reveals the reality of what occurred. This novel is not about the survival of a young boy on a lifeboat, but about how the human mind copes with tragedy and how all stories are subject to interpretation, bias, and simply being skewed by the narrator.

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All in all, I must admit I did not particularly enjoy this novel. It was very dry at many points, and Pi was a difficult character to like for me. This novel did, however, have a very strong ending. The ending was a complete shock to me and increased the quality of the novel tenfold.