By Spoilerfest I mean this post will be chock full of spoilers. And I don't want to get your hate mail when you finally read or watch Life of Pi and realize it's been ruined for you. If it comes to that, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Life of Pi repeatedly whacks you over the head with symbols. And even explains some of them. So this is one example where you can't wonder if the author meant for such and such to represent such and such. First of all, the author usually means it, and in this case Yann Martel knew what he was doing. And did it brilliantly.
Let's start with the ones that are explained for us, just so we're all on the same page here. The zebra is the injured Buddhist guy, the hyena is the nasty cook, the orangutan is Pi's mother, and Richard Parker, the tiger, is Pi. Or actually a part of Pi, but we'll get to that.
For the intents of this post, let's assume that what actually, physically happened to Pi is the story he tells at the end: there were no animals, he witnessed murder, cannibalism and other unspeakable atrocities, before snapping and killing the only other remaining survivor. And then he was alone on the lifeboat for a really long time. I'm reluctant to call this the "truth" however, because one of the lofty questions this book tackles is: what is actually true? And that seems a little too pretentious to delve into in only the fourth paragraph.
We'll warm up by discussing Richard Parker, the tiger, who represents a part of Pi. A piece of Pi, perhaps. Oh, I'm so funny... The tiger is the part of Pi that is basically evil: capable of murder. I think the reason he invents a separate entity to represent this side if him is because it surprised him and he wasn't able to cope with the realization that he had killed someone. (The whole animal story spares him from having to cope, but we'll go into that later.) He wants that part of him to not actually be a part of him, but something separate. And he clearly wants to keep his distance from it. He has to learn how to live with this evil inside of him, and how to tame it, if you will. (Yeah, I know - some of this symbolism is really not that sophisticated.) But he admits that it keeps him alive. It is fierce and frightening, and he has to feed it to keep it at bay so it won't kill him. (Whatever that means...)
Maybe this is why the tiger leaves him as soon as they reach the shore; he doesn't need that ferocity to survive anymore. But by now it seems he is emotionally invested in his belief that the tiger is real and is hurt to see him leave so easily.
There's a striking scene in the movie where Pi wrestles a giant fish out of the water and kills it by whacking it over the head repeatedly with something (not symbols). When the fish is dead or at least stops struggling, he stares into its eyes and Pi starts crying, apologizing over and over. My mom brilliantly pointed out that this might have been a bit of a flashback for him. Perhaps he recalled killing the cook, a memory he had repressed, and it overwhelmed him for a moment. I like this theory a lot, but either way it's a great scene and builds up Pi's character quite nicely.
There are a few hints along the way that maybe some of this isn't real (the floating bananas, anyone?) but the biggest one by far is the mysterious island. At this point, you know that something is going on, because islands do not float, Meerkats do not live on Pacific islands (let alone floating ones) and algae does not eat people. The symbol of the island is a bit more open to interpretation, but there are basically two paths.
Path 1: The partially literal island theory. The island story he tells, much like the story with the animals, is a more fantastical, less believable version of what actually happened. He arrived at an uninhabited island, alone, and found that it was somewhere he could survive. There was food and water. But if he stayed there forever, he would eventually die and is that any better than dying alone at sea? The message is that there is more to life than simply surviving and not to settle for the bare necessities, but to journey on in search of a real salvation. (Sounds faintly religious, like EVERYTHING else in Life of Pi.) I like the message, but any amount of "literal" is too literal for me, so I prefer the other option.
Path 2: The purely metaphorical island theory. Pi is in a state of delirium for a good period of time and the island is all in his head, and in a way represents his head. Since he conjured up animals that weren't actually there I don't think this is a stretch at all. In this case, the island symbolizes his method of coping (replacing people with animals in his memory). It's comfortable, safe, and a place where he can live for a while. But in the long run, it will devour him and he will have to move on, and face the facts: he's lost at sea by himself, and an "island" isn't going to change that, not really.
Either way, he leaves the island, a temporary safe haven, for a harsher reality, but ultimately one with a chance of enlightenment.
But what's the big picture of all this? Well, the whole book is a metaphor for religion. (I think I've used the word lofty already...) An adult Pi tells the writer than he has a story that will make him believe in God. How does he plan on doing this? And did he?
Let's try to keep this vaguely organized. First off, Pi uses the story with the animals to rationalize and deal with the horrible things that happened to him. It's a little unbelievable, but it's neat and tidy and a million times more pleasant than the one with the humans. Sounds a bit like religious stories to me. Furthermore, he asks the Japanese men which story they prefer after he's told them both versions. It's revealed at the end that their report notes that Pi survived 227 days at sea... with a Bengal tiger. Guess which story they preferred. The author also admits that he prefers the story with the animals. Pi got them to believe in the unbelievable - a major hurdle in accepting any faith.
So are religions just a preference? Do we simply prefer to see meaning in senseless tragedy? Well, yeah. But does that really matter? What is actually true - what we experience physically or how we experience it emotionally?
I'll leave you rather the way Life of Pi leaves you - with far more questions than answers. And with this: Pi was on the boat for 227 days. 22/7 = 3.14 = Pi. *Cue the groans*
Writers... Always inflicting meaning on everything...
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