Character Analysis

The Story Boat

Author's Note- This piece is about Richard Parker's relationship growth with Pi from the book Life of Pi.  I am starting out when the ship sinks from the storm.

"What are you doing, Richard Parker? Don't you love life? Keep swimming then!  TREEEEEE!  TREEEEEE!  TREEEEEE!  Kick with your legs.  Kick!  Kick!  Kick!"  This is what Pi Patel, from the book Life of Pi by Yann Martel, said to a tiger.  Pi is a teenager that has found himself on a life boat with a fearsome Bengal tiger.  A regret that he has had the whole boat ride.  As Pi watches Mr. Parker getting taunted by a hyena, the animals slowly disappear from the hyena's acts, and the boat ride becomes a real life nightmare.

As Pi strives to survive among the animals, the hyena kills the zebra, then the orangutan, much to Pi's distress. At this point, it is discovered that a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker had been hiding under the boat's tarpaulin; it kills and eats the hyena. Frightened, Pi constructs a small raft out of flotation devices, tethers it to the boat, and retreats to it.  Pi needs to find out what is going on quick or he could be the next meal for a tiger that he had seen rip a goat to shreds in less than 10 seconds.

Pi feeds the tiger some fish and water he had prepared to keep the beast satisfied.  In return Richard Parker astonishingly does not do anything to Pi as he is hoping the tiger will not rock the boat by moving around causing sea sickness.  Mr. Parker has grown trust that one of the most deadliest creatures in the world has a chance to eat a big meal but decides to not due to unknown reasons for Pi.  He can't do anything to predict what the tiger is going to do and only hopes that he will survive.

The tiger has given Pi hope for a great life if he can survive this, now he needs to get through.  Pi continuously feeds the beast as he eats small amounts too.  Finally the boat lands ashore in Mexico.  When Pi found help he told them the story of what happened but the Japanese people that were examining the shipwreck didn't understand him and they thought he said the orangutan represents his mother, the zebra represents the sailor, the hyena represents the cook, and Richard Parker is Pi himself.

Pi reminds me of Reuben Land, the main character from Peace Like a River, because like Pi he needs to find his true self and his life story through another symbol.  For Reuben it was his anesthesia when he also went through a near death experience but instead of him dying  death chooses his father and his anesthesia is cured.  This means that his father was a miracle worker and now Reuben can live his life freely knowing that his father saved his life.  This means that Richard Parker is a lot like the anesthesia that Reuben had.

Richard Parker is one of the most powerful characters in the whole story and now he had the chance to eat but decided not to.  Like at the beginning of the book a tiger mauled a goat right in front of Pi so he knew they were dangerous already and Pi had only one explanation for this, "And so it goes with God."