"The Himalayan and Sloth bears.
'One strike from those cuddly creatures and your innards will be scooped out and splattered across the all over the ground.'
'Yes, Father.'
The hippos
'With those soft, flabby mouths of theirs they'll crush your body to a bloody pulp. On land they can outrun you.'
'Yes, Father.'
The orang-utans.
'As strong as ten men. They'll break your bones as if they were twigs. I knew some of them were once pets and you played with them when they were small. But now they're grown-up and wild and unpredictable.'
'Yes, Father.'
The ostrich.
'Looks flustered and silly, doesn't it? Listen up: it's one of the most dangerous animals in the zoo. Just one kick and your back is broken or you torso is crushed.'
'Yes, Father.' "
In the symbolic and sometimes utterly confusing tale of Life of Pi, it always seems that Yann Martel is trying to create higher meaning out of almost every syllable this scene might seem just as unearthly as any of the other events in the book, but could it be just a regular event? This scene in Life of Pi is just a regular event that eventually has to happen between parents and children.
Every parent has to have hard conversations with their children. Whether they be grades or a friend was picking on them or when they get older drinking and driving but one conversation that always pops up is everything isn't black and white. Yann Martel is always trying to say something with symbolism but the particular scene above happens when Pi is very young and is probably Pi's father trying to teach him and his brother that lesson. He shows them animals that might not seem to be able to harm you or wouldn't want to but many of them will in the wild. These "cuddly creatures" could kill you just like a seemingly harmless man who says he’ll give you candy if you just get in his car or come near him. Yann Martel was using a zoo as good metaphor because the animals in a zoo relate very well to real people.
“I quite deliberately dressed wild animals in tame costumes of my imagination. But I never deluded myself as to the real nature of my playmates. My poking nose had more sense than that. I don’t know where Father got the idea that his youngest son was itching to step into a cage with a ferocious carnivore.” Who would want to step into a cage with a “ferocious carnivore”? Not I. But, what if the 450 pound Bengal Tiger was disguised as a kitten, then would you step into the cage. What if the child abuser was disguised as a friendly lady who was offering candy? If my parents hadn’t taught me to not go near strangers I definitely would take the candy. Every kid needs to learn these lessons from their parents.
Parents have very weird ways, just like Pi’s father shows them a goat being killed and several other seemingly harmless animals that could kill them. Every kid needs to learn this lesson. Life of Pi is a tale of Piscine Molitor Patel’s childhood and in everyone’s childhood those lessons come up.
I like the direction you take here, shedding light on the way that parents have to communicate difficult messages to their children, and how these conversations are awkward, and contrived. I was left wanting more, to be honest. Does Pi's father do him a service, or disservice in the way he instills fear? I wanted to see what sort of conclusions you drew from this interaction between the father and son. Also, how does this relate to the general theme of the novel? This reads like a very isolated response to the book, reflecting only o none scene without benefit of the general context of the theme. As always, you style and voice are strong, and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing.
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