How very coincidental...Pi just happens to tell his story in 100 chapters. 😲😉
Go at it! Why would Martel-the-narrator choose to make Pi's story = 100 chapters? Connect to overall meaning in some way.
The bottom of p. 285 will help you get started, but I want you to widen the scope of your analysis beyond Pi's relationship with Richard Parker.
Martel made Pi’s story exactly 100 chapters because as Pi is talking about the lack of closure he got from his goodbye with Richard Parker he mentions that it’s “important in life to conclude things properly” (Martel, 285). So, Martel ended Pi’s story at 100 pages to make up for the closure that he never got with his goodbye to Richard Parker. It gives the feeling of a firm conclusion versus ending the book at a chapter like “chapter 133”. In Pi’s life he experienced a lot of similar feelings. Even his name stands for a never ending number that just goes on an on with no conclusion. When he was out in the sea he felt as if he would be there forever, “ You must think I lost all hope at that point. I did.” (Martel, 134) Initially he thought he would be there for the rest of his life and for sure die out there. He kind of left his life unfinished prior to the boat and he would die struggling which isn’t a situation you can get closure from. So, after all he’s been through Martel ended his story at 100 chapters to give him the satisfaction of concluding something and getting that closure. - Ashley Munkhbavar
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very interesting insight Ashley! It makes complete sense that Pi, after having been through so much, would look to something that gave him complete closure. Martel making the book a perfect 100 chapters helps give Pi that closure. I especially think that your inclusion of the quote on page 134 really helps emphasize Pi’s desperation and lack of hope and indicates his need for the closure that a perfect 100 chapters can bring. However, this leads me to question why Martel didn’t write the book to have 50 chapters or 200 chapters or any even number of chapters for that matter. Do you think that Martel simply picked the number 100 at random or that the specific number of a 100 has a meaning attached to it?
Delete-Aditi Bobba
The number 100 is whole, finite, and satisfactory. It marks the end of the two-digit numbers and a transition into three digits, the next stretch of the journey. It is for this reason that narrator Yann Martel chooses to make Life of Pi exactly 100 chapters, not only to decisively conclude Pi’s relationship with Richard Parker (R.P.), but to give Pi a sense of order in his own life.
ReplyDeleteBefore analyzing the greater meaning of 100 chapters in Pi’s life, it is important to understand the effect of this length on Pi’s relationship with R.P. In the final pages of part 2, Pi says that one thing he hates about his nickname is that it “runs on forever. It’s important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go” (285). He then goes on to express his regret that he didn’t give R.P. a proper goodbye or thank him for helping him survive. Pi feels that writing the story in 100 chapters allows him to thank R.P. and make up for not getting to say goodbye when their boat landed at the shore. Pi also wishes he could have told R.P. to “[w]atch out for man”, but “remember [him] as a friend.” Pi emphasizes that he had a friendship with R.P. that was unrivaled by anyone else because he is disturbed by the fact that R.P. simply ran away the second the boat touched land. Writing exactly 100 chapters takes away from Pi’s guilt and assures him that he had a true friendship with R.P., even though it seems like he really didn’t.
Beyond giving Pi a sense of satisfaction with the end of his relationship with Richard Parker, the 100-chapter length gives Pi a sense of order and finality that he always struggled to find in his life. The first example of Pi’s constant journey towards order is in Part 1, when his pandit, priest, and imam meet each other, Pi, and his parents, at a seaside esplanade. The religious leaders are at each other’s throats arguing over which religion Pi truly belongs to, while Pi watches in silence. While they all think of faith as singular and associated with commitment, Pi thinks of it as a path to discovery, in which he keeps finding new religions to learn new interpretations of life that other religions might not share. On one hand, the pandit, priest, and imam are satisfied with their religion, but on the other hand, Pi is constantly looking for finality and closure, causing him to pursue many different religions, almost like a never-ending story. The fact that Pi’s story is told in exactly 100 chapters represents Pi’s growth, in that he is letting himself have finality. Rather than drawing out his journey, he gives himself closure. Similar to how Pi had the contrasting ideals of the pandit, priest, and imam, the two Satish Kumars that he knew growing up taught him very different things, despite their common name. On one hand, the biology teacher taught Pi objectivity and the importance of knowing things for certain, but on the other, the baker taught Pi the benefits of faith and ritualistic behavior. The fact that these two men have the same name but taught Pi completely different things symbolizes the constant internal conflict that Pi had between reason and nonreason. Writing the story in exactly 100 chapters helped alleviate this conflict and others, giving Pi a sense of peace after all of the tragedy and indecisiveness that he experienced.
Pi ultimately chose to write his story in exactly 100 chapters to give himself a sense of closure, both in his relationship with Richard Parker and with regards to the internal conflict and adversity he faced throughout his life.
--Aayush Kashyap
I love how you made the connection between the ending of the novel itself, and the closure of pi's story. It is clear that pi is lacking closure in his life, due to many of the other factors that we have discussed about his life. For example, his name itself, pi, is an unending number. His inability to say goodbye to Richard Parker represents a lack of peace and closure to even his journey on the boat. It is fitting that this round number of 100 was used to give Pi this sense of completeness despite it lacking within the story itself. This leads me to wonder, do you think the number 100 has significance beyond it being a satisfactory number? Why not 50, 150, or even 200?
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