Natalie Martel's use of the 3-toed sloth is yet another example of paralleling the connection between humans and animals. The sloth is commonly known to be a lazy animal, one who sleeps for the majority of the day. Martel explains that he chose the three-toed sloth as it reflected Pi's feelings of being "calm, quiet and introspective— [as well as doing] something to soothe [Pi's] shattered self." Pi analyzes the sloth's ability to survive in the wild despite its very lazy qualities. He is surprised at their unbothered presence in the wild. This foreshadows a stark contrast to Pi's future on the lifeboat. For most of the time he spends on the boat with Richard Parker, Pi is anything but calm. He must fight to survive each day. Pi eventually learns to embrace the sloth's spirit, and he patiently awaits his survival.
Hey Natalie! I really liked your insight on the parallels between the humans and animals relative to the sloth in this post. I especially found your comparison between the lethargic nature of the sloth and the erratic nature of Pi's experience at sea to be a really good example of the connectedness between the respective natures of animals and humans. You clearly highlighted the conditions in which humans may take on animal like qualities in your reference to the sloth-like attitude that Pi takes on. Overall, I found this post to be very effective at showing both the contrast and similarities between animals and humans within the context of the book! -Sudhi
(Part 1) Though you may see Martel’s use of the three-toed sloth as another parallel between humans and animals, I believe that Martel actually uses the three-toed sloth as an ideal for humans in our unending push for greater material gain and stable definition of comfort.
You reference how Martel describes the three-toed sloth as “calm, quiet, and introspective” as opposed to “[Pi’s] shattered self” (3). But the very fact that Pi, even years after being rescued from the coast of Mexico and having made a life and education for himself, was still shattered somewhat negates the argument that he was ever able to truly find serenity during his wait for assistance. To be shattered implies being broken to an unfixable extent, Pi’s experiences isolated (depending on which version of his story you take) on the boat serving as that toppling point.
If we further examine Pi’s life (and the people in his life– to examine the relationship between the three-toed sloths and humans), we see even greater contrast to the sloths’ apparent lack of movement. For greater economic opportunity in the face of a changing India, Pi’s parents decided to sell everything known and safe– the zoo, their home (the family’s version of the safety of the tree to a sloth)– to pursue “the collection of a happy future… and a good sum to make a fresh start in Canada” (88). One might consider the value of material possessions and higher than necessary quality of life a uniquely human trait, but really there is a parallel between sloths’ desire for comfort and human desire for possession to achieve comfort. On an additional note, the use of “a happy future” darkly contrasts the brutal loss of Pi’s family to the ocean. But even as sloths may perish by falling from trees while clinging to decaying branches, they do so with surer purpose and acceptance than humans have when faced with the sudden loss of loved ones or certainty.
(Part 2) The mention of the microbiomes existing on three-toed sloths’ bodies appears to also foreshadow Pi’s later encounter with the carnivorous algae island. Martel mentions that sloths have algae that grow within its hairs so that it may blend in with its surroundings and live “in perfect harmony with its environment” (4). But to live in perfect harmony with one’s environment is to accept everything in that environment, including every flaw, regardless of brutality. The carnivorous island is arguably a comfortable environment: infinitely lush, edible algae and a steady supply of fish in freshwater ponds, ideal for healing one’s body– but eerily so. Such an easy lifestyle might be compared to temptation away from the hard work emphasized in many world cultures: an anti-discipline of sorts. Pi, as a disciplined, deeply religious person, finds the island sinister, especially after finding human teeth within the “fruit” of a tree, representing the effects of giving into said temptation of a too-easy lifestyle, and chooses to leave. But the sloths’ lifestyle represents that of the carnivorous island: all too accepting of any dangers, and unwilling to move either way.
In this way, I feel as if Pi/Martel express fascination, or– for lack of a better word– incredulity, towards three-toed sloths at their complete disregard for maintaining a sense of discipline and personal safety for the sake of greater comfort. Martel thus comments that while remaining comfortable for one’s entire life eliminates any feeling of danger or loss, it is both irrational and immoral to ignore the rest of the world. The Patel family’s choice to uproot and move to Canada for comfort ultimately caused their demise, but there was a significant chance that India’s changing economy may have caused damaging financial struggles to the family as well. And as I had mentioned earlier, Pi’s extreme feeling of loss at his family is not similar to sloths’ indifference to the reality of their dangerous situations. It is my opinion that just as Pi could not justify staying on an island equal parts sinister and comfortable, Martel chooses to describe Pi studying three-toed sloths out of his attempt to understand their unusually (eerily so) accepting temperament in his own search for improvement. As a deeply religious and accepting person himself, Pi clearly seeks to understand multiple mindsets and find some reason within them. At his current stage, Pi cannot overcome the trauma of his experiences on the boat, so perhaps while on the boat, total disregard of the nature of reality was impossible, Pi later sought a degree of acceptance to overcome that portion of his life and to finally move on.
In short, we can’t live like three-toed sloths, but we can certainly take a lesson from their book. --Joyce Hu
Hey Joyce! I really enjoyed reading your analysis. I had never even thought about some of the points you brought up, such as how Pi and his family emigrating from “New India” for greater economic opportunity represents a parallel with sloth’s desire for comfort, and even how the sloth represents the carnivorous island, one who accepts all dangers and refuses to move.
I think someone that could be added here is specifically why Martel/Pi chose to talk about a three-toed sloth, a genetic mutation, as opposed to just an everyday two-toed sloth. Much of your analysis could work for either kind, so it’s important to make that distinction.
An immediate connection that could be made is that Pi witnessing such a rare mutation is a “miracle of life” (5), similar to all the miracles Pi witness throughout the text. It’s a miracle that Pi managed to survive in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for 227 days with a Bengal tiger with him. However, having Richard Parker with him was also a miracle: Pi explains that out of all the animals he could have had, he was glad he was companions with an animal as beautiful as a Bengaal Tiger. Additionally, on the brink of death, when he “resolved to die” (241), Pi happens to find this algae rich island where he healed himself, providing him the energy to eventually leave the island and find land.
Something that’s common between three and two toed sloths is that they both have three toes on their back feet, but they differ in having either three or toe toes in their front feet. The fact that Pi sees a three-toed sloth as opposed to a two-toed sloth in situ is similar to the fact that the book was told in three parts as opposed to two. However, the story could have just as easily been told in two parts versus three, the first part representing Pi’s life before the crash, and the second part explaining how Pi survived the ocean. The third part is a tiny part of the story, but it reveals that the entire story so far, with Richard Parker and the other animals, could have been entirely false, and R.P. was just a representation of Pi’s “animal” personality on the boat he devolved to in order to survive. Such a small aspect of the sloth, a single extra toe on each front foot, makes it a “miracle of life,” similar to how such a small Part of the book changes the entire story.
Natalie
ReplyDeleteMartel's use of the 3-toed sloth is yet another example of paralleling the connection between humans and animals. The sloth is commonly known to be a lazy animal, one who sleeps for the majority of the day. Martel explains that he chose the three-toed sloth as it reflected Pi's feelings of being "calm, quiet and introspective— [as well as doing] something to soothe [Pi's] shattered self." Pi analyzes the sloth's ability to survive in the wild despite its very lazy qualities. He is surprised at their unbothered presence in the wild. This foreshadows a stark contrast to Pi's future on the lifeboat. For most of the time he spends on the boat with Richard Parker, Pi is anything but calm. He must fight to survive each day. Pi eventually learns to embrace the sloth's spirit, and he patiently awaits his survival.
Hey Natalie! I really liked your insight on the parallels between the humans and animals relative to the sloth in this post. I especially found your comparison between the lethargic nature of the sloth and the erratic nature of Pi's experience at sea to be a really good example of the connectedness between the respective natures of animals and humans. You clearly highlighted the conditions in which humans may take on animal like qualities in your reference to the sloth-like attitude that Pi takes on. Overall, I found this post to be very effective at showing both the contrast and similarities between animals and humans within the context of the book!
Delete-Sudhi
(Part 1) Though you may see Martel’s use of the three-toed sloth as another parallel between humans and animals, I believe that Martel actually uses the three-toed sloth as an ideal for humans in our unending push for greater material gain and stable definition of comfort.
ReplyDeleteYou reference how Martel describes the three-toed sloth as “calm, quiet, and introspective” as opposed to “[Pi’s] shattered self” (3). But the very fact that Pi, even years after being rescued from the coast of Mexico and having made a life and education for himself, was still shattered somewhat negates the argument that he was ever able to truly find serenity during his wait for assistance. To be shattered implies being broken to an unfixable extent, Pi’s experiences isolated (depending on which version of his story you take) on the boat serving as that toppling point.
If we further examine Pi’s life (and the people in his life– to examine the relationship between the three-toed sloths and humans), we see even greater contrast to the sloths’ apparent lack of movement. For greater economic opportunity in the face of a changing India, Pi’s parents decided to sell everything known and safe– the zoo, their home (the family’s version of the safety of the tree to a sloth)– to pursue “the collection of a happy future… and a good sum to make a fresh start in Canada” (88). One might consider the value of material possessions and higher than necessary quality of life a uniquely human trait, but really there is a parallel between sloths’ desire for comfort and human desire for possession to achieve comfort. On an additional note, the use of “a happy future” darkly contrasts the brutal loss of Pi’s family to the ocean. But even as sloths may perish by falling from trees while clinging to decaying branches, they do so with surer purpose and acceptance than humans have when faced with the sudden loss of loved ones or certainty.
--Joyce Hu
(Part 2) The mention of the microbiomes existing on three-toed sloths’ bodies appears to also foreshadow Pi’s later encounter with the carnivorous algae island. Martel mentions that sloths have algae that grow within its hairs so that it may blend in with its surroundings and live “in perfect harmony with its environment” (4). But to live in perfect harmony with one’s environment is to accept everything in that environment, including every flaw, regardless of brutality. The carnivorous island is arguably a comfortable environment: infinitely lush, edible algae and a steady supply of fish in freshwater ponds, ideal for healing one’s body– but eerily so. Such an easy lifestyle might be compared to temptation away from the hard work emphasized in many world cultures: an anti-discipline of sorts. Pi, as a disciplined, deeply religious person, finds the island sinister, especially after finding human teeth within the “fruit” of a tree, representing the effects of giving into said temptation of a too-easy lifestyle, and chooses to leave. But the sloths’ lifestyle represents that of the carnivorous island: all too accepting of any dangers, and unwilling to move either way.
ReplyDeleteIn this way, I feel as if Pi/Martel express fascination, or– for lack of a better word– incredulity, towards three-toed sloths at their complete disregard for maintaining a sense of discipline and personal safety for the sake of greater comfort. Martel thus comments that while remaining comfortable for one’s entire life eliminates any feeling of danger or loss, it is both irrational and immoral to ignore the rest of the world. The Patel family’s choice to uproot and move to Canada for comfort ultimately caused their demise, but there was a significant chance that India’s changing economy may have caused damaging financial struggles to the family as well. And as I had mentioned earlier, Pi’s extreme feeling of loss at his family is not similar to sloths’ indifference to the reality of their dangerous situations. It is my opinion that just as Pi could not justify staying on an island equal parts sinister and comfortable, Martel chooses to describe Pi studying three-toed sloths out of his attempt to understand their unusually (eerily so) accepting temperament in his own search for improvement. As a deeply religious and accepting person himself, Pi clearly seeks to understand multiple mindsets and find some reason within them. At his current stage, Pi cannot overcome the trauma of his experiences on the boat, so perhaps while on the boat, total disregard of the nature of reality was impossible, Pi later sought a degree of acceptance to overcome that portion of his life and to finally move on.
In short, we can’t live like three-toed sloths, but we can certainly take a lesson from their book.
--Joyce Hu
Hey Joyce! I really enjoyed reading your analysis. I had never even thought about some of the points you brought up, such as how Pi and his family emigrating from “New India” for greater economic opportunity represents a parallel with sloth’s desire for comfort, and even how the sloth represents the carnivorous island, one who accepts all dangers and refuses to move.
DeleteI think someone that could be added here is specifically why Martel/Pi chose to talk about a three-toed sloth, a genetic mutation, as opposed to just an everyday two-toed sloth. Much of your analysis could work for either kind, so it’s important to make that distinction.
An immediate connection that could be made is that Pi witnessing such a rare mutation is a “miracle of life” (5), similar to all the miracles Pi witness throughout the text. It’s a miracle that Pi managed to survive in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for 227 days with a Bengal tiger with him. However, having Richard Parker with him was also a miracle: Pi explains that out of all the animals he could have had, he was glad he was companions with an animal as beautiful as a Bengaal Tiger. Additionally, on the brink of death, when he “resolved to die” (241), Pi happens to find this algae rich island where he healed himself, providing him the energy to eventually leave the island and find land.
Something that’s common between three and two toed sloths is that they both have three toes on their back feet, but they differ in having either three or toe toes in their front feet. The fact that Pi sees a three-toed sloth as opposed to a two-toed sloth in situ is similar to the fact that the book was told in three parts as opposed to two. However, the story could have just as easily been told in two parts versus three, the first part representing Pi’s life before the crash, and the second part explaining how Pi survived the ocean. The third part is a tiny part of the story, but it reveals that the entire story so far, with Richard Parker and the other animals, could have been entirely false, and R.P. was just a representation of Pi’s “animal” personality on the boat he devolved to in order to survive. Such a small aspect of the sloth, a single extra toe on each front foot, makes it a “miracle of life,” similar to how such a small Part of the book changes the entire story.