Lost at Sea

This weekend I was adrift on a life raft with my new friend Pi Patel and his pet tiger for 227 days. I hung on to the story to the very end, Pi fighting off the elements and me fighting off sleep so I could read on and on and on. And I will be dreaming about that boat and its inhabitants and their adventures for months to come.

I always start out thinking these stories of isolation will be slow. Boring. Empty. Alone.

Remember that Fed Ex movie with Tom Hanks and the volleyball on the island? I thought it would be torture to watch. An hour of him alone on an island with no one to talk to? Sure, he can act, but how could he possibly hold my interest? Turns out, the part on the island was the only part of the movie that held my interest. I never wanted him to leave that island.

And I never wanted Pi to leave his boat. I learned so much with Pi on that boat. I learned about human nature, animal instincts, aquatic life, extreme weather, true faith and so much more. I didn't want him to leave the boat, but paradoxically, I kept reading - in part - because I wanted to see him leave the boat.

And do you know where he is now? He's still on the boat. That's not a spoiler. It's a metaphor. Pi Patel is on the boat in the same way that Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters are still on the bus - eternally. He's there now with his three-toed sloth and his degree in divinity. He's there with his mother, father and brother. He's there with his many inclusive and contradictory views on life and how to live it. He'll be there forever in my dreams.

Comments

[jen]

As a pisces I love how eternally forever our dreams can survive. That's why I was so excited to see my Jack finally after waiting so long. I still haven't dreamed about my Grandma though and I wonder why she won't come to me.

Fedex stock kicks UPS stock butt.
They used to be neck -n- neck till this last year. Wonder if Tom's movie helped?

[Jen Trombly]

Hey Reader!
My friend at work and I read this last year, so the details are fuzzy, but we are both very curious to hear what you make of the creepy island scene (do you know what I mean)?
PS Try The Traveler (Twelve Hawks)Hello to the family!

[Alison]

SPOILER - this comment includes information about the end of the novel, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

I thought the island was an oasis of the mind that Pi needed in order to come to terms with the death of the Frenchman and his hand in that death. I think he needed to cloak himself in his child self (the meerkats) for a while longer before accepting the carnivorous, dark side of himself (represented by THE TREE).

Eventually, he realizes that he needs to leave both the child and the carnivore behind to become a stronger, integrated Pi, afloat in the world.

It's not a perfect interpretation, though, because he still leaves the island with two selves (himself and the tiger) ... though the tiger leaves for the forest shortly thereafter. And he does take pains to train the tiger more thoroughly while he's there on the island, which can be seen as another effort to accept but still essentially control the darker side of himself.

I've heard other people say the island symbolizes the Garden of Eden, which makes sense in relation to the comment Pi makes about God at the end of the novel: "The story with the animals is a better story ... And so it goes with God." I take that to mean we shouldn't always interpret God's truths so literally. The story of the Garden of Eden is a perfect example. I've always read it as a *true story* in the sense that its essential themes and religious ideas are true. But I don't think it's true in a literal, real-world sense as many fundamentalists do.

The island, like the Garden of Eden, is an idyllic utopia with friendly animals, all the food you can eat, a comfortable place to sleep, and so on. But that perfection is only 'true' on the surface. If you try to live too long in a state of innocent, isolated utopia, you won't really live - instead, you might eat yourself alive.

[Jen Trombly]

Wow! I want to be in your book club! I haven't had that complex a thought pattern in at least a year.