life of Pi

Life of Pi : Rhetoric

Rhetoric plays an important part in the novel Life of Pi by Yann Martel . In this story , the use of language and how a story is told is the only way that the protagonist , Pi , can deal with the adversity that he has encountered in his life . People are unique and each person use different coping methods when he /she meets difficulties in life . The way that Pi manages to keep his sanity so that he survives comes from his youth in India

Pi is involved in a

horrible shipwreck during the move of his family from India to Canada . His lifeboat ends up in Mexico where he is visited by two Japanese officials who need information about the shipwreck . It is then that the antagonist of the story is revealed . He must face survival of the elements , his own body , and the animals who have also survived . Pi gives them an account of how he and a zebra from his father 's zoo escaped the wreck in a life boat . In a short amount of time he is joined by his father 's tiger , Richard Parker , a hyena , and an orangutan . The hyena kills the zebra first and then the orangutan . The tiger kills and eats the hyena . This leaves Pi alone on the boat with a ferocious tiger . Pi uses the skills he learned as a boy while working at his father 's zoo . He learned that humans must fain dominance of animals if they were to survive . He knew that he must fight the elements so he must gain dominance so that he could concentrate on his survival . Once the lifeboat comes on shore in Mexico , Richard Parker escapes into the forest

I was weeping because Richard Parker left me so unceremoniously . What a terrible thing it is to botch the farewell . I am a person who believes in form , in the harmony of . Where we can , we must give things meaningful shape . It is important in life to conclude things properly Only then can you let go . Otherwise you are left with words you should have said but never did , and your heart is heavy with remorse . That bungled good bye hurts me to this day (Martell

.316-317

The officials are shocked at the details . He knew that the rhetoric they wanted was the factual story because they were not interested in the story of the mind . Pi then ask them which story they would prefer They prefer the story with the animals and they realize that this is how Pi coped with the horrors of the shipwreck

I know what you want . You want a story that won 't surprise you . That will confirm what you already know . That won 't make you see higher or further or differently . You want a flat story . An immobile story . You want dry , yeastless factuality (p . 381

He had used rhetoric to allow him to create a story with animals so that...