Trace three of the following threads through the novel. In two paragraphs for each explain the various literary effects of each of the threads and how each is related to the theme. Use quotations from the novel to support each analysis.
1. The family business of the Pondicherry Zoo in India
2. The narrator’s study of the three toed sloth
3. Young Pi’s dedication to three religions
4. Father’s statement at the beginning of chapter 34, “We’ll sail like Columbus.”
Can you identify any more threads? Can you tie any into the Quest pattern?
Father’s admonitions to stay away from the tiger in the zoo
In chapter 8 Ravi, Pi and their parents are at the zoo and Pi’s father is teaching his sons a lesson on the dangerousness of a tiger by letting a tiger brutally kill a goat right in front of him. He is trying to teach Pi how incredibly dangerous the Tiger is and that he should avoid them entirely; this is made evident by his accompanying speech: “Tigers are very dangerous. I want you to understand that you are never—under any circumstances—to touch a tiger, to pet a tiger, to put your hands through the bars of a cage, even to get close to a cage. Is that clear?”
This thread, initiated at the very beginning of the novel, remains through to the ending moments of Pi’s trip across the sea. The thread like Pi’s experience develops and changes throughout. Initially Pi is warned of the dangers of a tiger and made to see it firsthand, this event foreshadows the mid-story where Pi is stuck on a lifeboat with the tiger he was made to fear, at this point he is forced to decide: obey his father and flee from the ship or, against everything he has been taught, stay with this ferocious feline. By challenging his father’s views he is able to develop his own, this theme—growth through trial—is very well supported in this thread; though initially Pi was afraid of the tiger as he