Life of Pi Reflective Piece

Author’s Note: I was told to write a piece on extended metaphors and why the author includes them, especially since Life of Pi is a book that uses that style. It was kind of a confusing task at first, but when I really thought about it, it just kind of came to me.

To me, the climax is the best part of the book. All of the suspense piles up, up, and up, giving you mixed emotions, feelings about the book, and all of the characters in it, when suddenly. . . it stops. Yes, in fact, some authors decide to stop the best part of the book and put it into another chapter, or better yet, another book. But why is it that they do that, especially during the best part of the writing? There are answers behind this, and it takes some people a while to discover them.

There are plenty of authors that use this technique in their writing. One of my favorites is James Patterson, author of Maximum Ride. He has considerably short chapters, around two or three pages. Patterson sure is good at cramming lots of juicy stuff in those short chapters, though. There is so much to take in, and then, BOOM! Another chapter starts. He makes the first few sentences of this chapter quite amusing too, and then it sucks you into reading the rest of that chapter. Doing this is almost like forcing yourself to read on, to ease the need for finding out what happens next.

Life of Pi uses a technique somewhat similar to the one stated before, but at the same time, it is completely different. Yann Martel inserts italicized chapters, used to tell the reader about his conversations with Pi. But here’s the thing -- none of it ever happened. That’s right. Pi isn’t real. But, Yann Martel makes it seem like he actually went and had conversations with him. Why is it he does that? It’s called a story inside of a story. The italicized chapters is a story, and so is the actual story.

Yann Martel also uses extended metaphors. He splits the book into two parts, and each one has a different meaning behind it.

The first part of the book symbolizes life’s boundaries. Some people are born into an open sea; no limits, not knowing what to do or where to go. Others are born into a swimming pool; limited, locked in, strict rules.

The second part of the book symbolizes birth. If you read the first few sentences of the second part (page 97) try to think about relate it to child birth, and you will see exactly what Yann Martel was trying to accomplish. The ship sank. It made a sound like a monstrous metallic burp. Things bubbled at the surface and then vanished. Everything was screaming: the sea, the wind, my heart. Birth obviously isn’t a peaceful job to be done, but eventually it is worth it when all of the pain is gone.Then, you are left out in the open sea.

Pi was raised by strict parents with strict rules. Religion was their main focus of life, being Hindu. When Pi was thrown into the open sea, he was confused. No direction to follow, no rules to take into consideration. Everything that he did was up to him, and no one else. This was hard for him, going from swimming pool to sea.

Seeing these extended metaphors isn’t the easiest thing to do, but when you incorporate them the entire book starts to come together. I am starting to understand these metaphors better, and it is also making it a lot easier to know what is actually going on in the writing and what the author is trying to say.