Sunday, June 24, 2012
Life of Pi: Chapters 11-12
I don't understand the end of Chapter 11...what is the narrator talking about? How did we go from Tokyo to Mexico? Baffled...
Chapter 12 is italicized again...who is narrating these sections? Who is the old man that is cooking for his visitor? And who is Richard Parker? The mystery continues...
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When do we find out who Richard Parker is??? I think that the story about the black leopard is trying to say that escaped animals only do things to survive not to cause any trouble and I think that that could be applied to humans also.
Sammy, let's try and work on making these comments a bit longer...like a short paragraph...5-7 sentences...just continue your train of thought here. How do you think it could be applied to humans?
When Pi told the story of the black leopard, he simply stated, “That escaped zoo animals are not dangerous absconding criminals but simple wild creatures seeking to fit in.” (pg53) though there is an underlying message in his story. He is comparing the ability of humans and animals having the power to adapt into any situation. However, for the leopard, she ran away because of a problem with the other leopard she was living with, she put herself in that position of a new area by running away. With humans we often choose what position we put ourselves in , but sometimes our position is thrust upon us, by events that occur in our lives. The ability to adapt and survive in any situation is foreshadowing to later events in the novel, and how survival in any situation can be achieved, to an extent, just as the leopard did.
Again, I believe that Pi explaining the array of animals hidden in a huge city such a Tokyo, and someone searching for “something” in Mexico is just another example of foreshadow. I believe there will be something hidden in Mexico such as how many exotic animals are hidden in Tokyo. I also think its showing that there is always going to be a mystery since Pi exclaimed “and they expect to find-ha! In the middle of a Mexican tropical jungle, imagine!” (pg54) Stating that they never found whatever they were looking for.
Chapter 12 is italicized again because it’s a different speaker, a different narrator thinking and putting his own thoughts in. I believe the narrator is a person who is interviewing Pi about his story. The old man who is cooking I think is Pi just much older, and re-telling his tale to the narrator, and Richard Parker is the Tiger he was stuck with on the boat.
the itlicized chapters might be Richard Parker? The story of the black leopard was thatanimal react out of ear and domesticated animals and zoo animals jut want to fit in with society and not just to eat it. Pi was comparin tokyo and mexico and how both places have animals diffrent than wha is ussualy there hiding. like the leopard tokyo and mexico must have excaped animals weather from a zoo or a exotic pet store or maybe a colector, animals will hide to surive and fit in. I look at the excapd animals as illagal imagrants.
The narrators underlying message in chapter 11 about the black leopard is quite simple. The narrator is reminiscing about a black female leopard escaping the Zurich Zoo in 1933. She vanished into the night and that caused chaos to the citizens of Zurich. The thing is, she was nowhere to be found for ten weeks! At last a labourer found her and shot her (I’m assuming due to safety concerns). The point of this is, the leopard was gone for about two months and never once attacked a human. Therefore people need to not assume that all wild animals are dangerous creatures that will kill you. Most of them never mean to hurt people but they do because you are in their territory and you’re not a normal part of their daily habitat. That gets them uncomfortable and forces them to act in a sense of self defense. There are wild animals living all around us constantly without our knowing, but they don’t usually attack because that’s not their goal. The goal for wild animals is to survive but that doesn’t necessarily mean by killing humans.
Pi uses the story of the black leopard to prove that not all animals are as dangerous as we think. The black leopard escaped from the zoo, and was able to survive for 2 months on it's own without being seen by anyone or attacking anyone. This shows that animals, though they are wild, are not out to hurt anyone. The animals main goal is to survive; it won't attack humans because it has no reason to. Pi says the only reason an animal would attack a human in the first place is if the human got too close and invaded the animal's territory, and then the animal would only attack because it thinks it needs to defend itself. Pi is trying to convey the message that not all wild animals will hurt you.
I think the italicized sections are from the author's point of view. If this is the case, then the time frame must change when the author is talking. I think when the author talks the time jumps to present day, and the story of Pi that's being told is in the past. However, I don't understand why the author would put himself in the story.
The narrator is saying that wild animals don’t have intentions to harm. The leopard was more than likely scared out of her mind. She just wanted to hide and stay alive. Just because an animal has the potential to be dangerous and deadly, doesn’t mean it will kill. Animals don’t have the cognitive skill we do to understand our surroundings and the things going on around us. Of course an animal will attack if it feels cornered, trapped, or threatened. Wouldn’t you?
I believe the point he is getting at is the fact that there are deadly pets everywhere. Is a boa constrictor and less deadly than a leopard? A leopard may be more dangerous in the fact that its attack will be much more blunt and predictable, but if either animal wanted you dead, you wouldn’t stand much of a chance with either.
I think he used Tokyo as an example to the point made above, but the transition to Mexico I’m unsure of. He does mention Mexico earlier in the book, in chapter one; he talks about his hospital stay there. Perhaps the Mexico reference here has something to do with that particular experience?
The italicized chapters sound like they could be talking about Pi. It is made unclear from whose (plural?) point of view they are told.
The narrator uses the story of the black leopard to help prove that animals that escape from zoos are not wild beasts trying to wreak havoc on innocent civilians. The escaped fugitives only try to fit in and find a new place to call home.
The latter half of the chapter describes Tokyo as a city that is ransacked by wild animals hiding in the corners of the city. I think the sudden switch to Mexico pertains to the idea that if one can't find the wild animals in an urban city, how will he or she find those animals in the animals element; how can someone expect to catch wild animals in their habitat, the area they know best.
Since I read ahead, I know the answers hidden in the italicized section. I think the visitor that is eating with Pi is the author of the novel, questioning Pi, his main character.
The narrator uses the story of the black leopard to show that though animals may seem dangerous they really just want a place to stay safe. He states "That a big, black, tropical cat managed to survive for more than two months in a Swiss winter without being seen by anyone, let alone attacking anyone speaks plainly to the fact that escaped zoo animals are not dangerous absconding criminals but simply wild creatures seeking to fit in." (p. 42). It's a point that animals aren't looking to harm people but to stay comfortable and safe from danger, just like humans. I believe that the talk of Tokyo and Mexico are showing that there are many different animals let loose in those areas that people don't know about but are staying away from danger in the city. I think that the italicized sections are the author questioning Pi and I'm not quite sure who Richard Parker is but I'm interested to find out.
The underlying message is to show that animals may not be domesticated, but they have no intention of being out in the open. They might want to roam "wildly" amongst our daily lives, but they have no intention of killing ten's to hundreds of people.
The narrator was showing that animals are hidden among Tokyo just as well among the villages in the Mexican jungles. Not all the animals that roam in the wild like the appearance of a foreign kind, like humans. If they are uncertain and vunerable they would reduce to tactics of hidding instead of force.
I still believe that the italicized is Piscine telling his story outside of his flashback story.
I think the narrator uses the story of the black leopard to get the reader thinking about why animals do what they do and to show that animals are not out to hurt people like humans see it. They are just out to survive and being in a place they feel safe.
When the narrator goes from Tokyo to Mexico I think it is just trying to show that in one crowded city there are many hidden animals so imaginehow many there are in a large open country.
I think the italicized chapters are still Pi talking. I think it might be a more present time, since the book so far has been memories of his childhood.
The story of the black leopard explains that animals do what they need to do to survive. Escaped zoo animals may seem dangerous to humans, but they are just trying to survive without being hurt themselves.
The book moving from Tokyo to Mexico, I believe, is just trying to make a point. The author is just trying to make an example to show that there are dangerous animals everywhere, even hiding in the cities of Tokyo and Mexico. I think the authors main point is again to show that animals are harmless, unless they feel threatened.
I agree with Alyssa, I believe that the italicized text in chapter 12 is Pi talking. I think he is speaking during the present, instead of inside his story.
The underlying message in the black leopard story is that animals are that different from humans. When animals run away it is because they are trying to get away from something and once they feel the threat is gone they will return to where they were. The fact that animals will always have a wild side does not mean that they feel a need or even a want to be in the wild. Animals have everything they could ever need when they live in captivity, but they sometimes will want to roam to explore, but will never truly leave because they understand what they have.
Chapter twelve is italicized because the narrator has shifted again in some way. The shift makes me believe that it is someone telling the stories that he or she has learned from Pi in an interview of some kind.
The main point of the black panther story is that animals follow their instincts and do what they must to survive. Along these lines however the animals will not do anything they don't need to do, when the leopard escaped it remained hidden for two months without hurting a soul for the ten weeks it was "on the loose". To be honest the end of Chapter 11 confused me a bit as well I figure these are just further examples of the surprising animals wandering places like Tokyo you would expect to find in a Mexican Tropical Jungle. I believe all italicized sections are catalogs from Pi's life in the present and the story in not italicized is a story from Pi's past. I think the old man could be Mamaji however I am not certain. and Richard Parker is the Bengal Tiger from the zoo, even though I did not figure it out until the end of chapter 37, better late than never.
The story of the black leopard has a similar meaning as the tiger event. I think it symbolizes how anybody, anything, and everything will do anything in its power to be where it feels the safest.
The story of the black leopard leads us to wonder of the real danger of wild animals. At any time the leopard could have attacked a home or caused damage to the area she was living in. Something must have happened between the male and female leopards that made the female need to escape. If the male did something to provoke the female or cause her to hurt her paws, how different is this than human behavior? The same thing would have happened in an abusive relationship or marriage between humans.
The purpose of the end of Chapter 11 is simply to give the reader more examples as to how common it is for wild animals to live among us.
The old man that is being interviewed by the visitor is Pi. He is being interviewed by someone that may want to write a book about him. Possibly to be called "The Life of Pi"?
The story of the black leopard is to show that animal's are not here to create havic, they are just trying to survive. The female leopard needed to escape from her surrondings,she needed to feel safe, and like Sophia said that isn't to different from what humans do. The purpose of the end of chapter 11 is to show that animals aren't that different from humans.
The black leopard story is to give a clear and concrete example of the danger or therefor, lack of danger escaped animals present. Animals only want to survive and only attack humans if they get in the way of survival. When animals escape, Pi explains that they only want to get to an area where they feel comfortable. Their goal is not to harm anyone, but they will if needed to get to safety, but their goal is to remain alive. Chapter 11's goal is to show the likeliness of animals and humans.
The end.
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