I can't say for sure if I interpreted the book correctly but I think the interpretation may be up to the reader?
~ Did what the narrator report actually happen?
~ Was what Pi reported in his second version to the two sunken ship's authorities at the end of the book actually what happened? Did one of the ship's authorities interpret it correctly by saying Pi replaced people with animals in his story? (But, if so, why does the final report from him state that Pi, indeed, had stayed on the boat with the tiger?)
~ that "Author's Note" at the beginning of the book - - I interpret that as pure fiction, too. I read the Author's Note only after finishing the entire novel.
~ I sort of interpret the book in the style of what I have read about author Shirley Jackson. She said something like, " Hey, I write stories and books. Take them for what they are." She didn't seem to possibly have exact meanings for her fiction. And I sort of take "The Life of Pi" in the same manner, I guess.
~ That "Author's Note" at the beginning of the book -- I now take it in the same spirit as the beginning declaration at the beginning of the movie "Fargo." The movie was pure fiction but a statement at the beginning of the movie states something like that what follows in the movie is, as much as possible, the exact nature of the events. Something like that. It was enough for me to interpret that the movie's events actually happened. It made me enjoy the film a little less. After finding out the movie, indeed, was pure fiction, I like the movie more in retrospect. Life of Pi's "Author's Note" - - if I had read that first, I would have kept wondering is this book true or not? Yet, again, I know that if such an event in the book actually happened, we'd all have known about it quite a lot.
I just finished the book a couple of days ago, so my thoughts are sort of still rambling and perhaps nonsense. Hey, maybe if I watch the movie . . . . ?
:)
This post was edited by WelbyQuentin at October 24, 2016 10:17 AM MDT
Hi and thanks for the detailed reply ...I wanted to get other's takes on the book ... I read it as he was on the boat with the tiger and it was a true recounting of what had occurred( as a fiction story) ... Until the Japanese investigators questioned him then the truth came out ...pi was the tiger ... Life on the boat was a jungle and to survive it was eat or be eaten ( sorry for the bad pun) ... To survive he had to become the top predator ... The scene where the boat makes landfall and the tiger trots off into the jungle without a backwards glance is the predator leaving pi as he is not required any longer ... The play on words with his name being an irrational number does confused me though as his actions ... If he was the tiger, would appear to be completely rational in the circumstances ... In some respects it's a bit like a Japanese koan ... Designed to trouble your mind and have it going in circles searching for a truth that may or may not exist ... Discovering other things in the process.. what is the sound of one hand clapping anyway ? ... In some respects I felt a bit cheated ... It's like reading a great story wondering how it's going to end and the denouement on the last page is "then he woke up" ... Once again thanks for your thoughts, I enjoyed reading them :)
Welby, I never realized it wasn't a true story until I read what you wrote just now. Sheesh. I am glad it was not true, but let's face it, there are so many worse atrocities that did happen that were committed by our wonderful human brothers and sisters, that this really doesn't help that it is fantasy.
This rendition is close enough.
The closest Fargo comes to being a "true story" is that one might fairly say it was "inspired by" some real-life incidents, primarily the disappearance of Helle Crafts, a Danish flight attendant, from her home in Newtown, Connecticut, in 1986. Helle's husband, Richard (against whom she had begun divorce proceedings), was eventually arrested, tried, and convicted of her murder: Police theorized that Richard Crafts had struck his wife unconscious in their bedroom with a blunt object, then placed her body in freezer; he later removed her body from the freezer, chopped it up with a chainsaw, put the pieces through a woodchipper, and scattered the remains in and around a nearby river.
The Coen brothers like a good in-joke as much as anybody. Next time you view Fargo, look for the name of the actor who played "the man in the field." You'll discover the entry listed as an odd squiggle that looks very much like Prince's signature. (I'm told the fellow who actually filled that role was J. Todd Anderson, one of the Coen's storyboard artists. The squiggle is Prince's signature laid on its side with a smiley face added. Wonderful joke, that. Laid on its side because the character is lying dead in a field.)
Thanks, Sharonna! I appreciate your thoughts and input here! I don't think I ever knew that the "Fargo" movie was based on such a close-to-the-story series of events. Thanks! No doubt to me that that movie is pretty cool, despite the uncomfortable subject matter. THe Coen Brothers always fascinate me. Thanks, again! As far as Pi - - it seems open to many interpretations at this point in my mind. :)
Yes an Allegory - the Orangutan may have been his mother, and the Tiger was a criminal and they reached a sort of truce during the journey and of course the Tiger ran of, since he'd be caged if captured
WelbyQuentin 