Life of Pi - Finishing the Book & Writing an Essay about it

We'll start the week with a conversation about the end of the novel and some of the questions it raises. Then we'll double back to see what questions the whole book asks us to consider, and then to think about how to answer them.

Your essay for this book will be a minimum of 8 pages (Times New Roman, 12 point font, 1 inch margins, double-spaced) - or about 2000 words. You may want to get into the practice of using word counts - many colleges do it.

You will select a type of essay from the list of potential ways to talk about a novel - a list I shared with you in your second library writing:

• Analytic essay
• We can analyze specific parts of the novel to help deepen our understanding of it.
• We can analyze ideas across multiple chapters of the novel to see how they are developing / changing.
• Intertextual essay
• We can make connections between the novel and other texts, in terms of similarities and / or differences - this can include books, films, television shows, graphic novels, plays, current events, music lyrics, or just about any other “text.”
• This would need to include extensive use of a second text, balanced with a look at Life of Pi and organized in a way that explores similarities and differences across a range of ideas.
• Personal / Hybrid essay
• We can explore ideas raised by the novel in terms of our own questions and philosophical beliefs about them.
• We can make connections between the novel and our own experiences, in terms of similarities and / or differences.
• Either of these would need to include extensive use of a personal story or example, in addition to a critical eye to the beliefs and ideas stemming from it. The essay would be organized in a way that explores similarities and differences across a range of ideas.

Your essay needs a thesis / focal point, followed by a number of sub-points. These are the topics for your paragraphs. You will need to make extensive use of textual evidence, including analysis of it in terms of both it meaning and relevance to your claim.

• To help you with this, you will submit an outline for your essay by the end of class on Thursday. I will explain that in detail tomorrow, but it essentially asks for your thesis, topics, and a general sense of your evidence.

I've spent an extensive amount of time reading websites devoted to interpretation and ideas about the novel. This includes both free and paid sites. I'll remind you about the policy for academic honesty - a violation of it will result in a zero for this essay. Since there are only two grades for this quarter, it guarantees you will fail for third quarter and will need to take the semester final exam. I hope that's the last I even have to say about it.

More importantly, we've discussed a wide range of exciting and insightful ideas during our weeks with the novel and I'm very excited about reading what you will have to say about it!

Life of Pi - Part 2

Part 2 of the novel is an extended look at Pi's ordeal and survival. In addition to a reading day this week, you looked at several specific questions either in a fishbowl or one-to-one format, depending on which period you have class.

Also, we read the dialogues in chapter 90. These come after the end of Pi's journal in chapter 89. We explored several different ideas, trying to explain what is happening in these conversations:

• are they imagined by Pi intentionally?
• are they hallucinations?
• how are they connected to his / Richard Parker's blindness?
• is there another entity (person, animal) present? more than one?
• how can we explain the physical evidence of another person Pi finds in chapter 91?
• how can we explain Pi giving voice to specific things he's never heard of before? (the detailed French cuisine, etc.)
• why does Pi raise a moral question with Richard Parker - did he feel bad about killing the people? why does he juxtapose this with acting on instinct?
• what is the role of story here - what do we make of the repeated banana story?

Chapter 92 further pushes our ability to believe in Pi's story - he explicitly anticipates this at the start of the chapter. What is it that makes this chapter so much harder than previous ones to believe?

At the end of chapter 93 Pi "turns to God." At the start of chapter 94 he finds land, and yet the main emotion in the book is with the lack of closure in his relationship with Richard Parker. Why is it so disturbing? Why was he expecting something different?

His time at sea comes to a close - we knew he would survive, but how can we explain it?

Life of Pi - Routines and Goals

Last week in the library you wrote about Pi’s goals as well as the ways in which different items he finds in chapter 52 might or might not be helpful.  

I asked you to reflect on the survival game we played the day before, in which you imagined being the survivor of a plane crash and had to evaluate different items you salvaged in terms of their usefulness. At the end of the game we realized these things:

• Groups named different goals. Some focused on items that would help them walk to town and find help, others focused on warmth and building a fire, others focused on food or shelter, and some groups focused on signaling a rescue party.
• The uses of some items were immediate and clear (ax for chopping wood, canvas for shelter)
• The uses of some items were misleading (whiskey would freeze a person from the inside, compass would encourage people to walk)
• The uses of some items were known only to experts (steel wool to catch a flame, can of Crisco as a signaling device or tool to melt water)

For Pi, you named different goals for him:

• Survive - food and water
• Survive - shelter
• Signal rescue ships
• Protection from animals
• Prayer and hope
• Warding off boredom

This led you to name different items as most / least valuable.

• Most named water and food as most valuable, some included the solar stills
• Some named God as most valuable
• Some named the notebook and pen as most valuable

But is there only one set use or purpose for each item? Can its value change? Can we see Pi’s goal as evolving, or happening in steps? Once he settles into a routine in chapter 63, what can we now say about him? Are there other thoughts or actions we’ve seen from Pi in Part 2 that do not appear in this look at his routine?

Life of Pi - Writing #1

On Friday we spent about half of the period with a piece of individual writing. It gave you the opportunity to name a section of Part 2 you want to explore further, and to start that process. I collected these at the end of the period and will share some of the results on Monday.

• Life of Pi - writing #1

Life of Pi - Library reading time and survival at sea

Today we had time to read in the library - hope you liked being in the new section!

You also completed a short piece of writing, connecting the survival game we played in class yesterday with the challenges faced by Pi in the first hours and days after the sinking of the ship.

• Life of Pi - Library day writing about survival

Life of Pi - Survival

Welcome back from the long weekend!

Today we played a "survival" game, working in groups to determine the value of objects found after an imaginary plane crash. We discussed the different goals your group might have, and how the value of the objects depended not only on those goals but also on your understanding of the object and its potential uses, the dangers of different approaches, and the role of creativity in survival.

Here is a link to the game scenario
Here is a link to the answers

Tomorrow we will meet in the library for some reading time in the new section of comfy chairs!

Life of Pi - Developing, Asking, and Answering Questions

For the final two days of the week our focus is on developing, asking, and answering questions about the book. Questions can both deepen our understanding of the novel and of help us explore the ways in which our own thoughts and experiences relate to it.

We'll focus on these three types of questions:

• Factual questions are used during the discussion to clarify – the answers are specifically named in the text.
• e.g. “What is the origin of Pi’s name?”
• Opinion questions bring in personal experiences and biases – the answer is not named in the text and these can’t be proven, only supported by the text.
• e.g. “Why do you think Pi’s father used the demonstration with the tiger to teach Pi a lesson?” or “Which of Pi’s early experiences had the biggest impact on his identity?”
• Interpretive questions are used during the discussion to investigate possibilities in the text.  Interpretive questions tend to be longer and more involved than questions we usually ask because they are to encourage deeper thinking.  The question is based on a point of doubt in the text.

• They follow a specific three-part format:
• When (author, character) says, "(quotation),"
• does s/he mean (provide one interpretation)?  
• If so, then (implication)?

• e.g. When Pi says, “repetition is important in the training not only of animals but also of humans,”(23) does he mean animals and humans are nearly identical in the ways they learn? If so, then are there other ways to teach humans, or just through repetition? If not, then what are the limits of teaching through repetition?
• or: When Pi says, “repetition is important in the training not only of animals but also of humans,” what does he mean when he says “training”? Does he mean instruction about a specific task? If so, then how is this different from other types of learning? Can one learn something without repetition?
• e.g. When Pi says, “Socially inferior animals are the ones that make the most strenuous, resourceful efforts to get to know their keepers,” (45) does he mean the animals seek this relationship as a means of protection? If so, then does being socially inferior always mean being in a position of vulnerability?
• or: When Pi says, “Socially inferior animals are the ones that make the most strenuous, resourceful efforts to get to know their keepers,” (45) does he mean this will be a way to increase their social status? If so, is there a risk of this backfiring and being further marginalized?

(early) life of Pi

Today you shared your animal posters from yesterday with a small group, explaining why you chose your animal and the qualities you named.

Then with your group you shared a personal story of an experience from your childhood - one that had a powerful and lasting effect on shaping your identity.

You identified four moments / experiences from Pi's life from the first 20 chapters of the book - the key moments shaping his identity. You ranked these, naming the most powerful one. Then you presented your findings, either in a skit, a poem, a mime performance, or something else creative.

Life of Pi - Animals

Today in class we drew pictures of animals and made "motivational posters" - naming an animal along with two qualities - things we should "never" be, and things we should "always" do.  Here are a few samples:

Here is a link to the calendar - it is also posted under the Life of Pi tab at the top of the page.

• 1st period
• 6th period
• 8th period

For tonight please read chapters 15-20

Life of Pi - Zoos and Religion

In our discussions about the first five chapters of the novel we focused on a variety of questions, depending on which period you have class.  The one topic we all explored centered around questions of freedom and how they relate both to zoos and religion, as suggested by Pi on p. 19 when he says, "certain illusions about freedom plague them both."

Our conversation named several different aspects of freedom, and how it applies to religion:

• freedom vs. being contained
• provided for by others vs. self-sufficient
• routine vs. uncertainty
• choice vs. structure

Does religion restrict or free us?

Are the structures of religion designed to open or restrict our thinking?

What does religion provide for us that we cannot provide for ourselves?

For the weekend, please read chapters 6-14

Life of Pi - Author's Note and Opening Chapters

In class I read the Author's Note from Life of Pi out loud. We started our look at the book with a discussion from it, referring to "a story to make your believe in God."

What might that mean? What do the different parts of that sentence suggest?

You had time to read silently for the rest of the period, hopefully getting through chapters 1-5.

Poetry Out Loud competition and winners

We began the week with Poetry Out Loud competitions. Congratulations to our finalists and winners:

• 1st period
• Finalist: Marnie Kritzman
• Finalist: David Pfeffer
• Winner: Eli Lovejoy
• 6th period
• 8th period