The role of the reader in the interpretation of a text is important. Given who you are –your social, culture background, your gender, beliefs, etc.– how might you respond differently to this book than others?

I have never read a novel to which I could relate to. Usually when reading books, I can relate to many things. However, with this book, there was hardly anything I could really relate to. Pi and I are completely different. I think the only common thing is our age, 16-years-old. Otherwise, he grew up in India which is very different from Canada, he’s a guy, and he believes in multiple religions, whereas I believe in one. At least my religion is also one of his. He also grew up in a zoo, getting to know and love animals and I don't even like animals very much.

For many people to be able to really enjoy a book, they need to be able to connect with the characters, or events. However, that’s not the case for me. I still liked reading this novel just as much as many other books.

Because I’m not familiar with anything about or in this novel, probably the biggest difference between this one and many others is that I ad to imagine quite a bit more. Even when Pi would describe the lifeboat, I would get confused because I wouldn’t know how everything fits in there. Also, I’m not good at all at imagining measurements so it was hard to form a clear picture in my mind of the lifeboat, among other things.

Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

There are many details about Pi’s personality, behaviour, and life that make him seem like a regular 16-year-old boy. However, there are a few things that seem unrealistic, but you never know what you would do to stay alive in a similarly desperate situation. For instance, it seemed to me a little immature of Pi to create an imaginative story in his mind about living with dangerous animals and finding a man-eating island while he was stranded. Also, some things seem exaggerated, like when Pi catches a shark with his bare hands, although it may have been a small one. Pi is unpredictable, yet believable, which is one thing that makes this novel so good.

Richard Parker, the tiger, is the only other main character. It seems highly unlikely that he would be so calm even though he is close to starving and Pi is so close to him. Then again, he is also suffering from severe sea sickness and who knows what a real seasick tiger would act like. Again, the characters may seem unusual, but they are believable considering the circumstances.

I cannot really relate to Pi’s predicaments because I have never been in such a bad situation or even been that lost. However, many years ago, when my family and I were on vacation, my sister and I climbed a relatively small mountain or a huge hill and got lost. It was behind our cousin’s farm in Mexico and when we got to the top we walked around and explored. When we wanted to go back down, we couldn’t remember where we had come up and when we looked down, all the farms looked the same. My sister panicked so I made up anything to calm her down because I knew that as long as she was relaxed, I could relax. I told her that I knew exactly how to get back and I could find the farm because of the shapes of the haystacks. I remember pointing to a random farm and saying that was it. Luckily, when we actually got to the bottom, our cousins were outside so it didn’t take too long to find them. The point of this story is that I, like Pi, did what it took for me and my sister to stay clam and sane in the scary situation.

How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes?

The simplest and clearest change that Pi undergoes is that he starts eating meat after being a vegetarian. In India, Pi was a vegetarian, but when he is stranded in the ocean he is forced to eat fish and turtle in order to avoid starvation.

Pi also tames Richard Parker, the tiger, so that the two of them can live together peacefully in the cramped space of the lifeboat. Both Pi and Richard Parker change from this. Although Richard Parker is not completely wild, –because he was a caged zoo animal- Pi teaches the beast to be afraid of him instead of instinctively wanting to kill him. Pi changes from this event because his father had once taught him to be afraid of and to not trust Richard Parker, for obvious reasons. However, when Pi realizes his best chance is to tame the tiger, he says, “I looked at Richard Parker. My panic was gone. My fear was dominated. Survival was at hand” (182). He is brave enough to use a whistle to tame him, which irritates Richard Parker so much that he roars and claws the air.

Pi also physically changes when he becomes very weak and loses a lot of weight because of limited food and water. He even loses his eye sight for a couple days.

Another way in which Pi changes is that he becomes very alone because he loses everything he has ever known. In the beginning he has a family, lives in India, and has grown up in a zoo. Then his family dies, along with most of the animals he loves and the one surviving tiger ends up abandoning him. On top of that, Pi is still sent to Canada, instead of his home country, where he is placed with a foster family.

All the changes are because Richard Parker and Pi are stranded in the ocean on a lifeboat together after their ship sinks.