Connection to myself/personal response - Life of Pi



 

Life of Pi is one of my favorite books that I have read so far. The book did not receive rave reviews from some of my classmates but I personally enjoyed it thoroughly and could not put it down. The book had elements of spiritually, the importance of learning , endurance and hope against all odds. Which made it all the more enjoyable to read. There were always two meanings to every aspect of the book and if you read too fast or skimmed the novel quickly you would miss the real meaning of what Yann Martel was saying and describing which is what I find the majority of my classmates who did not enjoy or understand the novel did.  From what others have told me and reviews I’ve read I found that the large majority of readers did not necessarily enjoy the first section of the book. I however found it very interesting seeing the perspective of a young boy discovering  and taking interest in different world religions also his take on the reaction of his parents and his different priests to his devout interest in religion. All of this taking place in a land foreign to me was a perfection combination. I also loved reading his life growing up on a zoo and the zoo lore his father taught him. The stories about other animals kept the book interesting. What was very fascinating was the carry-over from part one to part two. During part one a lot of detail was put into Pi’s schedule of praying zoo work and school all very precise and Pi followed diligently. While Pi and Richard Parker were on the raft Pi functioned with the same mentality of schedule order and organization. He almost immediately took an organized inventory after the boat sank, made plans what to do with Richard Parker and made himself a raft. I was already very engrossed in the bulk of the book but the conclusion was fantastic. I do not love when books have devastating endings. Pi did lose his family which is horrible but every good story and hero has to have a tragedy but all in all Pi turned out well in life. Why I thought the ending was so fantastic was the loose end that Yann Martel and that even after the book was finished you kept on thinking. Yann Martel left evidence that either of Pi’s explanations could be true. The story of his mother and him surviving with the cook and sailor sounded more realistic and probable but there were small mammal bones left in the bottom of his life raft which would give evidence of his encounter with the Meer cats and the island. By the end the interviewers put two and two together that the stories are intertwined as the zebra is the sailor the hyena the cook and that both stories follow the same plot but one with animals the other with people.  What made you kept you thinking even after the book finished was which story was true? Or a combination the both? Either way the book was very well written and the first book without rape which I was very appreciative of that break. Life of Pi had double meanings and aspects philosophy and overall an excellent book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Zoo Lore played a large part in Pi's life and survival living with an untrained adult Bengal tiger at sea alone for 277 days. During part one of the book Pi's father teaches him many lessons on dealing with animals. How they react to certain situations, how to handle them, what most animals in their zoo liked and disliked. But most importantly to be aware of the extreme danger of undomesticated animals. Pi directly applied the knowledge from his early childhood to dealing with Richard Parker. For example lion tamers always go into the ring first before the lion to show dominance over the animal that the lion is in his territory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pi's father teaches him the flight distance the minimum distance at which an animal will tolerate a potential predator or enemy. Getting animals used to the presence of humans is the key to the smooth running of a zoo and will be accomplished by creating a good enclosure, providing enough food and water, and knowing each animal well. Taken care of in this way, zoo animals rarely if ever run back to the wild. Although neither Pi or Richard Parker can escape, this helped Pi immensely out at sea with Richard Parker. Pi did his very best to keep his "enclosure" clean, as much food and water as possible and knowing the animal well which after 277 days Pi did know Richard Parker well. This kept Richard Parker from ripping him apart and eating him the first day.

 

Someone came a little too close to this kitty.
Minimum flight distance  

 

 

 

 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a362PXAn8qM

This is a very poor tiger who is stuck in a small dirty cage surrounded by people very close to him. Even this is very agitating for this poor tiger but to provoke a even bigger reaction a zoo keeper pokes him with a metal stick and aggravates the poor creature. A good example of an un happy animal.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1360147/Zoo-welfare-fears-as-elephant-kills-keeper.html

An unhappy animal can be very dangerous just as Pi's father taught him but not just tigers. This is an article where an elephant kills his zoo keeper. A few factors would have cause this elephant to become agitated and strike out. Even docile creatures can become very dangerous if provoked.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Text to Text Connection- Life of Pi -Old Man and the Sea





Life of Pi




Old Man and the Sea

Many readers have noticed the book’s resemblance to Ernest Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea. Both novels feature a struggle between man and beast. In The Old Man and the Sea, a fisherman struggles to pull in a marlin, while in Life of Pi, Pi and Richard Parker struggle for dominance on the lifeboat. Both the fisherman and Pi learn to respect their animal counterparts; each pair is connected in their mutual suffering, and determination. Although they are enemies, they are also partners, and keep each other moving forward for Pi and Richard Parker that means surviving for the old man it means to keep moving forward towards his goal. Both novels emphasize the importance of endurance. Because of their struggles both the old man and Pi are elevated to the status of a hero in their own sense and story.

Zoos and the Modern World



                                                       Connections to the Real World




The habitats and care systems in the Pondicherry zoo are very similar to real world zoos like the Toronto zoo, the Cincinnati zoo and the London zoo. Most of these zoos have very similar enclosures to each other and Pondicherry. For tigers the most habitats are enclosed by fences with a moat and the tigers living on an island within. The tigers in the novel are fed various meats including goat, the same to real tigers.


Sad Goat

Tigers are solitary animals naturally and only come together once a year to mate. Being with Pi on a small life boat should have agitated Richard Parker greatly but because he was a zoo tiger he became more comfortable with human interaction. This occurs with tigers in real zoos as well. If the habitat is to their needs they become more comfortable with human interaction which is a factor of Pi's survival at sea and a good zoo.
The Pondicherry zoo like the Toronto zoo was popular and a big zoo with many animals to care for. (5000+ animals in the Toronto zoo) Both zoos have multiple areas and many animals. They are set up very similarly as well with the animals divided into sections due to climate and natural habitat.


Map of Toronto zoo

Both the Pondicherry and Toronto zoo care for their animals deeply. The Pondicherry zoo was a family owned zoo and each zoo animal was like a friend or family member to Pi. This is not so with the Toronto zoo it is a zoo on a different scale with 242 permanent employees. The Toronto zoo is not family owned but the still animals receive similar care.


Unlike most modern zoos Pondicherry did not offer any extra programs like interacting with the animals, work shops, camps, animal shows, volunteer opportunities anything of that sort. It was a strictly come to see and enjoy the animals and leave. whereas modern zoos offer a wide variety of opportunities to be with the animals and interact. http://www.sandiegozoo.org/zoo/special/tours. This is a link to a few extra opportunities that the San Diego zoo offers.

A zoo that offers many animal interactions a little closer to home is Little Rays Reptiles.
This zoo offers feeding shows http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Lhx4v2Q4NU
If you have not been to little rays here is a quick tour and view of some of their animals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMCmwzothy0
Little Ray's is mostly indoors and performs many educational shows.











 

 




INTRODUCTION TO LIFE OF PI SUMMATIVE

The Life of Pi.

                                   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5KEHurAsCE
This is a very funny review of The Life of Pi movie in under 4 minutes to get things started.

“I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous adversary, how well I know. It has no decency, respects no law or convention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot, which it finds with unnerving ease. It begins in your mind, always ... so you must fight hard to express it. You must fight hard to shine the light of words upon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you.”
― Yann Martel, Life of Pi

I will be blogging and discussing the topics of Zoos and the Modern World and also Zoo Lore with Life of Pi with text to text, text to world and text to self connections (readers response).
I hope you enjoy reading.




Works Cited

Martel , Yann. The Life of Pi. Orlando, Austin, New York, San Diego, London: Harcourt, 2001. Print.

"Welcome San Diego Zoo ." San Diego Zoo . San Diego Zoo . Web. 3 Jun 2013. http://www.sandiegozoo.org/.

"Accidents with Elephants in Zoos ." Elephant Encyclopedia . N.p.. Web. 3 Jun 2013. http://www.upali.ch/accident_en.html.

"Experience Tiger Territory ." . ZSL London Zoo . Web. 3 Jun 2013. http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/.

"The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden." Tigers . The Cincinnati Zoo . Web. 3 Jun 2013. http://cincinnatizoo.org/.

. N.p.. Web. 3 Jun 2013. <weknowgifs.com >.

To Everything There Is a Season



Sometimes its hard to face reality and realize you are growing up. This story is basically the story of the narrators first Christmas not believing in Santa Claus which is always a sad occurance but he looks at the bright side of being treated like an adult. I would like to think that we all stay young and innocent forever like Peter Pan and his lost boys but we all have the small moments and reality checks that force us to grow up.

For myself I haven't had many, to be perfectly honest I really haven't grown up nearly as much as some others my age. I have a sister who is 13 and a brother who is 18. My parents mostly sheltered us from the harsh world and waited as long as possible to tell us about Santa Claus and the Easter bunny not being real and all those nice things. In fact they still haven't told my sister. 

With all of that my reality check wasn't the Easter bunny or Santa not being real but when my parents told me that my grandfather had cancer and had to have surgeries, chemotherapy and was going to live with us during the process and recovery. This came to me as a huge surprise, my grandfather is a big strong man standing an impressive 6'5. I have always and still do think of him as the smartest man alive to date; he seems to know everything about anything. When I was told he had cancer it was a reality check even the biggest smartest people can get sick. This made myself and my siblings grow up we had to help my grandma and parents take care of my grandfather. We all grew up a little bit acting as stand-in adults. "...I am not so much surprised as touched by a pang of loss at being here on the adult side of the world." Although he on his way to recovery now it was scary for a while and to everything there is a season and this was the season I grew up.

Here is a quick picture of the Rolling Stones rocking out to lighten the mood

History of the English Language featuring Patrick Star

History of the English Language

Surprisingly I found the history of the English language interesting. Usually the first reaction of an average student on learning that they will be stu(dying) the history of the English language is a feeling of dread, terrible boredom and surprise. Which all around comes to a look like this:

The English language was influenced by many other languages through historical events. Which are divided into four different time periods. Other peoples invaded and took over forcing their languages to mix with English, creating a strange mix of all of these languages which people whose first language is not English find very difficult to learn.

Old English 450-1100

I found old English the most interesting because of Beowulf. Beowulf is a 3000 line poem written about a warroir and the amplified tales of his adventures. I was amazed that our present day English evolved from that almost eligable writting.

I was even more surprised when our class came to the conclusion that there has not been an original story written in over 2000 years!(Archetypes). Almost every story we have follows the same plot of a hero, villain and treasure.

Middle English 1100-1500

During the middle English period the languge is becomes a bit more readable and understandable. Middle English was dominated by Chaucer. He wrote for the common man, more believable stories and more humour. I found Chaucer compelling because his stories were the first with no violence which was strange at that time. He wrote comedy and used word play. "Bawdy" using very crude humour.

Doesn't Chaucer look like a funny guy?

Early Modern 1500-1800:

I did not find early modern to be extremly stimulating but it was the introduction of the printing press and this standardized the spelling of words. This was the era of the sonnet craze, which might be a great and interesting thing to learn about for some people but I do not enjoy poetry very much. I would rather someone just tell me what the heck they want or what their thinking instead of reading me a poem. Although poems can very romantic and such I dont quite see the allure of writting, reading and analysing them but I do enjoy the play on words that poems often use.

Boring and baldish

Present Day English 1800- today:

There isn't much of a history of present day English if its the present day but many new words have been introduced and are continually added to the language because of the darastic change in technology. I  personally feel like our generation is ruining the English language with new slang. "rachet" " swerve" "swag". Although I don't enjoy poetry it is a refreshing change from present day English.

P.S Lil Wayne is horrible.