Life+of+Pi

= Synopsis = The story is divided into three parts. The first two parts are mainly told in the perspective of Pi. Part I is a flashback of Pi’s childhood. His father runs a zoo in Pondicherry in India. He finds the zoo a paradise. His father once shows Pi and his brother how a tiger eats a wild goat to warn them the dangerous nature of animals. Pi is brought up as a Hindu. But then he comes across Christianity and Islam. He decides to practise them all simultaneously. Because of the political strife in India, his family decides to move to Canada. They set sail in a cargo ship in 1977. (Part II)Their ship sinks. Pi is saved and thrown by crewmembers to a lifeboat and he saves a tiger by chance. He then realizes that he is on the boat with a hyena, orangutan and a zebra. The hyena attacks the zebra then the orangutan. When Pi prepares to throw himself to the hyena, the tiger, named Richard Parker shows himself. The tiger kills the hyena and Pi lives with the tiger on the life boat. He tries to tame Richard Parker. The two of them coexist on the boat. Soon Pi suffers from blindness because of dehydration. They meet another blind castaway who attempts to kill and eat Pi. Richard Parker then kills him. The boat pulls up to an island. They stay for a time until one day Pi discovers human teeth in the fruits. He thinks the island will eat people. So they leave. The boat then sails ashore on a Mexican beach. Richard Parker goes into the jungle and Pi is sent to hospital. Pi is a castaway for 277 days. Part III is a transcript of the interview between Pi and two Japanese officers. Pi reveals that the story does not involve animals at all. The four people on the boat are the cannibalistic cook, the sailor, his mother and Pi himself.  = Grade level I would teach this text =  Form 4-5 (equivalent to Grade 10-11) in Hong Kong  à  The book deals with issues like religions, the animal nature of human. Students in relatively higher level would be able to understand these subjects more. à  Pi mentions animals a lot in his narration, there are a many technical terms, if not scholars’ quotations in this book. Students in higher level would be more able to deal with it.   = This is also the challenge. = à  As HK students study English as a second language, it would be difficult for them to deal with technical terms related to zoology and religion (while Pi is a zoology and religion major in U of T). à  Religion issues should be brought up carefully in classroom. à  Student in <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Hong Kong <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> may not be familiar with the context in <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">India <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> and <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Canada <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">. Like, they may not know the political strife (because of Mrs. Ghandi) that causes Pi’s family to move to <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Canada <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> =<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> = = The 4 knowledge =
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> The context: the religion background of the school where I am teaching.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> Deal with students with different religion backgrounds.

__<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> Textual knowledge __ <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">First person narrative (narrations of the author interweave in the story) <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Not chronological, flashback of Pi   <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v  <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Technical terms related to Zoology and Religion <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Quotations of scholars’ comments to illustrate his statements (essay-like). <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> __ Social knowledge __

<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Human’s selfish nature  <span style="color: black; font: 7pt 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> Pi’s father sacrifice a wild goat to show the dangerous nature of wildlife “…what if Piscine had stuck his hand through the bars of the cage one day to touch the pretty orange fur? Better a goat then him, no?” (P.39) <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">·

<span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The crewmembers of the ship threw Pi to the lifeboat as bait to lure the hyena (P.121)

<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Religions <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi thinks that he can practise the 3 religions together because they are all about love while people around him disagree. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">He spiritually relies on God when he is on the lifeboat and struggling to survive.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Communication <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi is desperate to communicate; he waves and shouts to the passing tanker but in vain. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi writes a message and throws the bottle into the sea and receives no reply. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi keeps a diary on boat until one day the ink of the pen runs out. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi cannot communicate with people in <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Mexico <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> because he does not know Spanish. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi talks to the two Japanese with the translation of a third party which makes convey of “real” meaning difficult.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Will to live <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi still strives to live though he is orphaned in the middle of the Pacific, with tiger and sharks around. “I surely would have given up and let go of the oar, hoping that I might drown before being eaten. But I don’t recall that I had a single thought during those first minutes… I held on the oars… God only knows why” (P.118). <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The strength of the zebra which is being eaten by the hyena alive for 2 days (P.141) <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The gentle orangutan fights back against the fierce hyena (P.142). <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> = = __ Cultural knowledge __<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> Territory <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The Patel family goes from <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">India <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> to <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Canada <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">. <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi arrives in <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Mexico <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> after sailing on the boat for 277 days. <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi and Richard Parker, the tiger mark their own territory on the boat. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> Cultural Difference <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi dines in an Indian restaurant in <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Canada <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">. He uses his hands and is seen by the waiter as dirty. “Fresh off the boat, are you?” (P.7) <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> Language <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi needs an interpreter for the interview between him and two Japanese officers. The Japanese officers do not believe in Pi’s story but they cannot show their disagreement thoroughly because of language and cultural differences. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> = = __ Topical knowledge

__ <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The effects of storytelling. · There are two versions of the story and people think the one with animals are better. <span style="color: black; font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings; msobidifontfamily: Wingdings; msofareastfontfamily: Wingdings; msolist: Ignore;">v <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The animal nature of human beings. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">Pi travels from civilization back to primal life. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">He has to figure out the ways to survive. He kills fish and eats turtles even he is a vegetarian. But in the city that he originally lives in, food would be prepared well for him. He does not need to worry about his basic needs for life. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The whole story does not involve any animals at all. Pi uses hyena to represent the cannibalistic cook, zebra to represent the leg-broken sailor, an orangutan to represent his mother and the tiger, Richard Parker to represent himself. <span style="color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; msobidifontfamily: Symbol; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msolist: Ignore;">· <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';">The ideas illustrate the common features between human beings and animals. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: '@Arial Unicode MS';"> = Assignment = Students would be asked to present a story in another way. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msolist: Ignore;">i) Students would be put into groups of 4-5.   <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msolist: Ignore;">ii)  They have to discuss which version of the story they prefer more. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msolist: Ignore;">iii) They have to analyze the elements put in the more interesting version, like the symbols, the characters and allusions that make the story more preferable.   <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msolist: Ignore;">iv)  Representatives share their findings with the whole class. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msolist: Ignore;">v) They then think of a personal story that they would like to share.   <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msolist: Ignore;">vi)  They share their stories with their groupmates. vii)  Brainstorming: students then discuss what elements can be put into their story and present it in another way. (They are encouraged to use what Pi does: use animals to represent the characters)    Take home assignment   viii)   [] Students are asked to contribute to the classblog by creating their own entries which should be another version based on the original one. <span style="font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; msobidifontfamily: Calibri; msofareastfontfamily: Calibri; msolist: Ignore;">ix) Students are encouraged to leave comments of their classmates’ works.