Reading Note: Life of Pi (2)

Done with the book. Pretty good story for a casual read!

Does the author want to convey some meaning about life? Apparently. You only believe what you  see. This is from the scene at the ending of the book, when Mexican custom officers interrogated Pi of the cause of shipwreck. Neither of the officers believed Pi's story of survival on a life boat with an adult Bengal tiger for ~220 days, of the zebra, the orangutan, and the hyena, of the carnivorous island, of the blind Frenchman who got devoured by Richard Parker. Ironically, when Pi told them a second story that's metaphorically close the real one but "without animals", the officers found it disgusting and horrible, and had to admit that the first one was more interesting.

If I have to contrive some deeper meanings for the story, I will relate to the starting of the book, when Pi was a pious boy--pious to the God, not to a specific religion. The thing that kept popping up through Pi's torment was Vishna, St. Mary, Salvation, and Hallelujah. He always had a grateful heart. Even when they made it to the bank of Mexico, Pi was murmuring in his gratefulness toward Richard Parker, who had been a life threat throughout the trip and was leaving him unceremoniously, that he wouldn't have survived without R.P. being around.  

tl;dr: grateful heart, and open-mindedness. One may well start exploring how this is relevant to the current refugee crisis and terrorism, but enough is enough. I don't think the author expected shoulder such a heavy political burden when he wrote the book.