Life of Pi Part 2, Chapter 66 Quotes
Life of Pi Part 2, Chapter 66 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
During those days of plenty, I laid hands on so many fish that my body began to glitter from all the fish scales that became stuck to it. I wore these spots of shine and silver like tilaks, the marks of colour that we Hindus wear on our foreheads as symbols of the divine. (2.66.6)
Remember earlier in the novel when Pi talks about atman and Brahman? How the divine in humans seeks the divine in the world? (See Themes: Religion 1.16.3). Here's an image of just such a connection: the fish scales, in a kind of silver-blue flame, draw out the divine in Pi.
Quote 2
Lord, to think that I'm a strict vegetarian. To think that when I was a child I always shuddered when I snapped open a banana because it sounded to me like the breaking of an animal's neck. I descended to a level of savagery I never imagined possible. (2.66.9)
Pi must have been a sensitive child. Or a morbid one. Think for a moment about the contradictory attitudes Pi takes toward living creatures. On the one hand, he cares for Richard Parker like Richard Parker is family. On the other hand, he bludgeons fish and snaps the necks of birds. So are these attitudes really contradictory? Can you care deeply for one living creature while killing others?