Life of Pi Part 2, Chapter 90 Quotes
Life of Pi Part 2, Chapter 90 Quotes
How we cite the quotes:
Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote 1
But this physical suffering was nothing compared to the moral torture I was about to endure. I would rate the day I went blind as the day my extreme suffering began. I could not tell you when exactly in the journey it happened. Time, as I said before, became irrelevant. It must have been sometime between the hundredth and the two-hundredth day. I was certain I would not last another one.
By the next morning I had lost all fear of death, and I resolved to die. (2.90.7-8)
Pi has not triumphed over his fear of death. He's simply lost all hope. Can you blame him? Not only are he and Richard Parker severely malnourished, both have also gone blind. We don't think it's a coincidence that after his admission of despair Pi begins to talk to Richard Parker in an episode of madness. Pi certainly battles it out with death, hunger, and thirst. He often conquers those pesky foes. Pi names fear and despair as his most formidable enemies –more dangerous than any other type of suffering.
Quote 2
I heard the words, "Is someone there?"
It's astonishing what you hear when you're alone in the blackness of your dying mind. A sound without shape or colour sounds strange. To be blind is to hear otherwise.
The words came again, "Is someone there?"
I concluded that I had gone mad. Sad but true. Misery loves company, and madness calls it forth. (2.90.11-14)
At this point, Pi begins talking to Richard Parker. It turns out Pi is really talking to another castaway on the Pacific Ocean who happens to be a blind Frenchman. It's one thing to mumble a few words to yourself, but it's another to imagine talking tigers who morph into French castaways. What do you think causes Pi's madness here? Hunger? Loneliness? Or even guilt?