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Richard Parker Quotes

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“There is a magnificent intensity in life that comes when we are not in control but are only reacting, living, surviving.” In his book Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea, Steven Callahan discusses the power of instincts. Callahan was on a journey to Antigua when he got caught in a storm. His boat, the Napoleon Solo, started filling with water and he was forced to escape in a lifeboat. Afloat alone at sea for over two months, Callahan was forced to use his instincts to survive. He was left to the will of the tide and came to the realization that his life was truly unimportant in the grand scheme of things. In The Life of Pi directed by Ang Lee, Pi gets lost at sea just like Callahan did and has to use his instincts in order to survive. Lee …show more content…

Pi is cast away at sea with only other main character, a tiger named Richard Parker. Although it may seem like a farfetched idea there are real life examples of animals learning to live with humans, “all are instances of that animal equivalent of anthropomorphism: zoomorphism, where an animal takes a human being, or another animal, to be one of its kind”. With a tiger on board the raft, the already horrible situation could have become even worse, but Richard Parker (the tiger) takes Pi as one of his own. Pi’s mind allows him to connect with Richard Parker and allows them to succeed together in this life and death situation. Because Pi is able to connect to him, Richard Parker represents the balance between nature and humans during times of need. In an ordinary situation, a tiger would just attack a human, but when the two are stuck in a dangerous situation together, the tiger forgets that it is a predator and works with Pi. Pi’s mind allows him to communicate with the tiger, which is one example of the amazing things his mind allows him to do during his stressful time lost at …show more content…

He is able to use 3D as a means to really make the minds’ powers stick with viewers. The 3D format that Lee created is used to truly pull the viewer into the film, which establishes the idea that Pi and Richard Parker are sharing a really small space while still getting along with each other. By getting along, Pi is defying all odds. Normally a human and a tiger would not be able to share a small space with each other, but because of the high-stress situation that they are in, the two are able to connect and even become friends. Pi is able to survive in close counters with Richard Parker because his mind allows him to connect because of the circumstances, and Pi even says, “Life will defend itself no matter how small it is”. Pi believes that no matter what the circumstances, a humans will to live will prevail and allow them to fight and stay alive. Lee uses the 3D in The Life of Pi as a way to express his message, to portray the mind's ability to improve any

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