Life of Pi

The novel begins with Pi reflecting on his life and declaring that his suffering had left him dejected. It is not yet clear the reason for Pi’s suffering and despondent state, but Pi tells us that his academic studies and the “mindful practice of religion” rejuvenated him (3). He attended the University of Toronto, where he double majored in religious studies and zoology. His thesis for religious studies centered on the cosmogony theory of Isaac Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic from the Levant region of Ottoman Syria. His zoology thesis, meanwhile, was an anatomical analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth. He says that he chose the sloth for its “calm, quiet, and introspective” manner, which “did something to soothe [his] shattered self” (3). Seemingly opposites, Pi believes religion and zoology are closely related.

Pi informs us that he recovered from his ordeal at a hospital in Mexico, where he was well treated. He suffered significant injuries and ailments, including fluid retention, anemia, swollen limbs, dark urine, and skin abrasions. Within a week, he was relatively healed. Pi tells us, however, that the first time he turned on a water tap, he lost consciousness.