Characters in

Martel’s ‘Life of Pi,’ set against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency, explores the time of deep political turmoil and tensions faced in the southern Indian city of Pondicherry. The story focuses on the life events of Pi before and after the eventful shipwreck, and the memories are fondly embraced by the protagonist Pi. As the story chiefly revolves around Pi’s Pacific journey on a lifeboat and with a Bengal Tiger, Richard Parker, it has only two main characters, and others play supporting roles.

Major Characters

Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi)

Piscine Molitor Patel, commonly known as Pi, has resilience, adaptability, and profound wisdom, making him an unforgettable protagonist in ‘Life of Pi.‘ From a young age, Pi is deeply curious and open to exploring various religions and philosophies. Though born and raised a Hindu, he embraces Christianity and Islam, leading to a unique amalgamation of faiths. This spiritual and philosophical side of Pi helps him cope with adversity and gives him a sense of purpose and hope during his challenging journey. Growing up in the family zoo in Pondicherry, India, Pi developed a profound love and understanding of animals. Pi’s ability to adapt and inner resilience allows him to persevere through unimaginable circumstances after surviving the shipwreck that leaves him stranded on a lifeboat in the Pacific Ocean. He displays remarkable courage and remains steadfast in his determination to survive throughout his ordeal. He is an excellent narrator, for he recounts the physical events and reflects upon their deeper philosophical and spiritual implications. His narrative voice is engaging and introspective, drawing readers into his extraordinary tale. Pi’s name allegorically represents the mathematical Pi, an irrational and infinite number, much like the vastness and complexity of life.

Richard Parker

The three-year-old Royal Bengal tiger, weighing 450 pounds and about nine feet long, is the second prominent character of the novel and Pi’s companion in the lifeboat. Richard Parker’s captor named him Thirsty, but a shipping clerk made a mistake and reversed their names, thus making him known as Richard Parker at the Pondicherry Zoo. As a predator, Richard Parker has a keen sense of survival. He kills the hyena and the blind cannibal on the lifeboat. When trained by Pi, he adapts to his new environment on the lifeboat, and his instinctual nature and skills as a hunter serves essential to his survival and Pi.

The Author

The fictitious Author plays a notable role besides Pi and Richard Parker. The intriguing Author’s note kindles the readers’ curiosity and provides a realistic appeal to the story. He is the Author of two published books, living in Canada, and stumbles upon the story of Pi during his trip to India. He is a vaguely hidden representation of Yann Martel. In the novel, where the story leaps between the present and the past, he narrates the present while Pi narrates the past. 

Minor Characters

Francis Adirubasamy

Francis Adirubasamy is the family friend of Pi Patel and the elderly man who tells Pi’s story to the Author. He taught Pi to swim as a child and bestowed upon him his unusual name. He arranges for the Author to meet Pi in person to get a first-person account of his strange and compelling tale. Pi addresses him as Mamaji, a respectful Indian term for calling uncle.

Santosh Patel

Santosh Patel is Pi’s supportive and affectionate father. He gives up his hotel business and runs the Pondicherry Zoo because of his deep interest in animals. Being a natural worrier, he considers Animalus anthropomorphic as dangerous while handling wild animals. Thus, he teaches his sons to care for and control wild animals and fear them. Though he was raised a Hindu, he is not religious. He is well-focused on the well-being of his family and thus decides to move his family to Canada during the difficult conditions in India.

Gita Patel

Pi’s loving mother, Gita Patel, is a wide reader and encourages Pi to do the same. Though a Hindu with a Baptist education, she does not subscribe to any religion and questions Pi’s multiple religious affinities. As a protective mother, she speaks her mind and openly disagrees with his parenting techniques when required. In the first version of Pi’s story, she dies in a shipwreck. However, in the other version of his story, she takes the place of Orange Juice on the lifeboat.

Ravi Patel

Ravi Patel is the older brother of Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi). He plays a significant role in Pi’s childhood. Ravi and Pi grow up together in their family’s zoo in Pondicherry, India. Like any other younger brother, Pi idolizes Ravi and follows him around. However, as they grow up, they start to have a typical sibling rivalry and disagreements, especially in Pi’s religious devotions, before he dies in the shipwreck.

Mr Kumar, the biology teacher

Pi’s biology teacher at Petit Séminaire, a secondary school in Pondicherry, is intelligent and thoughtful. Throughout the novel, Pi fondly remembers and credits Mr. Kumar as one of the people who profoundly impacted his life, helping him develop a deep love and understanding for animals and the natural world. His devotion to the power of scientific inquiry and explanation inspired Pi to study zoology later.

Mr Kumar, the Muslim mystic

The Muslim mystic who shared the same name as Pi’s biology teacher was a very plain-featured man, with nothing in his looks or dress that would make him out of the ordinary. He knew the Qur’an by heart, sang it in a slow, simple chant, and sought a personal and loving relationship with God. He often tells Pi, “If you take two steps towards God, God runs to you!” His faith drew Pi towards Islamic ideals and later to religious studies at college.

Father Martin

Father Martin was a kind Catholic priest who introduced Pi to Christianity. Pi wanders into his church during his family’s visit to Munnar. As they meet repeatedly, Father Martin tells him biblical stories about the Love of God and Christian Dogma. 

The Hindu Pandit

The Hindu Pandit is one of three crucial religious figures to meet Pi’s parents on a Sunday walk and apprises how ardently Pi follows their respective religion. Along with Pi’s parents, the Pandit was astounded to hear about the declaration of the Priest and the Imam. However, he condemns and declares, “Piscine was born a Hindu, lives a Hindu, and will die a Hindu!”

The Hyena

Pi’s father tells Pi that Hyenas have the most robust jaws, and this ugly-looking and violent animal could start eating while one is still alive. After the shipwreck, the hyena finds refuge in the lifeboat and kills the zebra and the orangutan. In the end, Richard Parker kills him.

Orange Juice

Orange Juice, a Borneo orangutan, comes floating on an island of bananas the morning following the shipwreck. The rising sun was behind her, and her flaming hair looked stunning. On the lifeboat, she suffers seasickness. Despite her illness, she fights back the hyena valiantly before being killed and decapitated, for she is no match to that predatory animal.

The Blind Frenchman

The Blind Frenchman is a fellow castaway whom Pi meets by chance in the middle of the ocean. Overjoyed to have a human companion, Pi invites the Frenchman onto the lifeboat. Driven by hunger and no food left, they have a lengthy conversation about food. Unfortunately, the man gets killed by Richard Parker when he tries to kill and eat Pi. 

Tomohiro Okamoto

Tomohiro Okamoto is from the Maritime Department in the Japanese Ministry of Transport. He is assigned to meet Pi, the sole survivor of the ship Tsimtsum, and to get any knowledge on the whereabouts of the ship which gone missing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He helps the Author with a copy of the tape, which contains his three-hour conversation with Pi and his final report.

Atsuro Chiba

Mr Chiba is Mr Okamoto’s junior in the Japanese Ministry of Transport’s Maritime Department. He accompanies Mr. Okamoto when he goes to investigate Pi about the sinking of the Tsimtsum. He seems naive and inexperienced at conducting interviews and gets distracted by Pi’s story. Chiba agrees with Pi that the version of his ordeal with animals is better than the one with people.

Other mentioned Characters

Meena Patel

Meena Patel is the wife of Pi with bright dark eyes, lovely white teeth, slightly darker skin, and long black hair woven in a tress, as the Author describes. She is a pharmacist and a second-generation Indian living in Canada. 

Nikhil Patel

Nikhil Patel, who goes by the name Nick, is Pi’s son, and he plays baseball. 

Usha Patel

Usha Patel is Pi’s young daughter. The Author describes her to be shy but very close to her father.

The Zebra

The Zebra, a beautiful and full-grown male, is one of the animals who finds refuge in the lifeboat. However, he breaks his leg while jumping onto the lifeboat and is tormented and eaten alive by the hyena.

The Cook

The Cook is the human counterpart to the hyena in Pi’s second story. He is a brute, ill-tempered, and hypocritical man who kills the sailor and Pi’s mother. Eventually, Pi stabs him in the stomach repeatedly until he dies.

The sailor

The Sailor is a young, beautiful, exotic boy who speaks only Chinese. Being the human counterpart to the zebra in Pi’s second story, he broke his leg jumping off the ship. The Cook cuts off his infected leg, and he dies a slow, painful death. 

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