Society: where people live in a cohesive unit that operates and works in simultaneous motion. The gears are aligned and every things runs smoothly, with the shafts and wheels and oil all helping everything move. For instance all of us are grouped together in some way or form. We wake up and use appliances which someone has made, then we ride a bus or go to work, and continue on. Everything we do someone has made, or is operating. People we don't even know have made the very contraption that we sit in every single day, a contraption by such means and power it has the potential to be a death trap but is simply known to us as a car, but a car made by a stranger. As you can see we are all intertwined in some way or shape, but we don't even know it. In the novel, Life of Pi, animals and humans are so closely related that if someone was to look at each of them, that person wouldn't be able to tell which one was human or not.
The hustle and bustle of a city is seen all over the world. From the depths of Chicago over to the chaotic noise of Tokyo. Compared to a jungle, we really aren't all that different. In our world there is a pecking order or a food chain, where the wealthy are at the top and the impoverished are at the bottom. Just like a jungle the meek are at the bottom and the strong and mighty are at the top. We in all actuality are very comparable to these animals in so many ways, the only real difference is our imposable thumbs, and the size of our population, and our brain structure. "With just one glance, I discovered that the sea is a city. Just below me, all around, unsuspected by me, were highways, boulevards, streets and roundabouts bustling with submarine traffic. In water that was dense, glassy, and flecked by millions of lit-up specks of plankton, fish like trucks and busses and cars and bicycles and pedestrians were madly racing about, no doubt honking and hollering at each other." (pg.175) Here it is clearly shown that our own city is like the depths of the ocean. The school of fish, the travel as if a highway. Our city that we live in every day is just like the vast blue of an ocean.
Not only does our city compare to animals but the personas of the characters in this book are so closely related. Pi is a young lad that starts off to be very curious. He loves to explore different methods of religion, he searches and ponders over everything and is never satisfied. This is very much so like many animals. They are in a search, whether it be companionship or food they are "hungry" for what they want and they search for the fulfillment as well. If you were to even more closely depict Pi, he really is like a tiger. "Life will defend itself no matter how small it is. Every animal is ferocious and dangerous. It may not kill you, but it will certainly injure you." (38) Pi has to defend his life, in other words become a rather savage beast. He turns from what he has so desirably searched for in his roots of religion, and breaks from what he knows. Killing becomes a common practice, but mixed in with prayer. It shows the paradox that Pi was under. Having to face two total extremes and break from what he knows shows that he is like an animal. Calm and nurturing at times and killing at others
Pi clearly shows to everyone the true type of animal he is, but the real problem that needs to be identified, is if whether or not we are all like Pi or like an animal. In our normal life we have certain rules or boundaries that confine us within our limits. The thoughts of society keep us in check to make sure that we do not do anything to out of the ordinary. Deep inside of us however there are these inklings or feelings that make us all different. "All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways. This madness can be saving; it is part and parcel of the ability to adapt. Without it, no species would survive." (41) We all have to fine ways to adapt. Just like an animal has to adapt to a new environment. We all are like chameleons, changing our skin constantly to appear normal, but the fact is that we can turn from it. We really are no different than animals
Here on Earth there are so many different type of species, from water to the land. We all loop together in a way that cannot be explained. Our personalties relate in some way, we are just the species that dominates. As Pi knows however, he is no better than a tiger that had lived with him, in fact maybe he was the tiger. Animals and us need to learn to relate, we need to study them and they need to study us, because we are their siblings.
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