Yann Martel’s Life of Pi as a Bildungsroman: A Journey Towards Ecological Consciousness

• Main Authors: Sheng-Hong Huang, 黃聖宏
• Other Authors: 陳淑卿
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/92407000903137288311

碩士 === 國立中興大學 === 外國語文學系所 === 102 === The thesis aims to read Yann Martel’s Life of Pi as an example of the Bildungsroman, examining how Pi changes from an anthropocentric view to one which takes interest of zoo animals, in particular, the tiger Richard Parker. In early part of Life of Pi, Pi told narrator how he lived by the Pondicherry zoo. Because of his personal background living together with the zoo animals, he perceives animals in terms of an anthropocentric view. I see that the view Pi initially looks at zoo animals is akin to the view the colonizer see the colonized. The statement which he argues the keeping of wild animals in captivity generates and corresponds with the racism/speciesism ideologies of imperialism. It is, however, important to note that after his interactions with Richard Parker, Pi considers Richard Parker as individual to be respected rather than an object to be confined. He treats Richard Parker as one of his companions and promises to keep Richard Parker alive. The transformation demonstrates Pi’s ecological negotiation with Richard Parker. I point out that by training Richard Parker while Richard Parker resists Pi, Pi reconsiders his initial perspective of zoo animals as objects in terms of his anthropocentric view. Pi starts to care, love, and compassionate for Richard Parker, privileging Richard Parker’s needs over his. Significantly, Pi’s negotiation with Richard Parker offers him an opportunity to criticize the anthropocentric view. More interesting is to see that the device of anthropomorphism in Life of Pi is the means by which Pi reconnects to and appreciates for Richard Parker and animals. At last, in the last part of the novel, Pi’s two versions of the survival tale is his critique of anthropocentricism.