Life of Pi by Yann Martel tells the story of a young man named Pi Patel, whose family owns a zoo in India. They decide to move to Canada and transport their zoo, but the ship they were sailing across the Atlantic encounters a storm and sinks. Pi is the only survivor, as he finds himself on a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and Bengal tiger he names Richard Parker.
Pi goes to his father for religious accoutrements. He asks for a Christian baptism and an Islamic prayer rug. Pi’s father goes on about the differences between the religions trying to dissuade his son but is stopped by his son’s litany of details about each religion. His father states that they are Indian and that he should be Hindu to which Pi replies that both Christian and Muslim faith have been in India for centuries. His parents begin to pass him back and forth and change topics repeatedly. His mother tries to introduce new books to him and when he brings up Francis’s multiple passports he only disturbs her that much more.
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