History Literature / LifeOfPi

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Pi survived the voyage, but lost everything except his last shred of humanity. Even his partner, Richard Parker, disappeared into the Mexican jungle without any meaningful closure]]. And that's assuming [[spoiler:Richard Parker was ever on the boat with him in the first place. It's likely that he did exist, but drowned along with most of the other passengers on the ''Tsimtsum''.]]

* FluffyTheTerrible: A hunter intended on naming the tiger cub he had just captured as "Thirsty". A mix-up in a newspaper article announcing the capture ended up giving the largest cat on Earth an equally unthreatening name, that of the hunter (Richard Parker).

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Played with in full force if [[spoiler:you believe Pi's alternate story replacing the animals with humans]].

* ELdritchOceanAbyss: The dream sequence where the camera goes ever deeper in the ocean features a sperm whale attacked by a giant squid then exploding into zoo animals, a hideous anglerfish/squid hybrid, and the sunken cargo.

* PantheraAwesome: [[CaptainObvious In case you didn't notice]], a tiger rides with Pi.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Pi sees Richard Parker in the water instead of his own reflection, and later on confirms that [[spoiler: in the story he told the Japanese investigators, the tiger was supposed to be him.]]

* IfYouCanReadThis: According to the pages of the Japanese report in the film, a major storm was not reported in the area of the ship when it sank. Additionally, the report says the ship sank stern first but the movie portrays it bow first. It can be used to indicate the UnreliableNarrator. The original book doesn't use this.

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: {{UsefulNotes/Agnosticism}} is not about being unable to choose which "side" to be on; it's a lot more complicated than that. The "moral" doesn't work if you take the situation in the book as a "The Lady Or The Tiger" situation, where the "right" answer depends entirely on what you decide to go with and there is no real "right" or "wrong" answer. Or your answer could be that despite the story "forcing the reader to realize how awful doubt is" and wanting them to pick a side, there really is no way to know which answer is the right one - which is like agnosticism. It's not about doubt or indecisiveness for some, it's [[TakeAThirdOption deciding that there is no way for you to know]] which choice is true, and accepting that.
** The book also ignores that, while agnosticism can be a belief unto itself, it's also completely possible to be religious or atheist and agnostic at the same time. Incidentally, there's a scenario described in the book regarding the famous "light at the end of the tunnel" upon death, with an atheist finding God and an agnostic scrambling to find a scientific explanation. In reality (to give a somewhat oversimplified example) the roles would more likely be reversed.

* NowItsMyTurn: [[spoiler:Orange Juice's blow to the hyena was impressive, but does no good.]]

* HeroicBSOD: Pi shows this at various points, most notably after [[spoiler: Orange Juice is being killed by the hyena]].

* There's an intermission of sorts in ''Film/WillSuccessSpoilRockHunter'' where Tony Randall appears out of character, talking about film (big screen) vs TV (small screen). The film briefly goes very tiny to show a TV-sized picture.

** Edgar Allen Poe's novel, ''The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket'', tells the story of four men lost at sea, who resort to eating their own cabin boy in order to survive. The cabin boy's name? Richard Parker.

* DisneyAcidSequence

** The book also ignores that, while agnosticism can be a belief unto itself, it's also completely possible to be religious or atheist and agnostic at the same time. An agnostic atheist, for example, may not believe in God personally but will still acknowledge that God ''could possibly'' exist despite their own disbelief.

->''The reason death sticks so closely to life isn't biological necessity — it's envy. Life is so beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs at what it can. But life leaps over oblivion lightly, losing only a thing or two of no importance, and gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud.''

* FreezeFrameBonus: According to the Japanese report in the film, a major storm was not reported in the area of the ship when it sank. Additionally, the report says the ship sank stern first but the movie portrays it bow first. It can be used to indicate the UnreliableNarrator. The original book doesn't use this.

[[FilmOfTheBook Was adapted into]] a ThreeDMovie, directed by Creator/AngLee and starring newcomer Suraj Sharma as Pi, released on November 2012. The film proved a critical and commercial success, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Director (Creator/StevenSpielberg, director of ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'', was expected to get the prize).

[[FilmOfTheBook Was adapted into a 3D film]] directed by Creator/AngLee and starring newcomer Suraj Sharma as Pi, released on November 2012. The film proved a critical and commercial success, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Director (Creator/StevenSpielberg, director of ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'', was expected to get the prize).

* ThreeDMovie

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Santosh Patel's lesson on the savagery of animals goes through a thorough list -- and ends with guinea pigs. Which are genuinely domesticated.
** Mind you, Pi does note that picking up a wild guinea pig would be like "grabbing a knife by the blade".
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: One would expect someone as familiar with animals as Pi to know that hyenas are not dogs. His observation could be interpreted as a base description of a hyena's behavior compared to a big cat, however.

** The hybrid vampire squid-anglerfish (though it is a hallucination).

* ArtisticLicenseReligion: {{UsefulNotes/Agnosticism}} is not about being unable to choose which "side" to be on; it's a lot more complicated than that.
** The "moral" doesn't work if you take the situation in the book as a "The Lady Or The Tiger" situation, where the "right" answer depends entirely on what you decide to go with and there is no real "right" or "wrong" answer. Or your answer could be that despite the story "forcing the reader to realize how awful doubt is" and wanting them to pick a side, there really is no way to know which answer is the right one - which is like agnosticism. It's not about doubt or indecisiveness for some, it's [[TakeAThirdOption deciding that there is no way for you to know]] which choice is true, and accepting that.

* BioluminescenceIsCool: UpToEleven in the movie. Apparently ''every'' body of water glows piercing blue at night.
** Justified as bioluminescent plankton and pelagic worms really are very common on the tropical Pacific.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Pi survived the voyage, but lost everything except his last shred of humanity. Even his partner, Richard Parker, disappeared into the Mexican jungle without any meaningful closure]].
** And that's assuming [[spoiler:Richard Parker was ever on the boat with him in the first place. It's likely that he did exist, but drowned along with most of the other passengers on the ''Tsimtsum''.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: According to the Japanese report in the film, a major storm was not reported in the area of the ship when it sank. Additionally, the report says the ship tank stern first but the movie portrays it bow first. Further driving home the UnreliableNarrator.
** For added {{Irony}} the report speculates that the ship could have been hit by a mine (which would help explain why the ship sank so fast) but also dismisses such speculation as fanciful.
** It should be considered some of which might be goofs. In the book Pi recounts the ship did sink stern first which the investigators don't disagree with. Whether or not a storm happened is debated as Pi himself isn't fully sure how "severe" the weather he witnessed was to the ship. The Investigator's report notes they were no reports of a storm and that the only witness wasn't really an expert on weather especially in relation to a gigantic ship.

* HopeSpot: Pi and Richard Parker recover and live happily for a time on the floating island, [[spoiler:until Pi discovers that it's a GardenOfEvil.]]
** There's also one earlier in the story, when Pi notices a freighter but fails to get its attention despite shooting several flares into the sky.

* JumpScare: Happens in the film when [[spoiler:Richard Parker kills the hyena.]]
** Another one when the tiger charges Pi from a dead angle.

* MisplacedWildlife: Discussed. According to Pi, animals are so good at keeping out of the way of humans that there are ''thousands'' living in cities that you'd never expect.

* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty / ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler:Pi comes across a French man who eventually tries to kill and eat him. After he's killed by Richard Parker, Pi finds himself eating a bit of him unconsciously.]]

* RuleOfSymbolism: Several. Richard Parker is the name of several real life and fictional people [[spoiler:who were shipwrecked and cannibalized]].
** Tsimtsum, the ship that sinks, is also a religious term that means "a void created by God" and "to find oneself." Tsimtsum is from Lurianic Kabbalah, which was founded by Isaac Luria, whose name is on the first page of Pi's story (Pi wrote his thesis on religious studies about him.)

* SoleSurvivor: Well, Pi is the sole ''human'' survivor of the sinking of the ''Tsimtsum''. [[spoiler:By his account, at least]].

** Though even in his first story there's nothing to prove that the Frenchman [[spoiler:wasn't the ship's cook.]]

* UnreliableNarrator: Possibly. It's not made clear whether or not [[spoiler:Pi ''actually'' spent all his time with the aforementioned animals, or whether or not they're stand-ins for people -- the cook, a sailor, his mother, himself.]]
** Plus since he's constantly suffering from starvation and dehydration, some of Pi's more fantastic experiences may have been embellished, such as the [[spoiler:carnivorous island]].
*** In the film, the ending is presented initially as less ambiguous, but FreezeFrameBonus on the report contradicts some of Pi's story, like a storm sinking the ship.
** Also Yann Martel himself, who writes this book as if it was based on true events, whereas it is actually a complete work of fiction.

* FrenchJerk: In the film, the cook, who obstinately refuses to acquiesce to the Pi's mother's request for a vegetarian meal.