I’ve had to mull over Pi for quite a while as I’ve found myself going back and forth between whether I would teach the book, or wouldn’t teach the book. I think it’s a great novel to recommend if a student asks for an idea, but teaching it to a whole class? I’ve had quite the internal debate about it.
My hesitation stems from the amount of religious content. It’s well written and informative content, but it brings up so many issues that I’m not sure I would be able to answer in class. Specifically, I have a fear of being asked why Martel chose these particular religions. I don’t feel that I know enough about any of the religions to appropriately answer that question.
As a new teacher, I’m also hesitant to teach what could be viewed as a controversial text due to its religious content. At this point in my fledgling career, I would not want to jeopardize a chance at continued employment by teaching a text that could get a parent up in arms. Call it residual fear from childhood, but angering parents isn’t on my to-do list as a new teacher. That being said, my opinion changed the more that I thought about it. Would I teach this book while on a short term contract, trying to network and impress my way into a continuing contract? No, I wouldn’t. However, I think I would teach it as an established teacher.
I came to this decision while pondering the purpose of religion in the text and how it would have changed the novel had it not been included. Before concentrating my thought on it, the religious content seemed superfluous. I wondered if Martel could have chosen only one religion for Pi, thereby making the pious sections more concentrated and less weighty.
What changed my mind was the equal consideration that Pi gives to atheism. Martel did not dwell on this belief system as much as he did the others, but it is made clear that the only belief system that Pi does not believe in is that of the agnostics, since they have no belief at all. The conversation regarding passports to Heaven that Pi has with his mother speaks to this. Pi’s concern is knowing where he’s going – not the path he takes to get there. All the religions he practices offer a ticket to heaven, so why must he choose one if they all lead to the same place? In the same way, Pi believes that atheists will find a similar peace at death, due to their beliefs that they know what happens after death; believing in nothing is still believing in something.
Pi’s distaste for agnosticism is that it’s a belief in not having a belief, and it’s this notion that I believe makes the excessive pages on religion more palatable and meaningful as a teachable text. To me, the underlying theme of Pi is the importance of believing in something – whatever it may be. Pi doesn’t choose just one religion when he’s told that he must. Instead, he questions the necessity and reasoning behind the idea, forming his own beliefs as a result. With a group of teenagers who are being bombarded with conflicting messages from home, school, and the media, I think that development of this theme would be in line with the critical thinking learning objective required by the IRP.
I really enjoyed this book and would definitely encourage students to read it. Even though I can no longer see a picture of a zebra or a zebra on TV without thinking of the poor life boat zebra that held on as long as it could while being eaten alive by the hyena, I don’t think the violence in the novel would be too much for most readers. The one thing that worries me about possibly teaching the novel, however, is the religion throughout- especially the first part. I don’t feel like I know enough about the different religions – Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam to be able to answer questions students may have concerning them. And as I was reading the entire novel I found myself wondering if there were some comparisons to be made or some deeper meanings to be realized with more knowledge of the religions. But having said that, it was the line early on in the novel, “I have a story that will make you believe in God” that really captured my attention and made me want to read on. As I was perusing the Internet to find some links with the novel and religion, I think it was the spark notes site that compared religion and story telling. Both stories and religious belief require faith of the listener. I found this interesting. All three of Pi’s religions use stories as allegory, to communicate its messages. Ultimately Pi tells a story to communicate his tragic loss and difficult journey. I think I’m not alone when I say that I was disappointed to learn that the tiger Richard Parker was not the real story. Though it was far fetched I really wanted to believe it. Similar feeling perhaps to realizing that there may not have been Noah and an ark. On another note I also found the use of the colour orange in the novel to be interesting. There was Richard Parker, the orange whistle used for training him, the life raft, and even Orange Juice with this colour of survival. As I was looking online at some of the cover artwork the illustrated UK edition even had the title printed in dark orange. It may be interesting for students to have a look into this and possibly other prominent colours in the novel and/or the artwork for the covers as well as the other illustrations in the illustrated version.