Summary
Pi, looking back at his ordeal, says he spent 227 days
as a castaway at sea.
Back on the raft and lifeboat, Pi busies himself with
tasks. His daily schedule consists of chores and activities; he
feeds himself and Richard Parker, keeps the vessels clean and functioning
smoothly, and stimulates his mind (prayers, writing, and rest).
Of the many weeks and months at sea, Pi says he survived only because
he managed to forget the very notion of time.
Pi’s clothes disintegrate over time, and the near-constant
wetness causes sea boils. Pi reads the survival manual, trying to
understand its mysterious clues about navigation, but he is at a
loss. He continues to fish, grabbing the fish with his bare hands
and chopping their heads off with hatchets. He learns to train a
net in the water as a lure, and some days he catches more fish than
he can eat. He also learns that turtles are a relatively easy catch.
Pi spends many hours observing the sea life collecting on the underside
of his raft and eating some of it. He describes the cuminlike smell
of signal flares, which never succeed in eliciting a response from
rescuers.
Pi butchers a small hawksbill turtle and drinks its blood,
which the survival manual recommends as a nutritious and salt-free
thirst quencher. Because the turtle is too unwieldy for the raft,
Pi must do this butchery on the lifeboat tarpaulin. He decides he
needs to train Richard Parker to allow him onto the lifeboat more
regularly.
Pi presents a training manual for taming a wild creature
in a lifeboat at sea. He then describes his training attempts, during
which he goads Richard Parker by stomping on the middle bench of
the boat and blowing the whistle. He uses a turtle shell for a shield.
During the first training practice, Richard Parker knocks Pi into
the water, but Pi persists. Each practice, he catches another turtle
and fashions a new shield. Finally, by the fifth shield, he is able
to send Richard Parker back into the bottom of the boat by blowing
on the whistle and rocking the boat to induce nausea in the tiger.
Pi keeps a diary, writing down mostly practical observations,
and carries out religious rituals adapted to his unique situation.
He also cleans up after Richard Parker, as part of the training
exercise. After Richard Parker defecates (once a month—like Pi,
he is constipated from dehydration and a high-protein diet), Pi
holds the feces in his hand and blows the whistle angrily to demonstrate
dominance. It works: Richard Parker gets nervous. In a moment of
supreme hunger, Pi tries to eat the tiger’s feces, but fails.
