3.) Irony

The biggest piece of iron"y in this story would be that having a rapacious, deadly tiger in his lifeboat is the reason why he survived 7 months at sea. He was thrown into a raft with a hyena and a zebra as bait by the crew, but then saved Richard Parker from drowning before he realized what he was doing. Having a dominant predator in the middle of the boat caused the hyena not to go after Pi for it respected, out of fear, that Pi and the zebra were Richard Parker's prey. Richard Parker also gave Pi a reason for living, he had to provide for another living thing, he couldn't just give up. Richard Parker kept him sane, and without a companion for seven months would turn anyone mad.

"It seemed the presence of a tiger had saved me from a hyena--surely a textbook example of jumping from the frying pan into the fire."


Leaving paradise was how he got back to human civilization. It's ironic because before finding this paradise human civilization was the only paradise he ever had in mind. The fact that he was disappointed in finding human civilization is a textbook example of irony.

[Before this quote he had just discovered that the island he was on, was actually carnivorous. He had opened up a flower bud of a plant to discover a human tooth, which made him understand the phenomenon.]"Ah, how I wish that moment had never been! But for it I might have lived for years--why for the rest of my life-- on that island."