The next section is pretty much from some time into Pi's journey at sea about to the island. I don't have too much to say about the stuff before the island for how much space it took up but it was still pretty interesting. Something about the way the book is writen in this section makes it kind of blur together. But I supose that was the idea, what with it being set on the open ocean and all.
Chapter 74 really sums up what Pi is dealing with out there. He tried to keep up his devotion to God even though everything around him seemed to be trying to crush that out of him. He reminds himself that everything there is from God and basicly that he should love his suroundings and not resent his situation because God put him there. This is one of his low swings within the chapter, "But God's hat was always unravelling. God's pants were falling apart. God's cat was a constant danger. God's ark was a jail. God's wide acres were slowly killing me. God's ear didn't seem to be listening." (page 242-243). I think that this really shows what Pi is struggling against out there and what the book is trying to get across. At the end of the chapter you have this little bit that is really a big victory and at the same time only a part of life. "The blackness would stir and eventually go away, and God would remain, a shining point of light in my heart. I would go on loving." (page 243). This sentence that ends the chapter kind of brings the message down to an everyday novel to help people take away from it without being extreamly obvious about it.
I just wanted to share the next bit because I find it important and it will break your heart everytime. "On the day when I estimated it was Mother's birthday, I sang 'Happy Birthday' to her out loud." (page 244). I think that this is important because it really drives home the whole idea of social isolation. It just lays out the fact that Pi is almost living in a surreal world at this time. He has basicly suspended almost every other aspect of his life in order to survive.
Lastly I want to talk about the island itself. I think that the island is one of the most interesting parts of the book. But, I still do not understand it. I have only read the entire book twice but I don't know how many times I have read that. I love it; after the part where he's being interviewed by the japanese guys, it's the best part of the book. Here's what I do know about it: it saved him, and it would have killed him. I don't know what that's supposed to mean. Literally the island is carnivorus and tries to kill everything on and around it. It also is an excelant food source for Pi, Richard Parker and the meercats that live there. Obviously this island is significant to the whole story. I think that it's kind of telling that Richard Parker found out that the island was two-faced the first day but it took Pi much longer to see it. Either way I hope that I can understand it some day.
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