Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Life of Pi, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Survival
Religion and Faith
Storytelling
Boundaries
Summary
Analysis
Pi also cleans up after Richard Parker, as living among his own feces could make the tiger sick. Richard Parker starts trying to hide his feces from Pi, which shows that he recognizes Pi as dominant. After Richard Parker defecates, Pi holds the feces in his hand, looks about scornfully, and blows the whistle to show that he is an alpha. The tiger gets nervous at this. Pi says that both he and Richard Parker become constipated because of their high-protein diet and dehydration, so they only defecate once a month.
This chapter is contrasted with the tragic humanity of the one preceding it. Here Pi is acting totally as a wild animal does, using feces to show his dominance and prove to Richard Parker that he is the lifeboat’s alpha.
Themes
