The Life of Pi is based on the adventures that a
boy named Piscine Molitor Patel. "I was named after a swimming pool. Quite
peculiar considering my parents never took me to water" (Yann Martel, 8).
The boys at his school always teased him about his name. Since most of the
teachers at his school had an accent, his name was usually pronounced wrong.
"My Roman soldier stod in the schoolyard one morning when I was twelve...A
flash of evil genius lit up his dull mind. He raised his arm, pointed at me,
and shouted, 'It's Pissing Patel!' " (Yann Martel, 20). To counter this,
Pi waited for his chance during a roll call. "I got up from my desk and
hurried to the blackboard. Before the teacher could say a word, I picked a
piece of chalk and said as I wrote: My
name is Piscine Molitor Patel, known to all as...π=3.14" (Yann Martel,
23).
In the movie, Pi’s
frustration with the nickname of “Pissing” was so visible. There was a scene
where he wrote out as many number as he could from the never-ending cycle of π. The director may not have meant much by this scene but it meant a lot
to me after I read the book. Every time the young Pi wrote down a number, it
lead on to the irrational state of his life. It foreshadowed the chaotic trip
that his life was about to take, between following three religions at once and
being stuck on a lifeboat with a tiger for most of a year. Pi is truly an
irrational number.
