The answers of the author (grpwork of the 29/05)

What human trait do the animals on the lifeboat embody?
“The other animals in the lifeboat ? The zebra, the hyena and the orang-utan arose naturally, each one a function of a human trait I wanted to embody, the hyena cowardliness, the orang-utan maternal instincts and the zebra exoticism.”
http://www.powells.com/fromtheauthor/martel.html
ch99 the hyena is the symbol for the cook who decided to let the sailor die to use his body as bait. he couldn’t resist his lower instincts: hunger. the orang utan stands for the mother and rebels against the hyena. the zebra represents the Chinese sailor that they don’t understand. he’s a foreigner. It’s easier to kill someone you don’t know and see as a perfect stranger.

What is the common point between religion and reality? Think of Pi’s particularity!

Interviewer: “Is your exploration of multifaith in Life of Pi a part of your exploration of the boundaries and blurrings of reality, fiction and storytelling? Is multifaith comparable to a multiple-reality existence?”
Yann Martel : “Yes. And yes. Reality is how we interpret it. Imagination and volition play a part in that interpretation, which means that all reality is to some extent a fiction. This is what I explore in the novel.”
volition: son propre gré
www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/nov/26/fiction
cf Ch 99, , CH7 , CH 23there’s not only one reality in life but different interpretations of it. Pi imagines that he was in the lifeboat with the tiger because it would be too hard to live with the burden of having eaten human flesh. it would also be too hard to live in an absurd world without god.

Why does Pi say ‘love is hard to believe, ask any lover”?

“Pi had told them two stories. Both had the same beginning: a ship leaves India. Both had the same ending: there is only one human survivor - in either case, the investigators only have his word for what happened. Pi asks the investigators, 'If you stumble about believability, what are you living for?' He says, 'Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer.' He wants to know why they have a problem with 'hard to believe'.”
http://textualities.net/writers/features-h-m/martely01.php
ch 7, 23, 99 The common point between all the religions is love. At the beginning Pi doesn’t understantd why Abraham kills his son and the Father Martin tells him that’s because of love. In life you have to take a leap of faith to live fully. you have to believe even if it’s hard. At the end, the two officials prefer to believe the story with the animals. Scientists and religious people take a leap of faith as scientists go as far as reason bring them and then they leap. they believe in the supreme power of reason to explain everything but reason doesn’t tell you why you are or why biological rules lead to the appearance of humans from cells.