First Quarter-Life of Pi

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Quartering Text: Life of Pi, First quarter 

(pg.1-93)                                                                             Sarai Stevens

Characters Introduced 

Piscine Molitor Patel (Pi)- Protagonist. Round Character. Static Character.
Ravi- Pi’s older brother. Flat Character. Static Character.
Santosh Patel - Pi's Dad. Flat Character. Static Character.
Gita Patel- Pi's Mother. Flat Character. Static Character.
Satish Kumar- Pi's Teacher (Mr. Kumar). Flat Character.
Francis Adirubasamy (Mamaji)- "Respected uncle". Taught Pi how to swim. Flat Character. Static Character.
The Author- Unknown. Maybe even Yann Martel himself. Flat Character. Static Character.
Father Martin - The priest who introduces Pi to Christianity. Flat Character. Static Character.
Mr. Kumar- Muslim baker and mystic who introduced his religion to Pi. Flat Character.  Static Character.
Meena Patel- Pi's wife. Flat Character. Static Character.
　
Point of View
The Point of view in the story, in the first quarter, is first person. Pi is an older man looking back on his life as a young teenage boy. Being told the story by the protagonist enriches the story because the reader is exposed to all the thoughts of the protagonist and sees how the protagonist viewed the world and his surroundings at that earlier age. This helps the reader feel more connected to the story and leading events if they are in the mind of a character. 　
　
Synopsis
 
Events 

-Pi talks about visiting a hospital in Mexico and being treated very well although, he was very sick.

-Pi was criticized by a Canadian waiter for eating with his fingers. This was a very scarring event for Pi.

-Pi was made fun of a great deal at school because of his name.

-Pi's father fed one of the goats to the tiger and made his sons watch to make them fear the tiger and not get too comfortable around tigers, for their own safety.

-Pi's father continues the lesson by teaching Pi and Ravi to fear all wild animals, even the ones in the zoo(except the guinea pigs). But also to fear humans, the worst beast of them all. .

-Pi becomes a Christian after Father Martin introduces him to Christianity. Father Martin says Pi already was a Christian, but just didn't know it.

-Pi becomes Muslim at age 15 because of a Muslim baker who excused himself to pray. This intrigued Pi and he started attending a local mosque with Mr. Kumar.

-Everyone finds out that Pi is a Hindu, Christian, and Muslim all at the same time and the three religious leaders with whom he practices the separate religions insist he chooses one. Pi replies that he just wanted to love God.

-Pi asked for a prayer mat and not long after receiving one he was baptized in front of his parents.

-Pi's father decides to move his family from India to Canada.

-Author meets Pi's wife

Character development 
As a boy, Pi turned to his mother for protection and respected his father for the lessons he taught him and his brother. Pi as a teenager is a very shy but also quite witty. Pi loves and is devoted to God and this results in him progressively practising three different religions. Pi even studies his family praying and asked for a prayer mat and is baptized. Pi doesn't seem to be very close with children his age but slowly turns to socializing with the three religious figures in his life, and his atheist teacher.

Setting
The setting of the story (so far) is in Pondicherry, India. The Zoo is the main setting. Pi has itchy eyes at times from the dust, but does not complain. Pi is surrounded by nature and animals, showing his awareness of what God's given him in his everyday life. Pi doesn't live in the city, but in a more isolated town. After Gandhi overthrew the Tamil Nadu government, the family decided to move to Canada.
 
Statement of Themes
So far the novel seems to have a long back-story and the theme does not seem apparent. I'm sure the novel is a background story so far but I am also most certain this is all very important information for the climax of the story and the rest of the story.

Notables about the writers style 
So far in the Novel "Life of Pi" the author goes into very specific details, and leaves little unsaid.

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