Life of Pi
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Why is his name Pi? Is there a story behind his name?
Chantal
(last edited
Sep 23, 2011 10:46AM
)
Sep 23, 2011 07:26AM
Pi comes from the French word "piscine" which means swimming pool. His name is also the mathmatical term for 3.14 or 22/7. Am I corret on this? Was he not in the lifeboat for 227 days? 3.14 is an infinate number and 22/7 is a finite number. How could this relate to the book?
Ok that makes more sense! I guess i used the wrong word... I have read the entire book. Thanks for the help!
Ok that makes more sense! I guess i used the wrong word... I have read the entire book. Thanks for the help!
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Piceine is named after a swimming pool. It is explained in the movie. I think that they might of changed it for the movie, but it says very clearly in the movie that Pi was a pool in france that was wonderful and clean. and his 'honorary uncle' swam in it and told pi that he must swim in it one day.
Ok... You actually have a point of sorts but how much of the book have you read? Pi was a nickname that he adopted on his own to avoid the unfortunate connotations that came from his name sounding like pissing
Prior to this whole bit, he does talk about animals marking their territory as a means of feeling at home.
He also mentions that he's not Sihk and that his name is not P. Singh.
By the way 3.14 is NOT infinite. I thinnk that the word you're looking for is irrational. But like the book the mathematical constant Pi is also transcendental.
You do raise an interesting point but then there was fad back in the 1970's when folks wanted to believe that the ancient egyptians had been visited by aliens and that secret messages were imbedded in the dimensions of the pyramids. Seems that the exact length of the sides was a multiple of... Pi. It's later been suggested that that was strictly co-incidental. The devices that the Egyptians used for measuring distances were wheel like and all circles have the dimensions of Pi embedded in them.
I guess one could say what goes around, comes around.
Prior to this whole bit, he does talk about animals marking their territory as a means of feeling at home.
He also mentions that he's not Sihk and that his name is not P. Singh.
By the way 3.14 is NOT infinite. I thinnk that the word you're looking for is irrational. But like the book the mathematical constant Pi is also transcendental.
You do raise an interesting point but then there was fad back in the 1970's when folks wanted to believe that the ancient egyptians had been visited by aliens and that secret messages were imbedded in the dimensions of the pyramids. Seems that the exact length of the sides was a multiple of... Pi. It's later been suggested that that was strictly co-incidental. The devices that the Egyptians used for measuring distances were wheel like and all circles have the dimensions of Pi embedded in them.
I guess one could say what goes around, comes around.
I had to read notes from multiple sources to even begin to understand the complexities in the novel. The more you dig the more you find...which is why I loved this book.
Sparks Notes explained the name Pi, "had many relevant associations. It is a letter in the Greek alphabet that also contains alpha and omega, terms used in the book for dominant and submissive creatures. The mathematical Pi has so many decimal places that the human mind can’t accurately comprehend it, just as, the book argues, some realities are too difficult or troubling to face. These associations establish the character Pi as more than just a realistic protagonist; he also is an allegorical figure with multiple layers of meaning."
Sparks Notes explained the name Pi, "had many relevant associations. It is a letter in the Greek alphabet that also contains alpha and omega, terms used in the book for dominant and submissive creatures. The mathematical Pi has so many decimal places that the human mind can’t accurately comprehend it, just as, the book argues, some realities are too difficult or troubling to face. These associations establish the character Pi as more than just a realistic protagonist; he also is an allegorical figure with multiple layers of meaning."
The value in a name can be infinite. Quote taken from one of Albert Einstein's lectures cross seas.
The use of the name Pi was masterful. Of course he couldn't continue being teased as having the name "pissing". Adopting his nickname and selling it to others really establishes the character as independent, forceful, strong, thoughtful, resilient. Also inserts humor. Really well done by this fabulous author.
Well in the book his name is Piscine Patel, and Piscine is french for pool. Everyone at school teased him and said "Pissing" instead of Piscine. So in his new school, he told everyone to call him "Pi" as in 3.14 or as in the first two letters of his name. However some people teased him and called him "Lemon Pi" but he said it was better than "Pissing Patel"
He is named after a pool which is confined ,however later in the novel he ends up in the boundless ocean.Secondly Pi is an irrational number that cannot be pinned to an exact value so too is the story in which nobody,not even Yann Martell will decide which is the true story(the animal story or human story).Thirdly ,relating to the first point of being named after a pool,a pool is filled with water(obviously) and later on Pi is surrounded by the ocean.
He is named after a prestigious pool that is was given to him by his uncle. It so happens that he is good at math and now many of the digits in the number PI and is well versed in it. A lot of coincidences occur that have to do with both the number and the pool. One example is he gets stuck in he biggest pool possible, and is there for 227 days, like 22/7, the fraction of PI.
Piscine is the name of a pool in France, that although very luxurious and decorated, is still confined to the area of the pool. By changing his name to Pi, he breaks down those boundaries, and ventures off into a better place. And just like the number, he is precise yet endless. He has a never ending opening towards knowledge.
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