Cambridge IGCSE

LITERATURE IN ENGLISH 00475/1

Paper 1 Prose

Life of Pi Prompts

This document has 7 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

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YANN MARTEL: Life of Pi

1 Read this passage, and then answer ONE question that follows it:

We must have been at a sixty-degree incline when we reached the summit

of the swell and broke through its crest onto the other side. The smallest portion
of the swell’s supply of water crashed down on us. I felt as if I were being
pummelled by a great fist. The lifeboat abruptly tilted forward and everything
was reversed: I was now at the lower end of the lifeboat, and the water that had 5
swamped it, with a tiger soaking in it, came my way. I did not feel the tiger—I had
no precise idea of where Richard Parker was; it was pitch-black beneath the
tarpaulin—but before we reached the next valley I was half-drowned.
For the rest of that day and into the night, we went up and down, up and
down, up and down, until terror became monotonous and was replaced by 10
numbness and a complete giving-up. I held on to the tarpaulin rope with one
hand and the edge of the bow bench with the other, while my body lay flat
against the side bench. In this position—water pouring in, water pouring out—
the tarpaulin beat me to a pulp, I was soaked and chilled, and I was bruised
and cut by bones and turtle shells. The noise of the storm was constant, as was 15
Richard Parker’s snarling.
Sometime during the night my mind noted that the storm was over. We
were bobbing on the sea in a normal way. Through a tear in the tarpaulin I
glimpsed the night sky. Starry and cloudless. I undid the tarpaulin and lay on
top of it. 20
I noticed the loss of the raft at dawn. All that was left of it were two tied oars
and the life jacket between them. They had the same effect on me as the last
standing beam of a burnt-down house would have on a householder. I turned
and scrutinized every quarter of the horizon. Nothing. My little marine town had
vanished. That the sea anchors, miraculously, were not lost—they continued to 25
tug at the lifeboat faithfully—was a consolation that had no effect. The loss of
the raft was perhaps not fatal to my body, but it felt fatal to my spirits.
The boat was in a sorry state. The tarpaulin was torn in several places,
some tears evidently the work of Richard Parker’s claws. Much of our food was
gone, either lost overboard or destroyed by the water that had come in. I was 30
sore all over and had a bad cut on my thigh; the wound was swollen and white. I
was nearly too afraid to check the contents of the locker. Thank God none of the
water bags had split. The net and the solar stills, which I had not entirely deflated,
had filled the empty space and prevented the bags from moving too much.
I felt exhausted and depressed. I unhooked the tarpaulin at the stern. Richard 35
Parker was so silent I wondered whether he had drowned. He hadn’t. As I rolled
back the tarpaulin to the middle bench and daylight came to him, he stirred and
growled. He climbed out of the water and set himself on the stern bench. I took
out needle and thread and went about mending the tears in the tarpaulin.
Later I tied one of the buckets to a rope and bailed the boat. Richard Parker 40
watched me distractedly. He seemed to find nearly everything I did boring. The
day was hot and I proceeded slowly. One haul brought me something I had
lost. I considered it. Cradled in the palm of my hand was all that remained
between me and death: the last of the orange whistles.

(from Chapter 83)

a) How does Martel powerfully depict the impact of the storm at this moment in the
novel?
b) Pi and Richard Parker are both enemies and allies.’In what ways does Martel
vividly convey this?

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2 Read this passage, and then answer ONE question that follows it:

During those long, cold, dark hours, as the pattering of the invisible rain
got to be deafening, and the sea hissed and coiled and tossed me about, I held
on to one thought: Richard Parker. I hatched several plans to get rid of him so
that the lifeboat might be mine.
Plan Number One: Push Him off the Lifeboat. What good would that do? 5
Even if I did manage to shove 450 pounds of living, fierce animal off the lifeboat,
tigers are accomplished swimmers. In the Sundarbans they have been known
to swim five miles in open, choppy waters. If he found himself unexpectedly
overboard, Richard Parker would simply tread water, climb back aboard and
make me pay the price for my treachery. 10
Plan Number Two: Kill Him with the Six Morphine Syringes. But I had no
idea what effect they would have on him. Would they be enough to kill him?
And how exactly was I supposed to get the morphine into his system? I could
remotely conceive surprising him once, for an instant, the way his mother had
been when she was captured—but to surprise him long enough to give him six 15
consecutive injections? Impossible. All I would do by pricking him with a needle
would be to get a cuff in return that would take my head off.
Plan Number Three: Attack Him with All Available Weaponry. Ludicrous. I
wasn’t Tarzan. I was a puny, feeble, vegetarian life form. In India it took riding
atop great big elephants and shooting with powerful rifles to kill tigers. What 20
was I supposed to do here? Fire off a rocket flare in his face? Go at him with a
hatchet in each hand and a knife between my teeth? Finish him off with straight
and curving sewing needles? If I managed to nick him, it would be a feat. In
return he would tear me apart limb by limb, organ by organ. For if there’s one
thing more dangerous than a healthy animal, it’s an injured animal. 25
Plan Number Four: Choke Him. I had rope. If I stayed at the bow and got
the rope to go around the stern and a noose to go around his neck, I could pull
on the rope while he pulled to get at me. And so, in the very act of reaching for
me, he would choke himself. A clever, suicidal plan.
Plan Number Five: Poison Him, Set Him on Fire, Electrocute Him. How? 30
With what?
Plan Number Six: Wage a War of Attrition. All I had to do was let the
unforgiving laws of nature run their course and I would be saved. Waiting for
him to waste away and die would require no effort on my part. I had supplies for
months to come. What did he have? Just a few dead animals that would soon 35
go bad. What would he eat after that? Better still: where would he get water?
He might last for weeks without food, but no animal, however mighty, can do
without water for any extended period of time.
A modest glow of hope flickered to life within me, like a candle in the night.
I had a plan and it was a good one. I only needed to survive to put it into effect. 40

(from Chapter 54)

a) How does Martel make this moment in the novel both frightening and
amusing?
b) ‘Pi and Richard Parker are both enemies and allies.’ In what ways does
Martel vividly convey this?

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3 Read this passage, and then answer ONE question that follows it:

"Richard Parker, a ship!"

I had the pleasure of shouting that once. I was overwhelmed with happiness. All hurt
and frustration fell away and I positively blazed with joy.
"We've made it! We're saved! Do you understand, Richard Parker? WE'RE SAVED!
Ha, ha, ha, ha!" 5
I tried to control my excitement. What if the ship passed too far away to see us? Should
I launch a rocket flare? Nonsense!
"It's coming right towards us, Richard Parker! Oh, I thank you, Lord Ganesha!
Blessed be you in all your manifestations, Allah-Brahman!"
It couldn't miss us. Can there be any happiness greater than the happiness of 10
salvation? The answer-believe-me-is No. I got to my feet, the first time in a long time I
had made such an effort.
"Can you believe it, Richard Parker? People, food, a bed. Life is ours once
again. Oh, what bliss!"
The ship came closer still. It looked like an oil tanker. The shape of its bow was 15
becoming distinct. Salvation wore a robe of black metal with white trim.
"And what if...?"
I did not dare say the words. But might there not be a chance that Father and Mother
and Ravi were still alive? The Tsimtsum had had a number of lifeboats. Perhaps they
had reached Canada weeks ago. Perhaps I was the only person from the wreck 20
unaccounted for
"My God, oil tankers are big!"
It was a mountain creeping up on us.
"Perhaps they're already in Winnipeg. I wonder what our house looks like. Do
you suppose, Richard Parker, that Canadian houses have inner courtyards in the 25
traditional Tamil style? Probably not. I suppose they would fill up with snow in winter.
Pity. There's no peace like the peace of an inner courtyard on a sunny day. I wonder
what spices grow in Manitoba?"
The ship was very close. The crew better be stopping short or turning sharply soon.
"Yes, what spices...? Oh my God!" 30
I realized with horror that the tanker was not simply coming our way-it was in fact
bearing down on us. The bow was a vast wall of metal that was getting wider every
second. A huge wave girdling it was advancing towards us relentlessly. Richard Parker
finally sensed the looming juggernaut. He turned and went "Woof! Woof!" but not
doglike-it was tigerlike: powerful, scary and utterly suited to the situation. 35
"Richard Parker, it's going to run us over! What are we going to do? Quick,
quick, a flare! No! Must row. Oar in oarlock...there! HUMPF! HUMPF! HUMPF!
HUMPF! HUMPF! HUM-"
The bow wave pushed us up. Richard Parker crouched, and the hairs on him stood up.
The lifeboat slid off the bow wave and missed the tanker by less than two feet. 40
The ship slid by for what seemed like a mile, a mile of high, black canyon wall, a mile of
castle fortification with not a single sentinel to notice us languishing in the moat. I fired
off a rocket flare, but I aimed it poorly. Instead of surging over the bulwarks and
exploding in the captain's face, it ricocheted off the ship's side and went straight into
the Pacific, where it died with a hiss. I blew on my whistle with all my might. I shouted 45
at the top of my lungs. All to no avail.

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Its engines rumbling loudly and its propellers chopping explosively underwater, the
ship churned past us and left us bouncing and bobbing in its frothy wake. After so
many weeks of natural sounds, these mechanical noises were strange and awesome
and stunned me into silence. 50
In less than twenty minutes a ship of three hundred thousand tons became a speck on
the horizon. When I turned away, Richard Park er was still looking in its direction. After
a few seconds he turned away too and our gazes briefly met. My eyes expressed
longing, hurt, anguish, loneliness. All he was aware of was that something stressful
and momentous had happened, something beyond the outer limits of his 55
understanding. He did not see that it was salvation barely missed. He only saw that
the alpha here, this odd, unpredictable tiger, had been very excited. He settled down
to another nap. His sole comment on the event was a cranky meow.
"I love you!" The words burst out pure and unfettered, infinite. The feeling flooded my
chest. "Truly I do. I love you, Richard Parker. If I didn't have you now, I don't know 60
what I would do. I don't think I would make it. No, I wouldn't. I would die of
hopelessness. Don't give up, Richard Parker, don't give up. I'll get you to land, I
promise, I promise!

(from Chapter 86)

a) In what ways does Martel make this such a powerfully dramatic moment in the
novel?
b) Explore how Martel vividly conveys Pi’s thoughts and feelings in the first few
days after the ship sinks

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4 Read this passage, and then answer ONE question that follows it:

The sun climbed through the sky, reached its zenith, began to come down. I spent
the entire day perched on the oar, moving only as much as was necessary to stay
balanced. My whole being tended towards the spot on the horizon that would appear
and save me. It was a state of tense, breathless boredom. Those first hours are
associated in my memory with one sound, not one you'd guess, not the yipping of 5
the hyena or the hissing of the sea: it was the buzzing of flies. There were flies
aboard the lifeboat. They emerged and flew about in the way of flies, in great, lazy
orbits except when they came close to each other, when they spiralled together with
dizzying speed and a burst of buzzing. Some were brave enough to venture out to
where I was. They looped around me, sounding like sputtering, single-prop 10
airplanes, before hurrying home. Whether they were native to the boat or had come
with one of the animals, the hyena most likely, I can't say. But whatever their
origin,they didn't last long; they all disappeared within two days. The hyena, from
behind the zebra, snapped at them and ate a number. Others were probably swept
out to sea by the wind. Perhaps a few lucky ones came to their life's term and died of 15
old age.
As evening approached, my anxiety grew. Everything about the end of the day
scared me. At night a shipwould have difficulty seeing me. At night the hyena might
become active again and maybe Orange Juice too.
Darkness came. There was no moon. Clouds hid the stars. The contours of things 20
became hard to distinguish.Everything disappeared, the sea, the lifeboat, my own
body. The sea was quiet and there was hardly any wind,so I couldn't even ground
myself in sound. I seemed to be floating in pure, abstract blackness. I kept my eyes
fixed on where I thought the horizon was, while my ears were on guard for any sign
of the animals. I couldn't imagine lasting the night. 25
Sometime during the night the hyena began snarling and the zebra barking and
squealing, and I heard a repeated knocking sound. I shook with fright and-I will hide
nothing here-relieved myself in my pants. But these sounds came from the other end
of the lifeboat. I couldn't feel any shaking that indicated movement. The hellish beast
was apparently staying away from me. From nearer in the blackness I began hearing 30
loud expirations and groans and grunts and various wet mouth sounds. The idea of
Orange Juice stirring was too much for my nerves to bear, so I did not consider it. I
simply ignored the thought. There were also noises coming from beneath me, from
the water, sudden flapping sounds and swishing sounds that were over and done
35
with in an instant. The battle for life was taking place there too.
The night passed, minute by slow minute
(from Chapter 44)

a) How does Martel strikingly convey Pi’s thoughts and feelings at this moment
in the novel?
b) In what ways does Martel make the meerkat island both mysterious

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