Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
Contents
Chapter Forty Eight
Overview
Pi reveals that the tiger’s name, Richard Parker, comes from a paperwork mix-up during the capture of a tiger mother and her cub near the Sundarbans. A hunter named Richard Parker tranquilizes the tiger and the cub is shipped to the Pondicherry Zoo, but a clerk swaps the hunter’s and cub’s names. The mistaken name sticks, turning an administrative error into an identity that now defines Pi’s dangerous companion at sea.
Summary
Pi explains that Richard Parker the tiger was named because of a clerical error. A man-eating panther has been terrorizing villages near the Sundarbans in Bangladesh, killing multiple people and growing bolder.
The Forest Department hires a professional hunter to stop the attacks. Expecting an old, weakened panther, the hunter instead sees a sleek female tiger arrive at a river with her cub; the cub rushes to drink first, underscoring that thirst can be a stronger imperative than hunger.
Deciding the tiger might still be dangerous because she is so close to people, the hunter uses immobilizing darts rather than bullets. The drug takes effect quickly and violently, and after a short, unstable escape the tiger collapses; she and her cub are captured and sent to the Pondicherry Zoo.
The hunter, whose name is Richard Parker, calls the cub Thirsty after seeing it drink so eagerly. At the Howrah train station, a diligent but confused shipping clerk reverses the names in the paperwork, recording the cub as Richard Parker and the hunter as Thirsty None Given, and Pi’s father keeps the cub’s mistaken name.
Pi ends by admitting he does not know whether Thirsty None Given ever succeeded in catching the man-eating panther.
Who Appears
- Pi PatelNarrator; explains the origin story and naming error behind Richard Parker.
- Richard Parker (tiger)Tiger cub captured and shipped to the Pondicherry Zoo; wrongly recorded with the hunter’s name.
- Richard Parker (hunter)Professional hunter who tranquilizes a tiger; names the cub Thirsty before the paperwork mix-up.
- Pi’s fatherFinds the naming confusion amusing and keeps the tiger’s mistaken name.