Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
Contents
Chapter Thirty Nine
Overview
Pi survives being thrown overboard by landing on a partially covered lifeboat that is still hanging from the sinking ship. Before he can understand the crewmen’s frantic gestures, a Grant’s zebra leaps aboard and smashes the boat’s bench. The lifeboat then plunges into the rough sea, leaving Pi adrift with a terrified, injured animal.
Summary
Pi Patel lands hard but safely on a half-unrolled tarpaulin stretched over a lifeboat far below the Tsimtsum. The impact makes him lose his life jacket, though he keeps hold of the whistle.
The lifeboat is still suspended from its davits, swinging in the storm and hanging above the water. Pi looks up at two men on the ship who point and shout at him, but Pi cannot understand what they want him to do and expects they might jump in after him.
Instead, the men turn with horror as a zebra suddenly leaps from the ship. The adult male Grant’s zebra misses the tarpaulin and crashes onto the lifeboat’s last bench, smashing it; the zebra cries out in a high, barking distress. The lifeboat then drops into the turbulent sea, throwing Pi and the zebra into immediate danger on the open water.
Who Appears
- Pi PatelCast off the ship; lands in a hanging lifeboat, keeps a whistle, faces immediate danger.
- Grant’s zebraMale zebra that leaps into the lifeboat, smashes a bench, and cries out in distress.
- Two crewmenMen on the sinking ship who shout and gesture, then recoil as the zebra jumps.