To protect himself during Richard Parker’s training, Pi makes a shield from a sea turtle shell by cutting notches and tying on a rope. When Pi first confronts the tiger, Richard Parker bares his teeth, roars, and charges, striking the shield with a full-clawed paw and knocking Pi overboard.

Pi immediately loses the shield and is overwhelmed by terror, not only of Richard Parker but of being in the ocean, convinced a shark will rise for him. He thrashes frantically to the raft, finds no sharks, and clings there for hours, shaken. Pi remains on the raft for the rest of the day and all night, too frightened to eat or drink.

After catching another turtle, Pi tries again with a smaller, lighter shell. Pi reflects that the training is not madness but necessity: if Pi cannot establish dominance, Pi will eventually die the first time Pi needs to reboard the lifeboat in rough weather and Richard Parker refuses.

Richard Parker repeats the same warning four times, cuffing Pi overboard and costing Pi a shield each time. Over repeated confrontations, Pi learns to read Richard Parker’s cautionary signals—ears, eyes, whiskers, teeth, tail, and throat—and Pi begins to back down before the paw rises.

With that understanding, Pi can press the training more effectively: Pi plants his feet on the gunnel as the boat rolls, blasts the whistle, and forces Richard Parker into moaning and gasping submission at the bottom of the boat. Pi’s fifth turtle-shell shield finally lasts through the remainder of Richard Parker’s training.