Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
Contents
Chapter Eighty Seven
Overview
Pi reveals a deliberate coping tactic for surviving the monotony and misery at sea: he uses a seawater-soaked “dream rag” to restrict his breathing and drift into altered, vivid dream states. The trances help Pi “gobble up” time and return to wakefulness feeling that the unbearable present has moved on. The chapter underscores how Pi’s survival depends as much on psychological escape as on food and water.
Summary
Pi describes a personal method of escape he uses while adrift: a practice he calls “gentle asphyxiation.”
He cuts a piece of cloth from the remnants of a blanket and names it his “dream rag.” He wets it with seawater until it is soaked but not dripping, then lies on the tarpaulin and fits the cloth over his face.
Because Pi is already exhausted and lethargic, he quickly slips into a daze, but the restricted airflow from the rag changes the quality of his semi-conscious state. Pi experiences vivid dreams, trances, visions, memories, and unusual sensations.
The main benefit is that time seems to disappear. When a gasp or twitch dislodges the rag and Pi returns to full consciousness, Pi feels pleased to discover that time has passed, confirmed by the cloth’s dryness and by Pi’s sense that the present moment has shifted forward.
Who Appears
- Pi PatelCastaway narrator; uses a seawater-soaked “dream rag” to induce trances and escape time.