complete study guide is currently available as a downloadable PDF or RTF file from the PinkMonkey MonkeyNotes download store. The complete study guide contains summaries and notes for all of the chapters; detailed analysis of the themes, plot structure, and characters; important quotations and analysis; detailed analysis of symbolism, motifs, and imagery; a key facts summary; a multiple-choice quiz, and suggested book report ideas and essay topics.

IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS / QUOTES

[Page numbers are from the paperback edition, Harcourt, 2001.]

1. I have a story that will make you believe in God. Author's Note p. x This is spoken by Francis Adirubasamy to the author. At first the reader may think the story is about believing in a religion but it is not. It is not about holding on to the particulars, but about having faith in something beyond what is seen. At the end of the book the reader may choose to believe or not.

2. If we citizens do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the altar of crude reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams. Author's Note p. xii

The author is thanking the Canada Council for the Arts for their support, but he is also encouraging the promotion of the better story.

3. But religion is more than rite and ritual. There is what the rite and ritual stand for. p. 48

Pi is describing the sights, sounds, and smells of Hinduism. He goes on to explain the fundamentals of that religion. He sees the world from a Hindu perspective, but cautions against fundamentalism. This points out again that it is not about the particulars of the religion, but about faith.

4. Tree took account of road, which was aware of air, which was mindful of sea, which shared things with sun. Every element lived in harmonious relation with its neighbour, and all was kith and kin. p. 62

Pi is returning home from a visit with Mr. Kumar, the Sufi. He has a feeling that the connectedness of .........