Zoology
“A house is a compressed territory where our basic needs
can be fulfilled close by and safely. A sound zoo enclosure is
the equivalent for an animal (with the noteworthy absence
of a fireplace or the like, present in every human
habitation). Finding within it all the places it needs—a
lookout, a place for resting, for eating and drinking, for
bathing, for grooming, etc.—and finding that there is no
need to go hunting, food appearing six days a week, an
animal will take possession of its zoo space in the same way
it would lay claim to a new space in the wild, exploring it
and marking it out in the normal ways of its species”
Structure: ch. 4, long chapter about zoos that ends with a
brief comparison with religion—near the beginning of the
book
Martel appears to begin a theme that religion provides the
structure that humans need to explore their spiritual
beliefs. He uses a metaphor—comparing our houses to
“territory”—to express that we all—animals AND humans-have the need to claim an area as our own so that we can meet
our own physical needs in safety. By using this comparison,
Martel expresses the fact that we all create a structure that
meets our physical needs: the need for food, for sleep, for
safety. Martel makes this point early in the book so that the
reader can see that until physical needs are met, we are all just
like animals. Only after the physical needs are met can we deal
with spiritual or emotional needs; he begins to express this
difference by pointing out the lack of “a fireplace or the like” in
animal homes. The fireplace in this parenthetical statement
symbolizes the intellect that separates humans from animals:
it was the moment that we discovered fire that humans
became capable of invention. This distinction is linked to the
final point of this chapter, which is that we misunderstand
zoos much like we misunderstand religion, mostly because we
have “illusions about freedom” that lead us to forget that just
as our physical needs—like those of animals—must be met in
safety, so do our spiritual needs. Like a zoo, religion provides a
safe environment to discover God and our place in His world.
Martel chooses to end the chapter with this brief statement to
deliver the punchline that is his real point: just like we don’t
understand zoos, we really don’t understand religion.
“There are many examples of animals coming to surprising
living arrangements. All are instances of that animal
equivalent of anthropomorphism: zoomorphism, where an
animal takes a human being or another animal to be one of
its kind . . . .What could be the explanation for
zoomorphism? Can’t a rhinoceros distinguish big from
small, tough hide from soft fur? Isn’t it plain to a dolphin
what a dolphin is like? I believe the answer lies in
something I mentioned earlier, that measure of madness
that moves life in strange but saving ways. The golden
agouti, like the rhinoceros, was in need of companionship.
The circus lions don’t care to know that their leader is a
weakling human; the fiction guarantees their social wellbeing and staves off violent anarchy. As for the lion cub,
they would positively keel over with fright if they knew
their mother was a dog, for that would mean they were
motherless, the absolute worst condition imaginable for any
warm –blooded life. I’m sure even the adult viper, as it
swallowed the mouse, must have felt somewhere in its
undeveloped mind a twinge of regret, a feeling that
something greater was just missed, an imaginative leap
away from the lonely crude reality of a reptile.”
Structure: Chapter 32-- This chapter follows the one where
the two Kumars—representing science and religion—visit
the zoo. It focuses entirely on the phenomenon of animals
who develop relationships with members of other species.
It immediately precedes a chapter where the writer’s pov
reenters the story.
Here, Martel appears to send the message that some
universal guiding force—perhaps God-- pushes all
creatures toward salvation. He calls the force a “measure of
madness”; the word measure has several meanings, but when
it is a noun, it means either a standard unit that expresses the
size of something or a plan or course of action to achieve a
purpose. This double meaning expresses two ideas at the same
time, but both ideas imply that someone (again, God?) is
acting, either to gauge an amount or make and implement a
plan. He follows this assertion with proof from the animal
world that animals, because they are not capable of abstract
thought, “don’t care to know” that they are engaged in
relationships that are illogical, but his implication is that
nature would erupt in “violent anarchy” if they could
understand their situations better. Anarchy—the revolt
against governing structures—is something only humans can
carry out because they understand the structures and their
own role in them. The passage ends with the observation that
for an animal trying to survive through unusual means, the
regret that they can’t experience “something greater” is
possibly just a “twinge” (which is always associated with pain);
humans, on the other hand, are capable of understanding their
circumstances and should not allow them to determine their
awareness of God’s push toward salvation. In a chapter that
claims to be about zoomorphism, Martel uses
anthropomorphism to make a point about God. Since he
disproved the validity of anthropomorphism in Chapter 4, the
reader can assume that referring to animals as having human
emotional responses in this passage from Chapter 32 is a
figurative device designed to highlight his point.
Religion
“ ‘Hello, sir. It’s good of you to come to the zoo.’ ”
“ ‘I come here all the time. One might say it’s my temple . . . .I
don’t believe in religion. Religion is darkness.’”
Darkness? I was puzzled. I thought, Darkness is the last
thing that religion is. Religion is light. Was he testing me?
. . . . “ ‘There are no grounds for going beyond a scientific
explanation of reality and no sound reason for believing
anything but our sense experience. A clear intellect, close
attention to detail and a little scientific knowledge will
expose religion as superstitious bosh. God does not exist.’”
. . . . This was all a bit much for me. The tone was right—
loving and brave—but the details seemed bleak. I said
nothing. It wasn’t for fear of angering Mr. Kumar. I was
more afraid that in a few words thrown out he might
destroy something that I loved. What if his words had the
effect of polio on me? What a terrible disease that must be if
it could kill God in a man. . . . He became my favourite
teacher at Petit Seminaire and the reason I studied zoology
at the University of Toronto. I felt a kinship with him. It was
my first clue that atheists are my brothers and sisters of a
different faith, and every word they speak speaks of faith.
Like me, they go as far as the legs of reason will carry them
– and then they leap.”
This exchange appears in Chapter 7. Mr. Kumar is Pi’s
science teacher and a man of the same name introduced
him to Islam. The chapter comes right before the one where
Richard Parker eats the goat, which teaches Pi the lesson
that animals are not the cute and loving creatures he might
have thought. His father wants him to learn this brutal truth
Theme statement:
Martel presents a theme that having faith in something is what
connects us all.
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Temple = place of worship
Belief is NOT based on reason: Mr. Kumar is using
vocabulary that reveals that he does acknowledge that
some things are accepted on faith
Darkness = ignorance
Light = knowledge
Testing is ironic because in this situation Pi deeply
understands something that his teacher fails to grasp
Bleak = without hope; lacking vegetation and exposed
to the elements
Bosh = something regarded as absurd
Pi recognizes that Mr. Kumar’s episode of polio
destroyed his faith—extremely difficult circumstances
can have that effect and those who don’t understand
them can’t judge their impact
Kinship = blood relationship (blood is a symbol of faith)
“legs of reason” = Mr. Kumar is crippled from polio
Leap of faith: the word faith is repeated and then
alluded to
in a way that he will never forget.