Lit. Club Response

Authors Note: I am doing a response to prompt two, Describe the metaphor for some of the horrors that Pi witnesses. I am trying to "translate" some of the animals into my opinion of their meaning.

You, a complex sentient being, surviving in your small lifeboat  of your creation on the ocean that is life, 

are constantly assailed by a variety of problems always chipping at your thoughts,  threatening your fragile lifeboat to transform into a floating tomb. As your life continues to float along on its due coarse you find that many of these problems will establish dominance in your life, even controlling your actions to focus solely upon them and deny you small times of merriment.

These problems manifest themselves in many ways in Yann Martel's Life of Pi. Pi, thrust from the comfort of the womb that is the Tsimtsum finds himself thrown into the beginnings of his lifeboat. He already finds himself facing several problems. First of which being the one that manifests itself in human nature more times then we can admit, ignorance. It seeks safety from the supposed battle against it; it finds a host on which it proceeds to manifest itself into the worst parasite. One that posses a something to pity, well it slowly destroys you from the inside.  Just as the zebra seeks safety on Pi's boat, breaking it's leg, and therefore in Pi's eyes becomes something to pity, well in reality its scent is driving the hyena to a frenzy. Which brings us to our next symbolism, the hyena.

"I am not one to hold prejudice against  any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not served well by it's appearance, it is ugly beyond redemption." The hyena is the most noticeable and fearsome of Pi's assailants. The hyena represents the underlying problem that is the stem of all your troubles. With the Zebra representing ignorance, it's very presence is a danger to Pi as it is the usual prey of the hyena, and even worse wounded, as ignorance allows problem to grow to uncontrolled. When the hyena finally kills the zebra, it represents the shattering of ignorance, as the problem is allowed to grow out of control, until finally the problem can be ignored no longer, and runs rampant in your mind. Once the problem has shattered your ignorance the "tiger in you" you will jump to the task and destroy the problem.

These problems will assail you throughout life, so the lesson to be learned from this is to never let ignorance become your parasite, or your hyena will become out of control.