Life of Pi (1st Prompt)

In Yann Matel's novel Life of Pi the main character, Pi, is quite delusional. Many would assume the loss of his entire family caused this, but he was actually delusional before his family died in a shipwreck. He was first delusional as a young child. Pi's delusion throughout the book helps show his fascination with telling stories and changing them to fit the desires of different people.
Pi was born into a Hindu family, but as he got older, he began his search for the new perfect religion. This was technically, his first delusional thought. There is no "perfect religion." They all have flaws and no one religion can solve absolutely everything. Pi went on his pursuit by talking to a priest and discovering more and more about Christianity. Unfortunately, this was not the answer to Pi's religional dilemma either. Pi's second delusional thought, however, was that he could combine several different religions to make his own "perfect religion". He put together the pieces of a few different religions that he liked, such as the love as in Christianity and the reverence involved with Hinduism. This foreshadows to Pi's later experience with making real events fit to the point he is attempting to get across when he tells of his adventures. It seems weird to think of someone as constantly being delusional, but this was the central focus of Life of Pi. Yann Matel used Pi's delusional thoughts to bring the entire book together. Pi's being delusional in the beginning of the book helped make his delusions at the end not seem as strange. Well if Pi didn't have all these delusions, then his story would of made less sense.

Current Event 4

The anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories is a room that is 99.99% sound absorbent! The room is so quiet that the lack of sound or noise is almost unbearable after a short period of time. The longest time that a person has lasted in there was 45 minutes. When your ears can't hear anything anymore, they start to try and listen for anything and that makes them hear your own heartbeat at an extremely loud volume. And this can cause people to hallucinate. I think that this room is really interesting because of the amount of sound absorption. Companies can even test how loud their products actually are in there without fear of outside noise interference. Sterios, speakers, amplifiers, and vocals; for example. Also, NASA can train astronaughts in there to get them ready for the silence of space. Amazing!

Thornhill, Ted. "We all crave it, but can you stand the silence?." Daily Mail. Daily Mail, 08 Apr 2012. Web. 15 May 2012.

Current Event 3

Facebook has added a new, rather odd and unexpected option amidst its sea of posts and statuses. Now, thanks to the social networking web site, Facebookers can become an Organ Donors with just a click of the mouse. This can be found under the "life event" category, the Organ Donor status should have many positive effects. By becoming an Organ Donor, people not only help save the lives of others with their organs but also spread the word about the benefits of organ donation. This new program is a great way to increase organ donor numbers, and, therefore, decrease the number of people on the organ donation list. I wish everyone would understand that he or she has no use for his or her organs after death and that by donating unused organs, many people can live healthy lives in return.

"Facebook Gives Boost to Organ Donation Registry."Web. 10 May 2012

#3 & 4 Life of Pi

Pi's religious beliefs are now being tested. As a devout Hindu, Christian, and Muslim; Pi has certain practices that he has become accustomed to especially in his Hindu faith because as a Hindu, eating meat is forbidden. Pi tries to fish, showing that he is open to the idea of feasting on meat, but his real transformation happens a little after his failed attempts. After he saw Richard Parker (the tiger)dining on flying fish, Pi takes the difficult plunge and kills a fish for himself. This shows that humans, when faced with difficulties, and possibly religiously affiliated decisions, will most likely choose survival over beliefs. I know I would. But Pi realizes that he must eat to live but that eating meat means that he is violating his religious beliefs.

In this section, it also is becoming evident that Pi is experiencing some of the "zoo morphism" as well. He seems to be becoming more like Richard Parker in his eating habits, just like how Richard Parker is not acting as a tiger should. They both changed their ways to accommodate one another, and weather it was subconscious or not, the morphism allows them to relate to one another and is key in their survival. Pi needs Richard Parker as a companion, and Richard Parker needs Pi for food.

#2 Life of Pi

When the boat sinks it really throws the story into an information overload. The rushing of the flashback moments before the landing in a boat with a tiger gave insight into the logic that runs through Pi, of how the animals must have ended up. Once the realization of the tiger hits him, and after watching the attacks on the other animals by the hyena; he meets the realization of animalistic characteristics and the realization of what could happen to him. His emotions were tested by the physical pain of the animals, even sending him into tears. He still came out prevailing through this though; especially after watching Orange Juice (the monkey) show such human actions, as searching for her two sons lost in the water. This part of the book was much, much more entertaining, and the detail let me feel like I was almost there with Pi.

Current Event 2

In Poland, a local dentist numbed up her boyfriend with novocaine, then pulled out ALL his teeth, bandaged him up without a word, and walked away. He didn’t realize it until he got home! To top it off, his new girlfriend broke up with him, because she didn’t want a toothless man. She now faces jail time. My response? I hope all men in Poland learned that they should never make a Polish woman mad!

Bigler, Taylor. "Novocaine nightmare: Dentist pulls out all of ex-boyfriend’s teeth." Yahoo! News.

10 May 2012. Web. 10 May 2012.

Current Event:

Haggarty, Barbara Bradley. "Christian Debate: Was Jesus for small government." NPR.org 16 April 2012.Web.

This political debate shouldn't involve Jesus. Jesus is technically involved in everything, yes but there is a "But." There is a seperation of church and state for a reason, so that these types of debates couldn't and wouldn't happen. I am a strong believer of Jesus, but we shouldn't use WWJD just to get attention and a  vote. Its personally my decision as to what I believe and follow and I dont need the government criticising it. And Jesus wouldn't take my money and give it to the lazy.