Scribe 8/26

Today class started off pretty quietly; everyone still waking back up after the weekend. We collected back our “Name” essays. Then, we wrote details we noticed in the first three chapters and Author’s Note on the board. The enthusiasm was a little lacking; people seemed scared of going up to write on the board, like it might jump out and say “boo,” so it took a little while for the thoughts to be gathered. But eventually, the board was filled with ideas.

Several ideas we discussed in chapter 1: Why is death “fallen in love with life?”. Pi’s double major in zoology and religious studies that maybe hinted at internal conflict, or maybe that we as people are in need of conflict or challenge. “Who is Richard Butler?” because Pi inferres that he definitely was a big part of his life at one point. “Fresh off the boat,” suggested that Pi had been on a long journey

Our discussion of chapter 2: The change of style- Change in point of view form Pi’s narration to an outside onlooker. The “poofy Jacket” hinted at someone hiding, more secluded. We also discussed how Pi seemed like he was very eager to share his story, like it had been building up inside and he finally had to get it out.

For chapter 3 we talked about things we learned about Pi: He was named after a swimming pool; most likely as a part of Mamaji’s legacy because the pool held so much value to him. We discussed that pools were symbolic of water and cleansing: Water in purity for religious things like baptism, or everyday like showering (Physical and spiritual cleansing), as maybe a motif to follow how it interacts with Pi (Is water prominent in times he is cleansed? -Spiritually and physically).

Things we discussed from the authors note: “Willing Disciple” and”I have a story that will make you believe in God,” made us wonder, which god? “Worthless Dreams” portraying the Author’s idea that characters must be based in reality for a story to have its worth, so that they connect to the readers.

After this discussion, we watched a clip from the movie “Life of Pi” on how Pi received his name. His name “Piscine,” sounded a lot like a bodily/ bathroom function.. uh oh. Young Piscine was harassed a lot for his name, and made fun of, so one year when he went back to school, he decided to make himself known as something else. He decided to go by “Pi,” and won the crowd over as he made himself a legend; showing off the hundreds of digits of pi he could count to from memory.

For the last half hour of class, Smith gave us time to work on this week’s reading or on annotating our songs for Friday.

Homework: The song that you picked out for today needs to be annotated for its connections to you due Friday.  For Wednesday (8/26): Read chapters 4-8 and annotate, be prepared to share findings and discuss in class on Wednesday (You will get a grade for talking so come prepared to share!). Also don’t forget if you are bringing donuts this Wednesday :)